Growing Anti-Semitism Causing Concern

When the subject of anti-Semitism is discussed many areas in the world are more likely to be included before anybody would even think of including the United States as a place of major concern. The most often chosen discussed areas where there is growing anti-Semitism are the Muslim Middle East and North Africa and Europe. The Muslim anti-Semitism is often claimed to be driven mostly over Israel and the Palestinian statehood issue. This is not the entire truth and more than likely being chosen as the reason behind anti-Semitism is done so as not to need to address the historic anti-Semitism which has risen periodically throughout Muslim lands since the inception of Islam in Mecca and especially Medina. Another misrepresentation has been the claim that after the Holocaust and the end of World War II that anti-Semitism had disappeared from Europe and the West. The truth is that anti-Semitism had simply retreated beneath the societal radar and had become unacceptable which only served to put it in apparent remission but did not cure these peoples of the disease called anti-Semitism. The proof of this having been the case is the rapid growth of the national socialist political parties which have adopted much of the original Nazi racial puritan ethic which has a definitive anti-Semitic strain driving the movement. This has been most evident in those countries which are experiencing economic difficulties or other stressful pressures on their social fabric. Still, much of the public try and dismiss these political groups as passing blips on the political spectrum and simply if ignored they will pass away before they cause any real harm. If my memory serves me, that was exactly the thoughts of polite European society about the rise of the national socialists in Germany and elsewhere prior to their rise to power in Nazi Germany, and the rest is, as they say, history.

 

North America and the United States in particular are considered to be paragons of acceptance where anti-Semitism is something which has been relegated to a miniscule minority whose numbers are so minute as not to be any actual concern. If this were only true. What masks much of the anti-Semitism is that it exists in the form of either anti-Israel or anti-Zionist political movements. The claim that virulent anti-Israel and anti-Zionist adherents are protesting only Israel and do not necessarily have any hatred towards Jews is more often a false premise than truth. This article is not intended to argue this point but rather to address the rise of anti-Semitism within North America and particularly within the United States. Where in the general society there is not much evident anti-Semitism in any of its incarnations; but in the arenas from which our future leadership is being molded and educated, the elite colleges and universities, the growth of anti-Semitism is extremely troubling. The initial foot in the door has been the anti-Israel, anti-Zionist, and pro-Palestinian movements and in particular the BDS Movement which demands Universities and whomever else they can persuade to fight Israel through Boycotts, Divestment, and Sanctions. The one item which these groups will stress and go to great lengths to emphasize are that under no circumstance are they or do they condone in any form anti-Semitism. To quote Macbeth, “The lady doth protest too much, methinks.”

 

The truth is in their actions and we need to judge these people by their actions and not simply listen to their words. On many campuses there exist different main events behind those utilizing the political difficulties concerning Israel in order to promote their masked anti-Semitism. These are BDS Protests and Palestinian Solidarity Weeks or Months. These events are often accompanied by general measures taken presumably to demonstrate the “sins” of the State of Israel. One such is to present eviction notices to certain students that they are to leave their dorm room within the next few hours as they are scheduled to be destroyed. This is done implying that Israel simply randomly destroys Palestinian homes for absolutely no reason other than just because they are Palestinian owned homes. The students whose doors receive the fake eviction notices are known Jewish students, Hillel members, and those known to support Israel. Another event is to place checkpoints around the campus where any students wearing Star of David jewelry, Yarmulkes, or other ways are known to be Jews are stopped and treated roughly and demeaned simply because they are Jews and presumed to support Israel. The truth is they seldom give such treatment to Christian or other supporters of Israel. Then there are the Walls of Shame where they place a wall that supposedly represents the anti-terror fence which in urban areas or areas where snipers have targeted Israeli homes and vehicles they erect actual walls but the vast majority of the barrier uses fencing. Often this wall is covered with the names of Palestinians who have been arrested by Israel on terrorist charges, also the names of terrorists Israel has killed in the commission of acts of terror and even the names of those who died in suicide bombings for which they blame Israel. As these demonstrations have grown in size and numbers there has come with them a general atmosphere on numerous campuses where all things Israel are condemned and anybody who supports Israel is scorned and many professors are known to grade these students harshly with some even being failed. Some campuses the atmosphere has grown so toxic that Jewish students have taken to hiding the fact that they are Jewish and those who have not taken such precautions are physically attacked. The situation has reached such epidemic proportions that there are currently lawsuits filed against Universities for not providing a safe and secure educational environment and not protecting students from religious persecutions in Federal Courts under civil rights laws.

