American Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating anti-Semitism Reprimands Europeans

 

Just as Elan Carr’s speech to the confab of European Rabbis was concise and to the point, we will try and match his efficiency in use of words. But first we would like to link to our source for our material. It was refreshing to have a representative if the American Administration finally fighting for the Jews rather than finding excuses to give such efforts the sort shrift. Further, to hear one speaking truth to power, where too many people have been reluctant to call out the Europeans for making laws which basically tell their populations that Jews are no longer welcome, is a relief and gives one hope. In particular, he brought out the examples where nations have targeted Judaism stating, “We have these disgraceful pieces of legislation that ban ‘shechita’ and contemplating banning ‘Brit Mila’ … well let me tell you what this is, this is nothing other than a forced expulsion of the Jewish communities …” The beginning of his presentation was used first as a tribute to the pro-Jewish individual we have in President Trump, likely the most positive in his support and love for the Jewish People and Israel. Then Envoy Carr moved rapidly to the main points he wished to convey.

 

United States Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating anti-Semitism Elan Carr

 

About the only thing he missed was how these thus far European acts against vital parts of Jewish life is just another means by which Hashem is performing the In-Gathering of Jews to the Holy Lands. Envoy Carr touched on the fact that the United States is also facing a series of crises of its own makings. He continued noting the universal rise in anti-Semitism worldwide while targeting both left and right wing anti-Semitism stating, “We have a confluence of sources of anti-Semitic hatred, from the ultra-right ethic supremacist movements to the ultra-left, anti-Israel, anti-Zionist movement, to radical Islam – movements that should hate each other far more than they hate everything else, and then united in this age old sickness of humanity known as anti-Semitism.” It was good to hear somebody fight the good fight as we have contributed to with our own miniscule means. We have yet to receive an invitation to anything resembling the stature of those to which Mr. Carr’s words were directed. About the sole omission was admitting that the United States is close behind Europe, where anti-Zionist and anti-Israel positions have been obviously manifest and celebrated on both ends of the Atlantic Ocean. So, here is United States Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating anti-Semitism Elan Carr with his address given before the annual Conference of European Rabbis, this year in Antwerp.

 

 

We like the fact that Envoy Carr gave these European Rabbinical elites much to consider along with suggestions for the treatment of the growing anti-Semitism. Then he presented these Rabbis with direct orders to take back to their synagogues and Yeshivot the words of warning spoken that day. The remedy is what it has always been, education leading to understanding and recognition of the first seeds of anti-Semitism is when the fight needs already have been initiated. Pro-active steps are better than reactive steps, but even reactive steps are better than no steps at all. We would have to agree that the two scourges of Judaism are evidenced within his speech, growing levels of anti-Semitism and assimilation. These have been with the Jews ever since Pharaohs first restricted our use of straw provided by the Egyptians.

 

Where and when these forms of anti-Semitism will finally end is anybody’s guess. Ours is a traditional figuring that these will remain with us until the arrival of the Mosiah. It cannot be honestly claimed that these problems do not exist within Israel, as they are ever-present. What makes Israel a different case is that the anti-Semitism comes from within our people, the worst and most difficult type to fight. Where does one turn when the core of much anti-Semitism comes from within the tribes? This too is not anything original as such has posed problems from those faced by Moses upon his return down the slopes of Mount Sinai only to find those he was presumably bringing to the Holy Lands were themselves facing a crisis of the faith of the Jewish People in the sin of the Golden Calf. Imagine his dismay as Moses was coming upon this scene of debauchery being performed by the Jewish People. This was sorted out by Moses and set straight before Hashem. If only that had been the last time that the ancient Hebrews turned to a darker side and disappointed Hashem and Moses similarly, yet Moses fought for them repeatedly and properly as molding these people into a unified group capable of living a Torah defined life in the Promised Lands was his task assigned by Hashem. This difficult task was achieved only through weeding out those who were not worthy and educating a new generation which was worthy of receiving Hashem’s gift of the Promised Lands. That is what is so amazing about the Jewish People, we are continually fighting the same battles which largely exist today exactly as they did in the times of Moses. The difference is that today much of the problem could be rectified simply by bringing everyone home and then stand against the onslaught which assuredly would be coming as the Arabs would believe that this was their time to act. That form of overt hatred and anti-Semitism is far more easily fought than is that which rises from within our own ranks. The internal struggles are part and parcel of our eternal struggle and has often seen us as our own worst enemies. When we have first unified our own house, then we can administer to the rest of the world. To do so before that would be premature and leave us open for scorn. May the day soon come when we no longer sew hatred nor war anymore as we will have finally put down anti-Semitism in all of its manifestations and moved beyond primitive and petty hatreds, learning acceptance for all in our midst. Then will come the day when the words of Isaiah 2:3-4 will have come true, and finally we will realize these words.

