Today (Jan. 27, 2021), International Holocaust Remembrance Day, Pope Francis issued a chilling warning: A mass extermination of human beings — such as the one that claimed the lives of six million Jews and millions of others — could take place again. He pointed a finger at the kind of “ideological fanaticism” that ran amok in Nazi Germany.
It was a fitting message coming just three weeks after a rampaging mob laid siege to, stormed, and ransacked the U.S. Capitol. Five people died as a result, but it could have been much worse.
The current IN THE NEWS section of AntisemitismExposed describes the presence of antisemites in the crowd. Among them were followers of QAnon, a deranged conspiracy theory that claims America is being run by a cabal of baby rapists who eat their victims. Too insane for anyone to believe, right? Apparently not.
Several media reports since the event have claimed some QAnon adherents — although definitely not all — have grown disillusioned and have left the cult. Sadly, some of those have not awakened to see the folly of their beliefs, according to the reports. Rather, they may be adopting even more bizarre right-wing conspiracy theories, although it is hard to imagine what those could be.
And speaking of the unimaginable, who would have thought a QAnon proponent could have been elected to the United States House of Representatives? Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, victorious in her 2020 run from Georgia, did just that.
Recently, it has come to light that Greene once supported the execution of prominent Demoractic officeholders, including “shooting a bullet into Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi’s head.” While some commentators say Greene has distanced herself from QAnon, evidence for that is sketchy and not all that convincing. One smells temporary political expediency at play.
In his off-the-cuff message yesterday, Pope Francis admonished his followers to keep their eyes open, to be alert to the rise of such extremist movements. On the 76th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz-Birkenau, it was a good message for Catholics to hear — indeed, for all Americans, Jewish Americans in particular, to hear.
— Lenny Giteck, Publisher and Editor