 

But the problems of today will pale in comparison to what is likely to be coming in the near future. Directly resulting from the poisoned educational environment which casts Israel directly and Jews by inference as evil and undesirable entities and such premises tainting administrations especially in the social sciences will produce a core of future leaders tainted to varying extents as a result. The percentage does not need to be as significant as many would like to believe to do immense damage. The reality is that should the current trends continue to grow at the same rate as they have been growing in recent history, the problem will soon become a major influencing factor in our advanced educational systems. Studying such occurrences throughout history produces a very troubling picture where what begins as a small movement within the elite educational society will rapidly gain adherents and reach a societal movement often as quickly as a decade and more readily within three decades. The anti-Israel and anti-Zionist movement infecting the elite educational societies in the United States and in Canada are already closing in on their first decade and have grown significantly to the point that even some traditionally Jewish colleges and universities have supported BDS protests and Palestinian solidarity protests. One of the hotbeds of these movements has been the California College System, one of the largest university and college systems in the United States. The one factor which guarantees that these events and support structures driving them will remain well funded and will have all the resources they require is the simple fact that Saudi Arabia, Iran, the United Arab Emirates and other Muslim organizations will continue to supply monetary support. This support has been most evident when one researches the Middle East Departments of almost every American major university where Arabists hold most of the positions of power and influence. Where much of this problem has remained largely out of sight and is not covered in any depth in the mainstream media, the ramifications and ramifications of this situation will produce its foul and rotten fruit which will unfortunately become evident and recognized likely far too late to avoid the worst results even I might predict. This coming from one who is often dismissed as a pessimist but too often prove out in time to have been a realist.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

Israel is Our Only True Sanctuary

The pattern is as old as Jewish history itself. The prototypical mold was cast from our days in Egypt. When our family first came to Egypt times were uncertain and difficult but soon resolved and placed us in positions of power, respect, and acceptance. The initial years, decades even, were years of plenty where we reaped the rewards of our acceptance thus being allowed the fruits of our labors. Things began to change with a new Pharaoh who no longer remembered the times and qualities of our previous service to the people and leaders of Egypt, to the former Pharaoh. Then everything changed bringing upon us years of bitterness, of slavery, of persecutions, and of suffering under evil edicts. All of these were the results from suspicions and false charges of our having loyalties which may have influenced us to revolt and raise our hand against Egypt. The fact that there had been little or no indication of such even being discussed, being suggested, or any evidence that we meant anything but to serve the good of Egypt which had become our home was of absolutely no consequence. But the misgivings arose and we came under suspicions and thus were placed under the yoke of slavery and suffered the bitterness of unfounded jealous hatreds against us. This was the very first epoch of our being separated and exiled from our true homelands and placed in the original Diaspora. This was to be the same sequence that was to become our history for every time we were to suffer the yoke of foreign rule which could be referred to as the “Cycle of Egypt”.

