RUTHFULLY YOURS

Violent anti-Semitic eruptions in Europe following the outburst of hostilities between the Gaza-based Hamas terrorists and Israel have become common and repeated occurrences. The European governments have done little to prevent the largely Muslim and some local anti-Semites from initiating violence against European Jews. It is particularly true of the German government and its leader, Angela Merkel. Chancellor Merkel invited over a million migrants into Germany, mostly Muslims from the Middle East and Africa. Their inculcated hatred for Israel and Jews has resulted in the desecration of Jewish cemeteries, Holocaust memorials, and attacks on synagogues. To assuage Jewish concerns, Merkel and the German government pay lip-service to the unacceptability of anti-Semitism in Germany due to Germany’s role in perpetrating the Holocaust in which Six Million Jews were murdered by Nazi Germany. In reality, few of the perpetrators are punished, and certainly not with long prison terms or deportation.

The New York Times reported (May 19, 2021) that rocks were thrown at doors of a Synagogue in Bonn. Israeli flags were burned outside a synagogue in Munster. Pro-Palestinian rallies took place in Berlin, Cologne, Dusseldorf, Hamburg, and Leipzig. “In Germany, where historical memory runs especially deep because of the Holocaust, pro-Palestinian rallies have been held in cities across the west of the country and in the capital, Berlin. Several have descended into violence, including anti-Semitic chants, calls for violence against Israel, desecration of memorials to Holocaust victims, and attacks on at least two synagogues.”

The German Interior Minister Horst Seehoffer threatened to crackdown on anti-Semitism at pro-Palestinian protests. He stated, “We will not tolerate the burning of Israeli flags on German soil and attacks on Jewish facilities.” He added, “Anyone who spreads anti-Semitic hatred will feel the full force of the law.” We have heard these immaterialized threats before, but then, political correctness appears to cause German officials to fold rather than deal forcibly with violent Muslims, many of them new migrants. European White Guilt, particularly toward Third World people, accompanied by the loss of national pride, and the will to defend its own traditional values, is allowing a violent minority to perpetuate anti-Semitic violence.

Disallowing anti-Semitic rallies, especially in Germany, isn’t only a matter of decency and morality, considering what preceded the latest Guardian of the Walls operation. The unprovoked Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) massive rocket attacks on Israel’s capital, and civilian population centers in the south and center of Israel, should be reason enough for Germany (and other European governments) to aggressively prevent these hate-filled riots.  Moreover, the Israeli government was trying hard to reach an agreement with Hamas, whereby Israel would advance humanitarian gestures to Gaza in exchange for calm. The German nation, more than any other, should consider the fact that Hamas and the PIJ have committed themselves to the destruction of the Jewish state, just as Hitler committed Germany to the destruction of the European Jewry. And yet, Merkel’s Germany is doing business with the Islamic Republic of Iran, which has declared its intention to “wipe Israel off the map.” German fear to alienate Muslim anti-Semites has found recourse in blaming native German right-wingers for most of the hatred and anti-Semitism in Germany rather than the radical Muslims.

The Central Council of Jews in Germany tweeted a video showing Muslim protesters in Gelsenkirchen, (western Germany), waving Palestinian and Turkish flags. The Council pointed out that, “The time in which Jews were cursed in the middle of the street should have long been over.” Adding, “This is pure anti-Semitism!” Felix Klein, the German government’s commissioner on anti-Semitism told Deutsche Welle (DW) that, “It’s appalling to see that kind of hatred expressed toward German Jews and synagogues here in Germany.”

Turkey’s dictator and major anti-Semite, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, never misses an opportunity during a crisis to do his best to raise the flames of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish hatred. His distortions and lies about the events that took place in last month’s violence between Hamas and Israel are libelous and downright evil.  Erdogan knows that Israel was savagely attacked by Hamas, and had the right to defend itself. This modern-day Haman, in seeking the role of the “Sultan of the Sunni-Muslim world,” is using Israel and Jews as the common target for hatred. He is inciting Muslims worldwide to join together to fight Israel. In the meantime, Turkish Muslim acolytes in Germany have used his lies to perpetrate violence in German cities along with their Palestinian co-religionists. Erdogan accused Israel of terrorism against the Palestinians, and qualified that “it is in their nature.” He went on further, saying, “They are murderers, to the point that they kill children who are five or six years old. They only are satisfied by sucking their blood.”

The US State Department condemned Erdogan’s anti-Semitic attack on the Jewish people and Israel. Ned Price, the State Department spokesperson delivered a message on behalf of the US government. He said, “Anti-Semitic language has no place anywhere…The US is deeply committed to combating anti-Semitism in all its forms. We take seriously the violence that often accompanies anti-Semitism and the dangerous lies that undergird it. We must always counter lies with facts and answer crimes with justice.” Erdogan was essentially inferring that Jews were baby killers, the old canard that hunkered back to the medieval European blood libel that accused Jews of murdering Christian children and using their blood in the Passover rituals.

While Germany’s crimes against the Jewish people cannot be forgotten, and the repeated anti-Semitic incidents there in recent times are more pronounced because of the Holocaust, Germany is not the only country in Europe experiencing anti-Semitism. Various manifestations of anti-Semitism have taken place throughout Western Europe. In Austria, a student was harassed on a train while reading a book with a Jewish title. A nurse in a London hospital, wearing a Star of David necklace, was threatened with violence. In Belgium, an orthodox Jewish woman sitting on a bench was told “get away, dirty Jewess.” A Jewish man in London was assaulted in his car because he had an Israeli flag. These incidents were followed by an assault on a rabbi outside his synagogue in Chigwell, a town outside London. On the same day, a convoy of eight cars displaying Palestinian flags drove through London’s northern suburbs, where many Jews live, yelling anti-Semitic obscenities on loudspeakers. It included such hurtful slurs as “F— the Jews, and rape their daughters…”

The cumulative impact of anti-Semitism is forcing European Jews to consider leaving the continent. Many have already left for Israel, the US, and Canada. Joel Rubinfeld, President of the Belgian League against anti-Semitism questioned his ability to stay in Belgium with his wife and young children. Brigitte Wielheesen, a well-known Dutch journalist, and counter-terrorism expert, wrote that after years of battling anti-Semitism, she has concluded that the activity has become useless.

German and European governments in general, lack the will, and courage to confront these Third World Muslim anti-Semites, whether legal residents or recent migrants. With Jews being a fraction of the Muslim population in Europe, the latter have gained considerable electoral power. Jews though, are the ‘Canary in the Mine.’ What starts with Jews will ultimately impact everyone.  If Europe cannot deal effectively with those who seek to undermine its values, it won’t survive as Europe.