Check out his review of Gaddafi's rambling, incoherent speech on Wednesday:
He had not even begun to use bullets against his enemies – a palpable lie – and "any use of force against the authority of the state shall be punished by death", in itself a palpable truth which Libyans knew all too well without the future tense of Gaddafi's threat. On and on and on he ranted. Like everything Gaddafi, it was very impressive – but went on far too long.So far so good...Fisk is pretty accurately describing Gaddafi's rant (although when watching it, the word "impressive" is certainly not one I would have used.)
He cursed the people of Benghazi who had already liberated their city – "just wait until the police return to restore order", this dessicated man promised without a smile. His enemies were Islamists, the CIA, the British and the "dogs" of the international press. Yes, we are always dogs, aren't we? I was long ago depicted in a Bahraini newspaper cartoon (Crown Prince, please note) as a rabid dog, worthy of liquidation. But like Gaddafi's speeches, that's par for the course. And then came my favourite bit of the whole Gaddafi exegesis last night: HE HADN'T EVEN BEGUN TO USE VIOLENCE YET.
But then Fisk can't stop himself from saying this:
Indeed, there were times last night when Gaddafi – in his vengefulness, his contempt for Arabs, for his own people – began to sound very like the speeches of Benjamin Netanyahu. Was there some contact between these two rogues, one wondered, that we didn't know about?And there we have it.
A poster child for the Left is so filled with utter hate for Israel, that he thinks that Gaddafi's bizarre performance art at times only approached speeches made by Netanyahu?
Even if you believe that Netanyahu is a right-wing Greater Israel zealot - and he is far from it - how can any sane person say that Bibi's speeches have ever been anything but sober?
Can Fisk point to a single Netanyahu speech where he expressed contempt for Arabs? Let alone contempt for his own people?
How in the world can Fisk even float the idea that Gaddafi and Netanyahu are partners in genocide, part of a secret (Jewish, naturally) cabal intent on killing every Arab on the planet? I can imagine the phone call from the Libyan dictator, asking advice from Bibi on how to be more bloodthirsty.
The sad thing is, Fisk can say such things in his little Zionist-hating bubble, without anyone calling him on it. His reporting from the Arab world lately has not been half bad, and he is one of the few reporters who never fell for the "rehabilitated Gaddafi" of 2003. But Fisk's abject hate for Israel - that in any normal planet would make him a joke - instead makes him a hero in the circles he travels.
Truth be damned - Fisk knows a higher truth, that Israel is a genocidal nation and its leaders are war criminals, far worse than anything the Arab world can produce. Nothing can shake him from his faith in Israel's absolute evil - and Arab dictators' repression is a mere faint echo of Israel's wish to kill, kill, kill.
God only knows why Fisk's murderous Israel hasn't nuked half the planet by now.
(h/t Dan)