Years ago, before modern devices could register poisonous gas levels in mines, miners would take canaries into the shafts with them. The birds, which are more susceptible to toxins, served a very useful purpose. If the canary fell over, it was time for the miners to get out quickly. It was a sad miner who failed to pay attention to the canary in the cage.

Throughout time, whenever tyrants arose and preached a mixture of world domination and complete intolerance for most other human beings, their first targets were often a small group of people noted for giving the world monotheism, the bible and a set of basic laws that have been followed for thousands of years. From the ancient Babylonians to German Nazis to today’s Islamic fascists, tyrannical regimes always seem to have one common link — their deep hatred for Jews. At the same time there has been another continuum throughout the ages — a small fringe in every society that blames not the tyrants, but instead, blames their victims. That would be tantamount to a miner not just ignoring his early warning device, but blaming the canary for the problem. That’s not just ill advised, it’s downright stupid

Sixty-five years ago, Charles Lindbergh, the hero aviator of America was such an individual. On September 11, 1941, less than three months before Pearl Harbor, Mr. Lindbergh appeared before a huge anti-war rally sponsored by the group America First in Des Moines, Iowa. In spite of the ongoing atrocities already being committed by the Germans and the Japanese, the flyer delivered an articulate and compelling speech entitled,”Who Are The War Agitators?” Answering his own question, Mr. Lindbergh told his audience there were three main forces pushing America into an unnecessary war with Germany: Franklin Roosevelt, Great Britain, and the Jews. The President, the British Prime Minister and the Jews … there’s a familiar ring to that. But, Mr. Lindbergh went one step further concerning the Jews when he added his concerns about the perceived Jewish domination in America and their “large ownership and influence in our motion pictures, our press, our radio and our government.”

That was a constant refrain throughout America in the 1930s — dangerous Jewish influence. This thought was spear-headed by Mr. Lindbergh, a popular radio evangelist named Father Coughlin, the industrialist Henry Ford, and all other anti-Semites. The Jewish “influence” they focused on was not much different from the classic anti-Semitism of old Europe. In their minds, Jews were using their sinister powers to manipulate our country and the world to their advantage. In truth, many professions in 1941 were still closed to Jewish people in America. If another ethnic group held a lock on industries here in America, no one seemed to complain. So the Irish, who went through their own ostracism a century before, could now control big city governments. Protestants, still in the vast majority, could control the White House, big oil, railroads, and most corporations. But the Jews were somehow different … scarier … more villainous. Of course, you couldn’t just come out and actually say this in polite society, so different buzz words were often used … like “international bankers” and even “New Yorkers.” But everyone knew what the phrases meant. They meant Jews.

Almost 70 years later, the words have changed but not the meaning. Today, we hear about the “neocons” who seem to control the mind of Dick Cheney. The “Zionists,” we are told, are enflaming the Islamic world with their occupation of the Palestinians. And with a dark, evil hand, it’s the “Israel Lobby” that controls the White House and almost the entire American Congress. Even the collapse of the World Trade Center was not caused by Al-Qaeda. Almost immediately after the World Trade Center fell and the Pentagon burned, rumors surfaced on the internet, first from Muslim countries but then picked up by a growing fringe element here at home, that it was “the Mosad,” Israel’s intelligence service which deftly committed the atrocities. All of these terms — neocons, Zionists, the lobby — are the euphemisms of today. But it’s the same old story. It’s the Jews. Again.

There is one big difference now than in 1941. Today’s anti-Semitism comes from the left and not the extreme political right. We are also beginning to hear it from some presumably mainstream people — actors, journalists, documentary film makers, and Ivy League professors. Look closely at any antiwar rally almost always sponsored by far left groups today. You can see the code phrases being used to blame who and what they consider to be the real culprits behind all the problems in the world. The phrases — the Zionists, the Israel, the Lobby — are just as catchy as they were 70 years ago and just as false.

These phrases arise at the same time the West faces another threat, not very different from the one it faced in 1941 — a large and growing fascist army, has come out of the Middle East, bankrolled by enormous oil wealth and determined to conquer and destroy Western democracies. Again we hear the same rhetoric. Again we see the massive parades (what is it with fascists and the goose step?). We even see those straight armed salutes cheered on by wild eyed masses. And once again, there are people who either don’t wish to face the problem or worse, they are aiming their sights at the wrong target.

Appeasement doesn’t work either — not then and not now. It never does. In 1938, on a trip to Germany and a tour of its army and Luftwaffe, Mr. Lindbergh concluded that Germany was simply too big, too powerful, and too focused to be defeated by the Western democracies. Instead, he believed a reprimanding of the mighty German Reich would make all be well. “Tolerance is a virtue that depends upon peace and strength,” Mr. Lindbergh told his audience in Des Moines.”History shows that it cannot survive war and devastation.” Of course, history showed us quite a different outcome. The Nazis turned out to be not the most tolerant folk with which to deal (fascists never are). Mr. Lindbergh’s prediction was not just off, but extremely costly. At the price of some 50 million lives, a devastated continent, immense treasure and untold suffering, the world learned that while Hitler had deep hatred for the Jewish people, he also didn’t much care for the British, the French, the Danes, the Russians, the Dutch, or the Poles — just about everyone who wasn’t an Aryan German.

Like Adolf Hitler before them, today’s Islamic fascist leaders telegraph exactly what they intend to do. They describe a futuristic world that has one religion, one people, and one god (sound familiar?). And when we hear Islamic fascists condemning the “infidels” to death and destruction, it should be clear that they are not just talking about Jews. Remember those Buddhist statues in Afghanistan? And when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad echoes Hitler and announces, repeatedly, his sacred duty to destroy Israel and the Jews, chances are that’s just the beginning of the list.

Back in 1941, Charles Lindbergh insisted, in spite of everything he said, that he was not anti-Semitic and suggested that the Jews should be in the forefront of keeping America out of the war because “they will be the first to feel it’s consequences.” He was right on that score — they were the first. But they are never the last.

Mr. Kozak is a regular contributor to The New York Sun.