Babylon was an enemy from the very outset. There were times at the start in which the Jewish nation had peaceable and mutually advantageous relations as our nation was of sufficient power that the kings of Babylon feared a war between our nations. It should be noted that when we possessed such strength we chose not to attack or take up arms against those neighboring nations and tribes and simply chose to live on our lands enjoying peace, security and the wealth of our toils and serving the L0rd our G0d. When we turned from the path of righteousness, our strength sapped and our defenses failed, the neighboring Babylonians wasted little time before setting out to conquer our lands. Again we were in exile suffering the bitterness of being forced from our lands. When the Persian conquest defeated the Babylonians many of us returned to our lands and we enjoyed a period of peace and security despite being a part of the Persian Empire and thus under their rule. Initially the Persian rulers allowed us a fair amount of autonomy but that eventually evaporated eventually leading to Haman and the threat of annihilation simply for being what we were, Jews. We faced persecution under the Greek Empire after an initial period where we were granted some autonomy. The final occupation was the current one, which we have the opportunity to bring to an end, which began with the great dispersion inflicted upon us by Rome in an attempt to dissolve and destroy our very existence as a people, removing the Jews from all of history.

After the fall of Rome the Jewish people were no longer a single community as we had been intentionally dispersed to every corner of the empire, intentionally separated into small and insignificant communities intended to die within a generation or two. The saving grace was Torah which kept our identity viable and with time tied our dispersed communities together in a loose confederation which has lasted through to modern times. During this Diaspora we faced the “Cycle of Egypt” continuously with some of our dispersed far-flung communities under persecution even if most of our communities lived lives of serenity and marginal independence. The communities of Jews found themselves in the near two-thousand-year exile repeatedly having to flee from one place to another sometimes even finding necessity to flee entire countries as royal edicts demanded our departing under pain of death. Often we found at the end of such persecution driven resettlements that our new homeland received us willingly and with acceptance. Unfortunately these favorable conditions would always deteriorate until we found ourselves once again fleeing for our lives, often literally. Our lives became a continuous string of desperate times where the fulfillment of the final curses depicted in Leviticus 26:37-8, which reads

“And as for those of you who are left, I will send faintness into their hearts in the lands of their enemies; the sound of a shaken leaf shall cause them to flee; they shall flee as though fleeing from a sword, and they shall fall when no one pursues. They shall stumble over one another, as it were before a sword, when no one pursues; and you shall have no power to stand before your enemies. You shall perish among the nations, and the land of your enemies shall eat you up.”

This brings us to the current times. The Shoah was the latest end result of the “Cycle of Egypt” which began with our fleeing the pogroms and persecutions in Czarist Russia, a state of persecution which carried over to the Communist rule which followed the Czars. Many of the Jewish people fled westward from Russia back into Eastern Europe with large numbers choosing to reside in the first areas where they found an accepting community. This placed a very large population of Jews in Poland and also increases of Jews also residing in Germany. My father’s family was among those who fled Czarist persecution and my great-great-grandfather made a wise decision and continued to flee westward through Poland, Germany, Belgium and France eventually stopping in London. Still, my family lost members to the ravages of World War II as one of my uncles died flying over Europe with the British Air Force. My mother’s family being Sephardic was spared from the curses which befell European Jews but faced their own persecutions which afflicted the Jews of the Middle East, especially in Iraq and Iran during the same time period. Both sides of my family have been extremely reluctant in discussing the particulars even among family members such that I was never a recipient of their experiences or educated as to the hardships they survived.

After World War II the world changed drastically for the Jewish people as Israel was restored making it possible for Jews to once again live in their own homeland under self-rule. With the reestablishing of the country of Israel the Jewish people have a safe haven where they can defend themselves as an independent nation and people. Despite the facts which depict Israel as a nation under continuous siege, Jews still have an advantage in Israel which had been denied them for much of the past two millennia, the option of self-defense. This has caused some uneasiness for those who are more comfortable with the idea of the Jewish people as a small minority living within their states completely defenseless against their persecutors whenever and wherever they arise. The concept of Jews with tanks, fighter jets, naval ships, missiles and all kinds of combat arms securing their lands and fellow Jews from attempted persecution and annihilation is a concept which many appear to prefer to deny the Jewish State which is exemplified by their condemnations of any use of force by Israel in the defense of her people. There are many who oppose allowing the Jewish State to defend itself and wish to deny Israel’s right to exist, yet the same people also wish to expel the Jews from within their countries as well. Where these haters are powerless to dissolve Israel by edict, it is only their hatreds for the Jews residing outside of Israel where they deleterious desires can be actualized and it is these desires that need be addressed.

