This article first appeared in New English Review.
With the Israeli-Palestinian conflict raging in the Middle East, we have witnessed truly ugly scenes both in Europe and the US in the form of pro-Palestinian, anti-Israel rallies, protests, and riots.
In London, the boys with the Palestinian flags and keffiyehs with the black and white doodads fight police outside the Israeli embassy while their cohorts drive through a Jewish area with a loudspeaker screaming, "F--- the Jews, F--- their mothers, rape their daughters".
In Gelsenkirchen, Germany the rabble gather in front of a synagogue and scream, "Sh-- Jews".
In Paris, authorities refused to authorize a rally on Saturday due to fears of violence. They were proved right. Paris police had to spend their Saturday battling the mobs on the streets of what was once considered the "most beautiful city in the world".
Meanwhile, their police counterparts in Stockholm, Utrecht, Berlin, Milan, and many other cities in Europe fought to control the raging mobs with their Palestinian flags, and the ever-presence shout of, "Allahu akbar!".
In going through the European media reports, it appears that just maybe, finally, the Europeans are realizing the ugly fact: Their government leaders (in Western Europe, not Eastern Europe) have opened the floodgates to millions of people (overwhelmingly young, unaccompanied men) who not only do not respect Western values, and have made the crime and welfare statistics explode, but who have brought with them a centuries-old hatred of Jews. They are even starting to coin a new term for it: "Imported anti-Semitism".
Of course, most of the European media is slanted toward the Palestinian narrative and wrings its hands over the casualties in Gaza while hardly mentioning the rocket attacks launched by Hamas from Gaza. It is encouraging that the German government has come out and defended Israel's right to defend itself. Too bad, however, that it was Angela Merkel who started the invasion of her country and Western Europe back in 2015 in response to the Syrian civil war. And they wonder why, all of a sudden, they are having a problem with anti-Semitism in their lands.
In Europe, the rampaging Muslims don't even try to pretend that it is all about Zionism and the "oppression" of the Palestinians. They don't shout, "F--- the Zionists". It is "F--- the Jews". When you take your protest to a synagogue, that tells me this is not about oppression or land. This is about race. If by some miracle, every Jew in Israel converted to Islam tomorrow, the entire conflict would probably disappear.
But we are not free of this Jew-hatred in our country. It had been relatively dormant, but now it has been awakened, first on our university campuses, thanks to groups like the brown shirt Students for Justice in Palestine and their sister chapters of the Muslim Student Association. Now it is out in the community. This week, in Florida, a (peaceful) pro-Israel protest witnessed a van painted with slogans like, "Hitler was right", a swastika, and a Palestinian flag drive past them. In fairness, I should add that it is believed this was a group of white supremacists.
In New York City, Jews are now an open target especially since the renewed fighting in the Middle East. And the perpetrators are not white supremacists.
And the difference in the tone of rallies on the opposing sides is astounding. I attended a pro-Israel rally this past week in Irvine. There were some 200-300 people waving Israeli flags, but there was no violence. A few pro-Palestinian youths showed up, but nobody laid a finger on them. Yes, there have been pitched battles between Jews and Arabs in a couple of Israeli cities. Prime Minister Netanyahu has told the Israeli people there is no excuse for attacking Arabs on the street. Hamas, meanwhile, exhorts Arabs in Israel to attack Jews.
There was also quite a difference in tone in Italy. While former Interior Minister and Lega party leader, Matteo Salvini was speaking to an outdoor crowd of Jews and Israel supporters, making a brief but eloquent speech about how he stood with Israel and the Jewish people, there was no screaming, no rowdiness. The crowd listened quietly and applauded. Meanwhile, police in Milan were dealing with a screaming mob of Palestinian supporters in front of the famed Duomo cathedral.
How many cities in Europe or North America have we seen pro-Israeli crowds get violent or fight police?
It is high time that people in the West wake up and recognize who the good guys are and who the bad guys are. It should be obvious since it is right in front of our eyes in our own countries, in our own cities, on our own university campuses.
May God protect Israel and the Jewish people.
No comments:
Post a Comment