 

And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of His ways, and we will walk in His paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares, and their spears into pruning hooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

If Israel Was a Normative Nation

 

If Israel was a normative nation, then the fact that the percentage of citizens who were Jews would simply be an anomaly. If Israel was a normative nation, she would not worry about what was the right thing to do. If Israel was a normative nation, her actions would be completely based on what served her interests. If Israel was a normative nation, other nations and groups would fear the potential retribution she is capable of loosing on any threat. If Israel was a normative nation, other nations would fear her nuclear and other military capabilities. If Israel was a normative nation, Hamas and Islamic Jihad would have been wiped from Gaza a long time ago. If Israel was a normative nation, the Palestinian Authority, Fatah, the PLO and their security forces would have been sent packing to whatever nations would permit their exile and the Arabs would have been given the opportunity to reside as resident aliens provided they accept Israeli law and renounce terrorism. If Israel was a normative nation, none of the Arabs remaining within her borders would even give the slightest thought of entertaining any acts against Israel. If Israel was a normative nation, the world would not dare push as far as they currently push as they would know it would not alter how she acts. If Israel was a normative nation, her new northern border would be the Litani River or further north after making a deal with Russian President Putin to divide Lebanon between the two nations and pushing Hezballah into extinction. If Israel was a normative nation, so many things would so completely different. But Israel is not a normative nation and things are so different because she is so different.

 

Israel is many things, but normative is not even a possibility. The Children of Israel (Children of Jacob who was also referred to as Israel by HaShem) were the original nation beginning with Abraham passing Isaac and then with Jacob from whom we became the twelve tribes. Then we spent our formative years in Egypt in forced labor, like the majority of Egyptians whose laborers performed forced labor. Then Moses lifted us from the drudgery of forced labor and started the Children of Israel (Jacob) on the most formative journey in history, and it is recorded closely in Torah. The initial lesson we received after the Ten Plagues, which did not affect the area where the Children of Israel lived in Goshen, was being pinned to the Red Sea with the might of the Egyptian Army about to close and descend upon them. Next came HaShem parting the Red Sea, the Children of Israel crossing and the Egyptian Army following only to be drowned when the parting was released, showing the greatness of the power of HaShem. Now the Children of Israel camped at Mount Sinai, where they were to receive the Law, Torah’s Commandments, all six-hundred-thirteen Commandments. Initially, as the tale is told, HaShem came amongst the Children of Israel to allow them to individually hear His laws directly, the entirety of the people died and HaShem was required to revive them. This was attempted again the next day with the hope that after having experienced HaShem, being present would make a difference, but the result was identical. This resulted in having Moses receive the Law and then teach them after receiving them directly from HaShem, as only Moses was able to stand in the presence of HaShem. One would expect that such an experience would also have a lasting effect. These laws received at Mount Sinai were also one of the bases for the morality and systems of governance with its emphasis on the respect for human life and the proper treatment of the stranger and the fact that the community is responsible for even the most vulnerable amongst us which were referred to as the orphan and the widow. For almost another twelve-hundred-years, the Children of Israel lived under Torah and the mitzvahs and commandments finding themselves often falling well short of the expectations.

