Heaving Venom

It seems some Israelis are less than enamored of the effort by their government to restrict Jewish settlements in the West Bank. CBS News reports that following government destruction of structures in an unauthorized Jewish settlement in the West Bank

Arsonists torched a mosque in an Arab village in northern Israel Monday, setting off protests by residents who clashed with police. Graffiti sprayed at the site suggested Jewish radicals, suspected in other recent mosque fires, were involved.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said carpet was burned inside the mosque in Tuba-Zangria and interior walls were damaged. Copies of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, were also burned, Israeli media reported.

Sometimes, though, individuals saturated with hatred are fairly indiscriminate in their targets. It is not only the dreaded Palestinians who are attacked. Not only do the far right attack Muslims but also the Israeli military itself, which one would have assumed the militants consider their ally. But no:

The words "price tag" were spray painted on the mosque, Rosenfeld added — a reference to a Jewish settler practice of attacking Palestinians or the Israeli military in retaliation for government operations or attacks against Jewish settlements.

A hunt is on for the perpetrators of these crimes, who if arrested will be prosecuted and punished, as they must be in a nation respecting the rule of law. But as in Israel, in the U.S.A. hateful and bitter extremists strike out in unexpected ways.

Rush Limbaugh, though denying ill intent, continually stereotypes black Americans. Commenting in September on an article which didn't mention music, crime, gangster rap, or race, Limbaugh smirked "This is the New York Times calling for Obama to take the gloves off. They want him to 'go gangsta.'" His disdain and hatred for blacks knows no bounds.

But it isn't only blacks. It's vile and incendiary racial stereotyping which is his stock in trade. For at least the last three days, Rush has been hurling insults at participants in the Occupy Wall Street movement. Recognizing that even some members of his audience are annoyed at the abuses of major financial institutions, Limbaugh continually has spewed personal invective at the Americans participating in the protests. Typical- yes, typical- was his remark on Wednesday "Are you really working and paying dues so your union can join a bunch of rich white freeloaders who don't want to pay anything?"

At first, there is surprise, modest though it might be- Rush Limbaugh, of all people, putting down white people because of their race! But it really is not surprising at all. Bigots are like that. It's hard for them to confine their animosity to one group. So while Israeli militants attack things Arab or Muslim, they lash out also at the nations's military, bulwark against those very same forces these individuals presumably abhor.

Halfway around the world, one of America's most execrable zealots cannot, or will not, restrict his animosity to minorities. For Rush Limbaugh, blacks or whites, unless wealthy, are beneath contempt and subject to his inflammatory demagoguery.

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