On Dec. 2, I drove down Congress Street in Portland, and when I got to Longfellow Square, I saw 30 or so people with Palestinian flags, posters and placards about the “genocide in Palestine.” I got out of my car to hear what was being said. The chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine must be free,” was chanted over and over again by the attendees.
That chant is a dog whistle for the elimination of the Jewish state and the eradication of Jews through what is now Israel. I was taken aback by this chant. The people chanting this must not be so uninformed as to not know what they are chanting. I thought I was in Germany before the outbreak of World War II.
The fact is that the Mufti of Jerusalem, the top Muslim cleric in charge of the city’s Islamic holy places, before and during World War II, conspired with Hitler to eradicate Jews throughout the Middle East, what few there were. The Mufti was a Nazi sympathizer. Some would say that was 80 to 85 years ago, but history and ignorance of history have a way of repeating themselves. I am witnessing that ignorance now.
Anthony Palanza
Standish
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