 

The Children of Israel resided in the area close to the lands they currently reside. The main differences are the northern border used to be the Litani River and some of the tribes lived on the eastern bank of the Jordan River (see map below). The problem was the Children of Israel were internal and external difficulties and challenges. The first was the splitting of the tribes with the northern ten tribes splitting taking the name of Israel and the southern two tribes taking the name of the larger and more dominant tribe, Judah. The northern tribes were conquered by the Assyrians and assimilated and became lost to history and the southern tribes were conquered by the Babylonians. The Judeans returned as a province of Persia, built the Second Temple, and then fell to Greece and eventually Rome who then dispersed the Judeans, now referred to as Jews as Judeans was too difficult for the Romans to say, but despite all the troubles, the Jews remained a separate group. The one thought which held all Jews together was the simple faith and knowledge that the day would come when they would be returned to their ancestral lands. As in all things, there are Jews who argue over when and under what conditions we are to return to our ancestral homeland. The one thing we all agreed upon was where that land was and that the capital would be Jerusalem. So, it really is no wonder that Israel is not a normative nation.

 

 

So, now we live in the age where almost half of the world’s Jews live in their ancient homelands and passing that halfway point is probably less than a decade away. The world can now honestly say that the ancient Kingdom of Israel has been reestablished. Israel has returned and her ancient language of Hebrew has become the first language to return to use after being a dead language used solely in prayers. That is but one of countless miracles which have come about supporting the nations of Israel which is obviously not normative. This little nation of Israel has been facing a constant threat from the neighbors surrounding her and well beyond her border all claiming that she is an interloper and a trespasser who deserves to be destroyed in order to set the world to rights. What makes things worse is that it appears that many nations, groups and international organizations such as the United Nations and its tentacle agencies all agree that if only Israel were destroyed, then all would be right with the world. Any normative nation facing such threats would be very belligerent and overly sensitive to threats lashing out with all their military might to defeat any and all potential enemies. Any normative nation if forced into a war for their survival and find that miraculously they had prevailed and gained lands five or even ten fold their original size would simply retain ever square-millimeter claiming rightfully that all the lands were required to give additional depth for her ability to properly defend herself. Any normative nation would be permitted such remittance from the people who had attacked and thus after the Six Day War, the new Israeli borders would have been the Golan Heights, Jordan River and the Suez Canal with Israel retaining the Sinai Peninsula. But that was not to be permitted for Israel, as she is not a normative nation. Piece by piece, Israel was required to return lands which could have permitted her to better defend her people and survive in a hostile neighborhood and there are pressures to return every millimeter that continues through today. Some nations clearly state with great volume and determination that Israel must not be permitted independence at all and must be completely eradicated, yet the world condemns Israel for not accommodating these enemies.

 

 

But Israel is not a normative nation and as such she has been known in times of great distress in her history to have bent and bent and bent until it appeared she would break, but instead of breaking, Israel would snap and then become a very normative nation striking out at those who wished her harm with a ferocity of unexpected vehemence. That is one historic trait which the modern world has yet to witness, and it would be horrific should such become unavoidable. Israel is not a normative nation and probably wishes to avoid such a response as much if not more so than do those who would bear the brunt of such violence. What has been a great mistaken judgement by Hamas, Islamic Jihad and those supporting their current rioting and incendiary attacks using kites and balloons to burn almost a thousand acres, if not more by now, and their attempting to breach the border with promises of tearing out our hearts and eating our livers, and all sorts of threats depicting the ways they intend to wipe us from the world as we do not deserve to live on this their lands is that we will never defend ourselves. That is really a mistaken thought. The people of Israel are growing exasperated with these antics and the stressful conditions these threats produce. Do not believe that this is true only of the Israelis residing within the range of these attacks because not only is Israel not a normative nation, Israelis are not a normative people because we are all the Children of Israel, the Children of Jacob, we are all family and those who are threatened are actually our bothers and sisters and their families. This makes their children our nieces and nephews and we care deeply for our family members, enough to demand that our government begin to act like a normative nation and respond in like kind to these violences. As ours is a democratically chosen governance, the ruling coalition is not capable of forever ignoring the desire of the people for the Gaza threat to be eliminated with every amount of malice which can be delivered. Eventually, even if we really were saints, there is a point where provocations require a response and that response is almost always an overreaction. The measure of how much of an overreaction is often directly proportional to the amount of time restraint has been the practice. The Israeli public has been showing restraint for at least twenty-five years, and possibly seventy years, or someplace in between, and that reticence will not continue for much longer. We may have the patience of saints, but we are not saints, we are men and women who worry and care about our brothers, sisters, nieces, nephews and every other member of our family and that worry will drive our reacting, nay, overreacting. All we can warn our neighbors in Gaza, continue to push Israel until acting becomes necessary at your own risk, and it is your risk.

