Like many Republicans, Rep. Allen West (R-FL) hyperventilated about President Obama’s non-controversial Middle East speech last week, in which Obama called for a two-state solution based on Israel’s 1967 borders, with some land swaps. In West’s typical hyperbole, he said the speech was the “beginning of the end” of Israel and mysteriously accused Obama of giving Islamists a “Pavlovian-style” reward. But in a statement quoted by the Broward County New Times yesterday, West took things further than any Republican lawmaker yet, invoking Hitler and accusing Obama of “nefarious” intent toward Jews:
In reviewing history, I would say Sir Neville Chamberlain was naive in his negotiations with German Chancellor Adolph Hitler. However, when one examines the state of affairs in the Middle East, including the Fatah-Hamas reconciliation pact, increase of rocket/mortar attacks from Gaza, the definitive Hamas Charter statement vowing the destruction of Israel, and the Hamas condemnation of America for killing Osama bin Laden…I cannot attribute this incompetent statement to naivete, but rather to conscious, nefarious, and malicious intent.
As the New Times points out, West’s over-the-top rhetoric relies on an ignorant or intentionally dishonest interpretation of Obama’s speech and the facts of the Middle East situtation — not the mention the spelling of Adolf Hitler. But West comments go far beyond criticizing Obama’s policy to explicitly questioning, or rather assigning, motives. West’s previous comments suggests a belief in some sort of religious supremacy over co-existence — he even said people with “co-exist” bumper stickers want to “give away our country” — and it seems anyone who doesn’t share his hegemonic views is of dubious intent and worth relating to Hitler.
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