With the formation of the State of Israel in May 1948, we saw the dispossession of their Jewish populations by numerous Arab and Muslim nations over the next decade. Those Arab and Muslim nations who did not forcibly expel their Jews often did make the lives of their Jews difficult. There were the occasional pogroms, riots, confiscations of property and vandalizing of businesses, homes, synagogues and schools which belonged to or were operated by Jews. Some of these countries went to the radical ends by making being Jewish a crime punishable by death such as in Saudi Arabia. Europe experienced a guilt driven reprieve from its long, consistent history of recurrent, sporadic anti-Semitism after having their conscience assaulted by the revelation of the horrors of the Holocaust. Unfortunately, this suspension of Jew hatred was more of a suppression than an elimination which is now rapidly coming to an end. Once again as the European economies hit difficult times there are some in the masses who are turning to an old hatred on which to place the blame for their difficulties. The destruction and defacement of Jewish cemeteries, synagogues, schools, businesses and other easily identifiable places has become more prevalent with time. There have been actual physical attacks on Jews wearing readily identifiable clothing and items. The demonstrations against Israel have become larger and more hateful. The levels of hatreds and attacks have culminated in the assassination of a Rabbi, his two young sons and the daughter of the administrator at the Ozar Hatorah Yeshiva in Toulouse, France. Adding to the sickening reality of this horrid incident was the fact that anti-Semitic acts greatly increased following this hateful act. Adding to the ever growing problems and hatefulness in Europe has been the fact that the United States also has had an increase in acts against its Jews and those places and buildings which can be identified as Jewish. The acts in the United States may not currently rival those in Europe, but they appear to have a similarity to the situation in Europe of about a decade ago. Should these trends continue to increase and grow then the return to Israel of the world’s Jews may become a reality sooner than any expected when Israel was founded in May of 1948. This may be a sad reason behind forcing the return to Israel of the Jewish people but it may become result in a blessing upon its completion. For all that we can know these realities which may result in driving the Jewish people to return to their homeland and the Promised Land could be the result of a hidden hand forcing history to mold to a greater plan. It is said that there are no consequences and all things will play out as they are intended. Time will tell.

Beyond the Cusp

They’re Throwing Deadly Cinderblock Size Rocks; Not Just Little Pebbles

Rocks being utilized as deadly weapons have a long and storied history in the Middle East and throughout the ancient world. Armies had divisions of archers and slingers which were equal threats in the course of combat and wars. One of the most famous and well known confrontations from ancient times pitted a young smallish shepherd boy against a giant of a man in heavy armor and the young shepherd proved victorious using a fair sized rock and a sling. The battle is, of course, the Biblical confrontation between the Philistine Goliath and the Israelite David told in the Book of Samuel. If one were to go through the effort to review the photo and video evidence of these confrontations between Palestinians throwing rocks and Israeli IDF soldiers armed with rifles they would come across evidence which points to the standoffs as not being anywhere near as disparate as the media likes to portray these events. Often one will see evidence of Palestinians using slings in order to add more force to their projectiles though many of the photographers attempt to avoid having such throwers in their frames of reference as their intent is to display the maximum advantage to the IDF in order to make the Palestinians appear the victim of a great and horrendous inequality of force. Much of the more liberal Israeli press such as Haaretz is also to blame as they tend to downplay if they even bother to cover these attacks unless there are serious injuries or even deaths. There have been numerous rock attacks which have been covered by Arutz Sheva which is located in Beth El in Samaria where the Israeli victims have required Emergency Room care or even Hospitalization and surgery which were not covered in the majority of the rest of Israeli news services thus also never being picked up by the leading news sources around the world. If the potentially fatal rock throwing were to be covered whenever there was substantial damage or serious injury then the world would be reading about them on a weekly basis multiple times and even daily during the more active periods. The world would also be familiar with one especially dangerous type of rock attack utilized by the Palestinians where they use a car at high speed on one of the narrow two lane roads in Judea and Samaria and launch their cinderblock sized rocks or cement projectiles aiming for the driver’s side of the windshield of an oncoming vehicle thus having additional force equal to the additive speed of the two vehicles to maximize the potential for penetrating the windshield and killing the driver and possibly everyone else in the vehicle should the car lose control and careen off the road crashing into trees or overturning. But these attacks are rarely covered in any of the world’s major news services while every time the IDF responds to these deadly attacks they are front page news depicting them as bloodthirsty monsters.