 

Beyond the Cusp

 

It Is Not Just Israel Muslims Claim

 

It’s the entire world. But perhaps we should start small and work our way to the entirety of reality. Their current concentration is focused on the crown jewel of the world, Jerusalem itself. There is another name for Jerusalem, which lives in the heart of Judaism, Zion. The very meaning behind Zionism and the Muslims know this, for that is why they make it their central demand as their capital. The idea is to deny the Jews their own nation, self-rule and the right to have an army with which to defend themselves. Yasser Arafat made the original statement that has become the mantra for the Jerusalem is holy only to the followers of Allah when he threatened, “A million Shaheeds will march on Jerusalem.” Thusfar there have been no marches by Shaheeds on Jerusalem, but there has been the normative response to President Trump’s recognition of Jerusalem as since the speech, thirteen rockets have been fired from Gaza into Israel. Three were fired two nights past and still no coverage anywhere else in the world about these attacks upon Israel. But the media may soon awaken as that same night Israel responded striking three known Hamas facilities, training and weapons storage sites. Now the media will announce that Israel has bombed Gaza and mention the tragic damage and the number of people whose coffee was spilt as they were startled and about paragraph four or five will be the mention, in passing of course, that the strikes were in response to numerous rocket attacks on Israel. The media is well aware that the majority of their readers hardly ever read beyond the third paragraph and thus many will believe that Israel attacked Hamas and Gaza for no reason. The world is playing a very dangerous game which will come back to haunt them some day.

 

The world needs to learn about Islam and the goals, which were set for the religion by the founders who wrote the Quran. The final Quran was written from memories and collected written versions of parts of the presumable original writings, which may have been written during the life of Muhammad. The writing and compiling began with Abu Bakr, and then passed on to the next Caliph, Umar ibn Al-Khattab who then passed it on to others until it was finalized under the supervision of Uthman ibn Affan. This final compendium was set approximately twenty to thirty years after Muhammad’s death. The main reason for Islam, according to the teachings and prophesies of Muhammad was to bring both Judaism and Christianity to a close replacing both as Islam was the final revelation of Allah. Islam claimed that every individual from the Old Testament, the Torah specifically, were actually Muslims. Such individuals Islam claims were followers include but are not limited to Adam, Eve, Noah, Moses, Abraham, Isaak, Yaakov and Aaron. Further, Solomon built a Mosque, not the Temple. The fact that Islam came many thousands of years later apparently poses no problem for the followers of Islam. Their claim is that the Jews and then the Christians had diverted from the teachings of Allah as they had been given to Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses and Jesus requiring for Muhammad to be retold the original message from Allah correcting everything that Jews had believed for two thousand years, despite it being presumably incorrect. So, the Quran claims that Judaism and Christianity are presumed to be tainted beliefs, which have fallen away from the true teachings of Islam, and as they were presumed to have originally been Muslims and now follow false beliefs, they are heretics. Jews and Christians are to be saved only by having them return to Islam and the entire world is to be brought to the sole and only true faith for all of mankind. That is true; they believe they must bring every last human being to Allah, no exceptions. They are also informed that those who refuse to follow Islam are to be relieved of their life of sin. This is why some have claimed that Islam believes they are to conquer the world for Allah.

