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Rabbi Levi Brackman

Nazis like we have never seen before

Statement by al-Qaeda terrorist and mass murderer Khalid Sheikh Mohammed illustrates strategy used by Nazis to exterminate six million Jews

Published: 03.16.07, 11:09 / Israel Jewish Scene

The statement, published this week, by arch al-Qaeda terrorist and mass murderer Khalid Sheikh Mohammed is sickening: "I decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew, Daniel Pearl, in the city of Karachi, Pakistan. For those who would like to confirm, there are pictures of me on the internet holding his head."

He also admitted responsibility for the 9/11 attacks and many others. However what is most startling about the nauseating bragging of this murderer is that he also said, "I don't like to kill people."

Terrorist

Top al-Qaeda member confesses to Daniel Pearl's murder / Associated Press

Khalid Sheikh Mohammed quoted as saying in transcript of military hearing at Guantanamo Bay, ‘I decapitated with my blessed right hand the head of the American Jew’; admits to central role in 30 other attacks, plots in US, worldwide. ‘I was responsible for the 9/11 operation from A to Z,’ he adds

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One might say that this is rather rich coming from a man who personally, with his bare hands, severed the head off the shoulders of another human being.

However, if you follow the logic of the fascist it all makes sense. In his view he did not kill a “person” – he killed an American Jew and Jews don’t count as people. It is as simple and as brutal as that.

Now it is important to understand this with all its implications. This was a strategy used by the Nazis to exterminate six million Jews. Indeed a normal human being does not like killing people; however once the people are dehumanized killing them becomes much easier. But despite their best efforts, the Nazis had not perfected their dehumanization.

For example, the campaign of mass shooting carried out by the Nazis in the Soviet Union in 1941 and 1942 where most of the victims were Jews had a disastrous emotional effect on the killers which led the Nazis to search for more indirect ways to carry out their genocide—killing by gas was deemed a less direct method.

New form of Nazism

Even this was not ideal and as the Jews were being gassed they used the noise of motorcycle engines to drown out the screams so that Nazis carrying out the genocide should not be adversely affected psychologically by the killing.

I do not intend by this to minimize the cruelty and barbarism of the Nazis: the Holocaust will be a stain on the consciousness of humanity forever. The contrast, however, shows just how much worse this new form of fascism is.

They have perfected their dehumanization of Jews and Americans to the degree that not only are they unaffected by the killing, but people like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed consider it a blessing to do so with their own hands and a kitchen knife.

Clearly this new form of Nazism is more brutal and hate filled than Hitler’s Nazism—if such a thing can exist. We Jews must wake up to the hatred that is being spread in our world and realize that it is first and foremost directed towards us. And these words of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed should stand as yet another such wake up call.

But we must be listening to hear it. Unfortunately many of us think that because of Western financial and military might we are immune to the threats of Nazis like Khalid Sheikh Mohammed. Many also think that he is just one lunatic.

This is no more than wishful thinking. Hamas and the new unity government formed in the Palestinian Authority areas, the growing Iranian threat and al-Qaeda all have one thing in common and that is a desire to dehumanize the Jew and the West.

One must be sensitive to the way Khalid Sheikh Mohammed referred to Daniel Pearl as “The American Jew” and wonder which the operative word is, American or Jew.

Wake up and take action

It would seem that in the twisted mind of the new type of Nazi they are both seen as being equal—both Jews and Americans are dehumanized and killing an American Jew brings a double blessing. This trend is potentially extremely dangerous because dehumanizing entire nations legitimizes the use of weapons of mass destruction against them.

The situation is grave but clear. The Western world and particularly the Jews are facing an enemy which has refined the science of dehumanization and implemented it more effectively than Hitler was ever able to.

We cannot prevent what has already occurred, but we can wake up to it and take action. Fantasizing about winning these people over is futile. The best we can hope for is to contain this new and improved Nazism by campaigning against it and working towards giving youth an alternative ideology to hate.

Furthermore, the international community - especially Israel and the United States - must work much harder to prevent weapons of mass destruction from getting in to the hands of these people. The two strategies of containment and prevention are the calling of our day. We ignore them at our peril.

Rabbi Levi Brackman is executive director of Judaism in the Foothills and the author of numerous articles on a whole range of topics and issues, many of which can be found on his website

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