 

The world media lack of coverage of the often life threatening rock attacks by Palestinians upon Israeli civilians should not come as any surprise as the world media does not cover the literally thousands of rockets fired out of Gaza by Palestinian terrorists belonging to Hamas, Islamic Jihad, al-Qaeda in Gaza, Popular Resistance Committees and any other terrorist groups targeting Israeli civilians almost exclusively with deadly intent. The only times the news services give coverage to the rocket attacks is when Israel responds with an offensive of their own such as Cast Lead and Pillar of Smoke, the actual translation of the latest Israeli response to the rocket attacks which was mistranslated as Pillar of Defense which gave a more ominous sound to the Israeli actions and avoided any reference to the Exodus in the Bible where the Israelites were led through their trek out of Egypt by a Pillar of Smoke by day and a Pillar of Fire by night. Even when the rocket attacks are covered they are contrasted against the Israeli response which makes them appear to simply be the Palestinian response to Israeli aggressions and often the coverage makes only minor references to the steady daily attacks by the terrorists in Gaza often going two, three, or even more weeks without having one day pass without at least one rocket attack. The coverage also will report the number of Palestinians who are killed often not differentiating and identifying that the largest numbers of these casualties are actual terrorists or their supporters. They also contrast that while the Israeli intervention is resulting in Palestinian fatalities that the Israelis rarely are killed by the rocket attacks and that this makes the Israeli efforts unfair and disproportionate. There is almost never any reflection or explanation of why the disparity between the two sides concerning casualties. The fact that in Gaza the terrorists demand that the civilians allow the storage of munitions and supplies within their homes, their Mosques, their Hospitals, their schools, and their public areas including shopping centers and markets with the threat of immediate execution as a collaborator if anyone should have the audacity to refuse is not reported. The rockets are almost exclusively fired from near schools, between houses, on hospital roofs, and often with children gathered around the launcher to guarantee the Israelis will not fire on the launch positions.

 

The reason that the Israelis have such a low casualty count is also hardly ever mentioned. Israel has built shelters throughout the regions which are within range of the majority of the rockets fired by the terrorists in Gaza. They require all new housing to be built with a safe room which meets structural requirements that make it able to withstand even a direct strike by the majority of rockets. The Israeli government has also reinforced schools, hospitals and people’s homes without charge for those who are unable to afford such upgrades. The Israeli government periodically offers to contribute or even to completely pay to have shatterproof reinforced windshields, rear window, and side window for the vehicles of people who live in areas prone to the rock attacks in order to keep the people safe or at least safer. Providing such services is an expensive endeavor but the Israelis having a great respect and love of life believing it is worth any price to keep the people safe. This respect for life is even seen when the Israelis must turn to using military force as they go to great extremes in attempting to avoid civilian casualties including calling off attacks if civilians are present and could possibly be placed in danger. Yes, sometimes there are mistakes which then are trumpeted by the world media endlessly for weeks, months even. One example was the massacre that never was in Jenin. Even despite the fact that the United Nations investigation into the so-called Jenin massacre proved that no such massacre took place and that of the casualties that the vast majority were combatants and there was no massacre but still there are speeches condemning the Israelis for the Jenin massacre held on college campuses during Israeli Apartheid Week and references to the Jenin massacre every year in the United Nations General Assembly recognition of the plight of the Palestinians held every year on November 29^th under the title “International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People”.