 

What does all of this mean for everyone outside of Israel? Well, the first thing it means is that with time you will face everything which has been done by Muslims to Israel. This trend has already become evident with the spread of terrorism to Europe and then the United States. Israel has been facing the terror threats since well before the founding of the state of Israel in May of 1948. This was most obvious during the 1929, 1933 and 1939 Arab rioting in Jerusalem, Hevron and elsewhere with the intent of murdering and maiming Jews in an effort to turn back the tide of Zionism and prevent the Jews from realizing their dream. When this did not result in preventing the founding of the Jewish State, the Arab League declared war on Israel with six nations, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Lebanon and Egypt, all attacking Israel from every direction aided by Muslim militias from throughout the Islamic world. If ever there was a modern day miracle, it was the survival of the nascent state of Israel over 1948-49 in the first Arab War of Israeli Annihilation. There were two more such wars, the Six Day War in 1967, and the Yom Kippur War in 1973. Once those proved that regular military attack was highly unlikely to ever result in the defeat of Israel, they changed their tactics turning to terror.

 

The initial decision to start with terror was in 1964 with the establishing of the Palestinian Liberation Organization, PLO. In 1964, Israel was obviously still within the pre 1967 War borders, so exactly what lands was the PLO founded to liberate as Palestine. If your answer was Israel meaning places such as Tel Aviv, Netanya, Hadera, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Akko and the rest of Green Line Israel, you are correct. When the Oslo Accords were signed, the Palestinian Authority (PA), the replacement name for the PLO presumably now a friend to Israel, was charged with altering the Charter to no longer call for the destruction of all of Israel in exchange for promises from Israel. Well, Israel delivered and the PLO and PA never have altered their Charter which still calls for the complete destruction of Israel. Once, when Western observers including representatives from the United States witnessed a PA government session, there was a vote to form a committee to look into ways in which the Charter might be altered to satisfy the Oslo Accords and as none of the observers spoke any Arabic and all relied on PA provided interpreters, left believing that the Charter had actually been amended during what they witnessed. The committee was never formed and the Charter still calls for the Destruction of Israel while the West continues with the false pretense that the Charter reads as they would like it to read. What is really as sad as it is dangerous is the fact that much of Europe there are those who could not bother to care one way or the other concerning anything in the Middle East, especially Jews and Israel, unless it affects their lives directly, which more often than not, until recently it never did. The rest mostly actively desire the destruction of Israel and the good thing is these people realize the truth concerning the Arabs and Israel and the bad news is they fully support the end of Israel and the Jews if possible. Anti-Semitism is alive and doing well in Europe. The really sad truth is anti-Semitism is growing in the United States, particularly on college and university campuses where billions of invested Arab petro-dollars have bought them serious influence on the curriculum of Middle East studies and even many Political Science Departments, History Departments, Sociology Departments and other social sciences. They do not attempt to influence the hard sciences, as it is difficult to make any alarming alterations to studies which have actual truths which the sciences teach, as these are very unforgiving subjects with real and actual truths. Even more threatening is that these influences are being carried out on some of the most influential campuses in the nation and thus are affecting some, if not many, of the future leaders of government and industry. This too will have a price in the future, as now it is as if the world has been turned upside-down.

 

A World All Upside Down

 

Reality is that what has been happening in Israel is coming to the rest of the world and will come with fury and storm. The violence which we have suffered in Israel will now be visited on Europe and, if the United States is not prudent, will strike in the United States soon as well. What will be another sad commentary will be those who will claim that the violence waged against Western nations is because of the Jewish presence and if only the Jews would recant and make whatever amends are demanded of them, then the Muslims would be satisfied and the terrorism would end. There will be demands from Western governments that Israel be forced to concede to the Arab demands and this will very probably lead to nations demanding in the United Nations for Israeli membership be revoked and the articles calling for the founding be erased allowing for the world to pretend Israel has no right to exist. People find this difficult to understand but even the United States will turn against Israel and those who support Israel will face rage and anger beyond imagination. Israel will become the difficult question and Jerusalem will be as in Zechariah 12:3 where it opens with, “On that day, when all the nations of the earth are gathered against her, I will make Jerusalem an immovable rock for all the nations. All who try to move it will injure themselves.” Unfortunately, for Israel, which will suffer greatly as this day approaches, and even more so for the nations of the earth when they batter themselves and Hashem reveals his might for the entirety of man to perceive. But after that, the world will make a choice, may it be a wise choice.

 

Beyond the Cusp