Defining Fascism

This was inspired by a comment from one of our avid readers claiming that there are no fascists in Israel. Many people would beg to differ. Note that there are still significant differences between Fascism and Israeli policy, though what I've read here applies perfectly to the way Israel is (mis)behaving:

A recent definition is that by former Colombia University Professor Robert O. Paxton:

"Fascism may be defined as a form of political behavior marked by obsessive preoccupation with community decline, humiliation, or victim-hood and by compensatory cults of unity, energy, and purity, in which a mass-based party of committed nationalist militants (...) pursues with redemptive violence and without ethical or legal restraints goals of internal cleansing and external expansion."

Paxton further defines fascism's essence as:

1. A sense of overwhelming crisis beyond reach of traditional solutions;
2. Belief one’s group is the victim, justifying any action without legal or moral limits;
3. Need for authority by a natural leader above the law, relying on the superiority of his instincts;
4. Right of the chosen people to dominate others without legal or moral restraint;
5. Fear of foreign `contamination."

Well well.. Seems a friend of ours has some explaining to do.