 

Simply ask yourself how many times you have heard about the rock attacks on Israelis by the Palestinians both in Judea and Samaria and even within the Galilee in the mixed towns, villages, and farm lands. There was one such attack just yesterday which resulted in tragedy. After an attack by Palestinians on vehicles, individual cars, buses and trucks, there were a number of resulting accidents one of which resulted in very serious wounds to a mother and her three daughters. Where the two oldest daughters and the mother are in serious condition in Beilinson Hospital, her infant one year old daughter is barely holding on to life and doctors are concerned and have reported to be doing everything in their abilities to save her delicate little life. This attack took place at the Gitai Avisar Junction where additional injuries have been reported. The wife of a former Minister of the Knesset was moderately injured when a rock crashed through the windshield of the bus in which she was a passenger shattering the glass some of which hit her face and slivers embedded in her eyes. She too is in the hospital receiving treatments and is expected to recover and retain her sight. Also, the bus driver was injured with broken glass striking his face and eyes yet somehow managed to take control of the bus and drive it beyond the ambush zone before pulling over and stopping. There were a number of other injuries at this location which continued until the Border Police and the IDF arrived on scene.

 

This was far from an isolated incident or something new, but most do not realize this as these attacks are rarely reported and when they are the coverage tends to minimize the severity and danger these attacks pose. Israeli former Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman was quoted giving some reference with which to frame this deadly attack by Palestinian terrorists stating, “The first victim who was killed by rock-throwing Arab rioters was soldier Esther Ohana, who had a rock thrown at her vehicle, hit her head and lost consciousness, and died two weeks later.” Lieberman was speaking about an attack which occurred in January of 1983. He added that since the murder of Ohana thirty years ago “dozens of others were hurt and seriously wounded by Arab rock-throwing rioters in Judea and Samaria.” It has possibly been the fact that such attacks have become commonplace enough that the Israeli and world press no longer sees any need to report them any longer. The problem this causes is that when Israel finally does respond to these many different, various but still consistent attacks, be they rocks or rockets, is that the heavy-handed blame Israel for the violence reporting becomes believable as the listeners have no reference or context of the months of terror attacks which forced the Israeli response. The public is left with the impression that the Palestinian rock, rocket or any other form of terror or assaults only occur in response to Israeli military actions. There is little history and reporting over the long buildup which necessitated the Israeli aggression so the Israeli response appears to have come out of the blue without any provocations. This is an injustice and only serves to discredit Israel and grant credibility to those who accuse Israel of needless violence against the poor innocent Palestinians who are cast as not being able or inclined to raise a finger against their oppressors, Israel. The truth is almost daily there are provocations where Palestinian terrorists threaten Israeli lives; destroy Israeli property, crops, vehicles, structures, homes and shops; fire rockets aiming at Israeli neighborhoods, shopping centers, synagogues, schools, buses, or anyplace that Israelis congregate; or sling rocks of varying sizes at Israeli individuals, cars, busses, light rail, and other forms of conveyance all of these disparate forms of violence intended to take Israeli’s lives or at least make their lives as difficult and treacherous as possible. While I have no illusions that the news reporting will change, I hold hope that the Israeli government will assign at least one Minister of the Knesset to publicize the violence and assaults aimed at the Israeli people and possibly begin to balance the reporting so that the people of the world can make fair and informed opinions and put an end to the propaganda and unbalanced reporting which by design makes the Palestinians victims and Israelis victimizers. The lie must be revealed and placed in the light of truth and allow the reality to be placed before the world and then when all the facts are in the open the people of the world can decide. It may not change a single opinion, but that is a different problem for another time. One calamity at a time, I cannot handle them in bunches.

 

Beyond the Cusp