A Single Lifetime Later, Part II

At a recent conference, I was having lunch with 3 other Jews. One, was a conservative male. The 2 females were liberal and leftist. One of the women mentioned that not all criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic. Of course that is true. Any country, any individual, is subject to legitimate criticism. But that comment missed the point entirely - as most criticism of Israel is, in fact, anti-Semitic. And that anti-Israel criticism has helped bring about anti-Jewish attitudes worldwide. After all, when one country is held to a standard that no other country is held to, and when the people of that country are repeatedly demonized, well, the outcome is rather predictable.

The Dutch have been having a problem with anti-Semitism and Jew hatred in their schools. One teacher was giving a lesson on democratic values. A female student of Moroccan descent said: "If I had a Kalashnikov I'd gun down all the Jews." The teacher, taken aback, tried to get an expression of empathy from this student. So, the teacher asked what a 5 year old living in the Netherlands had to do with Israeli policies. Said the same student: "The Jews should die."

You see, when Israel is demonized, when world leaders including Ban Ki-Moon justify or seek to understand Palestinian violence against Jews, then the lines ultimately get blurred. Israel is Jews, Jews are Israel, Israel is the worst country on earth, Jews therefore are the worst people and should die.

As the demonization of Israel grows, so do the number of anti-Israel NGOs. Here in the US, we have groups such as Students for Justice in Palestine, the Muslim American Society, Jewish Voice for Peace, If Americans Knew, CAIR, and others. At the UK's Oxford University, one member of the Labour Club just resigned in protest. The Club endorsed the "Israel Apartheid Week" on campus, a week that also occurs on many US college campuses. In addition to inviting anti-Semitic speakers to campus during that week, Jewish students are harassed as well.

Some members of the Club not only have expressed their solidarity with Hamas, they have defended Hamas' murdering of Israeli civilians. One student claimed that "most accusations of anti-Semitism are just the Zionists crying wolf." Just imagine college students in the UK and US during WWII announcing their support for Hitler - especially as the bombs were falling on London. One must ask how support for Hamas has reached this point. Hamas, non-democratic, anti-women, anti-gays, where allegations of providing information to Israel can result in immediate execution without a trial - how does an anti-Western group like that garner such support? By convincing the world that Israel and Jews are evil. But why do Westerners buy into such lies?

There are Arab members of the Knesset (Parliament) in Israel. One, Haneen Zoabi, said this: "The occupier (Israel) does not have the right to self-defense." So, according to this Arab member of the Knesset, Israelis only have the right to die. As much of the world has come to believe the same thing, we see how anti-Semitism has reached its highest level since the end of WWII.

At the above mentioned lunch, I replied to the woman who said not all anti-Israel criticism is anti-Semitic. After agreeing, I started to tell her some of the history of the Middle East, as I suspected she had no clue. As I was simply giving dates and what occurred (see Part I), the other woman got a disgusted look on her face and got up and excused herself. I am used to liberals not being able to tolerate hearing facts that are contrary to their world views.

But how sad when my fellow Jews not only have no interest in hearing the truth, but will automatically align with the Palestinians as the underdogs. How sad that they accept without hesitation all the anti-Israel and pro-Palestinian propaganda. I would love to ask the woman who walked why she supports a group that is anti-feminist and anti-gay. I suspect I would be told that that's not true, that Hamas and the Palestinians love women and gays. Other Jews post pro-Palestinian articles on their Facebook pages. One such link to an article that was on the Huffington Post was by a Palestinian and was entitled "The US Must Accept that Israeli Leadership Wants Apartheid not Peace."

The title of this article is akin to Jimmy Carter's book, "Israel, Peace not Apartheid." Not surprisingly, the article makes no mention of Palestinian terrorism and murder of Israeli civilians. Only a few days ago, an off duty 21 year old Israeli soldier, a husband and father to a baby girl, was murdered by Palestinian terrorists. He was stabbed to death, stabbing being the preferred method of killing in this third intifada. The murderer was 14 years old.

Also recently, after the murder of a 19 year old Israeli border policewoman, the father of the attacker said this: "We received the news with joy, a martyr, our lord chose him from among the people to be a martyr, Allah will pardon him..." Want to know why there is no peace? Because today, as in 1947, as in 1948, as in 1956, as in 1967, as in 1973, as in 2000, as in 2008, the Arabs prefer to kill Jews rather than have their own state. When children are taught to murder, when parents are happy that their children are martyred (killed when attacking Jews) how is peace even conceivable? Peace does not happen when only one side desires it. Maybe somebody can explain that to Fabius, Moon, Kerry and Obama, and the rest of the liberal establishment.