By SHELLEY GLASER
If you have ever driven a motor car in a foreign country you will know that it is both a frightening and confusing experience. In South Africa as in England we drive on the left hand side of the road, while in Israel and the US the right hand side is preferred. What makes it so confusing is not necessarily the experience itself but that which you have become accustomed to.As Jews we have become accustomed to recognising danger that emanates from the right of the political spectrum. Take Nazism for example. Whenever we see their emblems, rhetoric and general meanness we know what to expect. We don’t make friends with Nazis. We don’t engage with them or try change their sick minds.So when the political Left starts acting and sounding like Nazis the red flags which should usually go up, don’t go up, and who can blame us for failing to navigate it the way we are meant to? It seems that labelling has us all confused, and rightly so. But this doesn’t mean we should simply ignore the danger either.The political Left has been a worry for sometime but since they are left of center, no-one seems to concern themselves with the threat they are currently posing. There are elements of the Left that are Right, so let’s stop pretending and just recognise them for what they are.Take the Left’s propensity for refusing to allow Israeli or pro- Israel speakers a platform to speak on university campuses: this surely goes against one of our beloved democratic values. What of Obama’s hosting of leaders of terrorist organisations at the White House? Did I miss something or are known terrorists now considered friends? How come the Left who generally despises religion has such a nuanced understanding of Islam, but no such feeling for Judaism or Christianity. And while we are asking these questions can someone please explain to me the reason ‘Women of the Wall’ is so relevant and the enslavement of women by Islamic fundamentalists is not?It seems that if a car is heading straight for you, it is of no consequence whether it is right or wrong or even Left or Right. One needs to do all one can to avoid it. Not try make friends with it in the hope it won’t hit you, or be understanding of the reasoning behind its directionality. It requires swift and decisive action. Because in the end its action which will save you.It is time for democrats and Human Rights activists to get off the sidewalks and back in the car. To reclaim their narrative from useless fools, terrorists and Palestinians who have been hijacking their cause for decades now. Members of Hamas and Hezbollah should be arrested for being known terrorists and not hosted at tea parties on the White House lawn. Left Fascists need to be named and shamed, and certainly not placated. And Obama needs to learn to pronounce Islam and be able to use the word in conjuction with terror, fundamentalism and fear.For if we don’t act now there will be a head on collision and everyone knows what happens in such an event. Both drivers and passengers will be hurt, maimed or even killed. And in such an event democracy itself may never recover.