The New Believers

A new religion is sweeping Washington’s elites. Never has the nation’s capital witnessed such pious zeal — at least, not since it was singing, in throaty chorus, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic.”

Adherents of the new sect may be observed on their prayer rugs, five times a day, in prostrate supplication facing Tel Aviv. Or is it Jerusalem? No matter. Wherever Israel says its capital is, they direct their orisons.

The latest manifestation of this new faith appeared last week, when both houses of Congress passed resolutions in total, unquestioning support of Israel and its recent measures against Palestinians. Setting aside old scruples about separating church and state, the votaries pledged to increase support for Israel. The Senate was unanimous, the House nearly so. Both resolutions freely scolded “Arabs”; neither used the word Jews.

Apparently Jews have nothing to do with the new religion, which is composed entirely of gentiles, some of whom claim, oddly enough, to be Christians. The resolutions spoke of “Israelis,” but it seems that Arabs, even peaceful Arabs who live in Israel, don’t count as “Israelis.”

Congressman Dick Armey, the Texas Republican and House majority leader, told Chris Matthews of Hardball that he favors driving all Arabs out of Israel and the occupied territories. Armey is a well-known champion of limited government and property rights, except when it comes to chasing Palestinians from their homes; then his new religion kicks in and his old principles more or less evaporate.

The chief tenet of this new faith is that Israel is holy, and that anything Israel does to the Arabs is legitimate self-defense and deserves American assistance. For example, the United States must prevent Arabs from getting a single nuclear weapon; but it’s fine if Israel has hundreds of nukes.

Another tenet of the faith — beyond the scope of the resolutions — is that all criticism of Israel springs from prejudice and anti-Semitism. George Will, a top theologian of the new faith, says that Europe as a whole is anti-Semitic and always has been. Evidence? If there were as many Jews alive today in proportion to the number who lived during the Roman Empire, Will says, there would be 200 million Jews; whereas in fact there are only 13 million. The rest, he implies, were exterminated — 187 million victims of anti-Semitism!

Of course an unbeliever might argue that it’s normal for large populations to disappear over time, through attrition, migration, conversion, intermarriage, and linguistic and cultural change. By Will’s logic, there should be several billion Zeus-worshippers today. Where are they? Were they all exterminated too? They don’t even have a memorial, let alone their own country!

A third article of the faith is that the 9/11 attacks had nothing whatever to do with U.S. support for Israel. A fourth article is that the way for Americans to stop terrorism is to make war on Israel’s enemies. It just happens to be the case that Israel’s enemies are, almost by definition, America’s enemies. Such twisted people hate good, free, democratic countries with an irrational hatred that makes them impossible to appease or reason with. Any concession of Palestinian rights, according to the new faith, may lead to the annihilation of the Israelis.

Even if you disagree with the new believers, you have to admire their raw courage. While they stop short of suicide, believing it to be immoral, they court martyrdom. Heedless of their own careers in journalism and politics, they defy the Arab tycoons, the powerful Arab lobby, the huge Arab voting bloc, the Arab-controlled media, the Arab advertisers, and the peer pressure of the countless Arab-Americans who try to monopolize public debate in this country. They can’t be bought — not with Arab money, anyway. They snap their fingers in the faces of the Arabs who sign their paychecks.

At great risk, these brave souls try to see to it that the case for beleaguered Israel at least gets a hearing, despite the Arab blackout. In New York City, some of them, throwing caution to the winds, even oppose anti-Semitism! Others, equally hardy, are unafraid to point out the pro-Palestinian bias that pervades the media.

Yes, the new religion is a fighting faith! It’s not for cowards, time-servers, hypocrites, or prostitutes.

Joseph Sobran