YNet News has a compelling report about a Jewish schoolgirl in Brussels who was recently attacked by five schoolmates because she was Jewish.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4158480,00.html
I wonder if our clueless ambassador in Brussels is aware of this. I also hope that clueless Mr Anonymous, who has been throwing stones at this site from behind his rock and who refuses to believe that Jews are victims of hate crimes, reads this.
This is not an isolated incident. These things are happening in many European countries, and the local authorities are usually afraid to take action. Why? because they don't want to be accused of being "intolerant."
Where are the imams in Europe who preach in the mosques? Why are they not condemning this and telling their listeners that this is wrong? I know of one in France who does, and he has put his life at risk in doing so. The problem is that too many imams are sparking these fires with their hateful messages against the very societies that have accepted them.
In Europe, it seems they have returned to the 1930s. Only the uniforms have changed.
The controversy over remarks on anti-Semitism by U.S. Ambassador to Belgium Howard Gutman led some Republican presidential hopefuls calling for Gutman's resignation. But it left others sympathetic - and angry.
ReplyDeleteRabbi Levi Shemtov, Chabad representative in Washington, told "Haaretz" he was "very upset" that Gutman was labeled anti-Semitic.
"He said things that might be controversial, and he admitted that. But to call him an anti-Semite? He goes to shul, he is well liked among the Belgium Jewish community, he has a lifelong history of support for Jewish causes - even on a personal level, not only as an ambassador," said Shemtov.
"An anti-Semite is someone who hates Jews because they are Jewish. He is as much of an anti-Semite as I am an astronaut… Once you start calling everyone you don't agree with an anti-Semite, we are in trouble."
http://www.haaretz.com/blogs/focus-u-s-a/ron-paul-u-s-money-won-t-help-israel-1.400607
Matan,
ReplyDeleteIf you go back to my post on Gutman, I did update it in his favor.
Yet Gutman was a sidelight in that post. Interesting that you did not address the attack on the schoolgirl. Where do you think those five girls learned to hate Jews ?
Well Gary, if you were concerned with the individual student, rather than with scoring brownie points, you might be right. Obviously the Belgians haven't had to deal with anything like this for a while, since the Nazi occupation ended, and don't know how to respond to violence on their own streets. (In America, we have never entirely gotten to the point of being free of violence, so we don't assume constant courtesy).
ReplyDeleteAlternatively, perhaps the Walloons and Flemings are too busy fighting each other to have time for Jews and Muslims. But certainly some female teachers should be appointed to grab these girls by the scruff of whatever they wear around their neck, and tell them that such behavior is not acceptable, no matter who they hate for what. The fact that the victim was Jewish makes the crime no worse, any more than it is an excuse.