After the Hamas attacks, anti-Semitism
flared up worldwide. This is disgusting and terrifying. Anti-Semitism has a
very bad record. This insane hatred causes calamity.
Watching American and European youth,
who have every reason to know better, chanting genocidal, anti-Semitic slogans
about making "Palestine" judenrein "from the river to the
sea" is nauseating and infuriating.
The world is in a very precarious place.
Unlike during the rise of Nazism, we now live in a nuclear world. Humanity's
stupid hatreds could render the planet unlivable.
I've donated to the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews.
Please consider donating to this or some other worthy organization. I've
published a few articles about October 7 and subsequent events. I have very
little power but I wanted to use what little power I have to contribute to
light at a dark time.
I support Israel. I oppose anti-Semitism.
I oppose jihad. I don't like Jews more than other people. I don't dislike Arabs
or Muslims. I support peace. I support the international order. I think torture
and murder and rape and the desecration of corpses are really bad things. I don't
want to see a wider war.
In my pieces, I've pointed out that the
Muslim Arabs committing atrocities against Jews on October 7 could cite Koran verses,
hadith, and examples from the biography of Muhammad to support their behavior. I've
also cited atrocities and discrimination against Jews in the Muslim world going
back centuries. These facts are not often mentioned by others. People fail to
mention these facts because they are ignorant, or they are cowards. Massacres
of Jews in Morocco, Baghdad, Libya, and Algeria. Read more here.
Until we address religiously-supported
anti-Semitism in Islam, we won't make progress.
On November 9, Ridvan Aydemir, a YouTube
content creator, read from Documents on German Foreign Policy. The
particular document he read from was a Nazi document detailing Muslim Arab support
for Hitler, Nazism, and the Holocaust. You can watch that video here. The
documents are online here.
I've been reading / watching / listening
to much media devoted to the conflict. I listened to a podcast called "Is
Anti-Zionism the New Anti-Semitism?" It was produced by "Open to
Debate," a program that used to be called "Intelligence
Squared." It's broadcast via National Public Radio. The mission of the
organization is to "address the extreme polarization of our nation and our
politics" and "restore critical thinking, facts, reason, and civility
to American public discourse."
Their website is here.
Host John Donvan said that "Open to
Debate" actually rejected the idea of holding a new debate after October 7
because the staff couldn't handle it. Why couldn't the staff handle it? Presumably
the staff of such a prestige program are intelligent and highly educated. They
are in touch with thought leaders.
Donvan doesn't say why the staff couldn't
handle a debate devoted to the October 7 atrocities and subsequent events, but
just look at any newspaper's front page since October 7. American's
universities and media are full of anti-Semites who viciously attack the right
of Jews to exist. And they think they are the righteous ones.
Instead of exhibiting the courage of
their own convictions, "Open to Debate" re-broadcast a show from
2020, "Is Anti-Zionism the New Anti-Semitism?" Arguing yes, it is,
were Bret Stephens, a New York Times columnist, and Einat Wilf, a former
member of the Israeli Parliament. Arguing against the motion were Peter Beinart,
author of The Crisis of Zionism, and Yousef Munayyer, Executive Director
of the US Campaign for Palestinian Rights.
Munayyer depicted Arabs as a tiny group
of people oppressed by hateful and powerful Jews. He argued that Jews in Israel
should just stand down and hand power over to Arabs. Arabs would grant Jews all
rights and everyone would live in peace. Clearly, Munayyer's insistence that
Muslim Arabs are a tiny, helpless group was absurd. His insistence that Jews had
nothing to fear from living in a Muslim, Arab dominated state was also absurd. Hamas
has openly stated its religiously-supported goal of genocide. See here.
During the "Open to Debate"
debate, none of the debaters took on Munayyer's folly. His fellow debaters
treated him and his transparently absurd promises with kid gloves.
Rather, the real problem was Poland.
Poland was mentioned four times in the debate, a debate that lasted less than
one hour. Poland was depicted as a country that is unsafe for Jews. Poland
expels Jews because it is so anti-Semitic.
In fact, the event to which Wilf
referred was a Soviet, Communist anti-Semitic action. Poland is now a country
of "no Jews." Her statement is false; there is a small but vibrant Jewish
community in Poland. Peter Beinart invoked Poland as a terrible place for Jews;
in contrast, the Muslim world, like Morocco or Iraq, is preferable.
So there you have it. Intelligent,
educated people, speaking on a network funded by taxpayer dollars, were afraid
to state the simple fact that the Koran, the hadith, and the biography of
Muhammad contain verses that inspire and justify anti-Semitic atrocities like
October 7. They were afraid to say that the Muslim world has a history of
anti-Semitic violence, violence condoned by explicit religious teachings. They
were afraid to say that Muslim Arabs have a history of collaboration with
Nazism. No one had the courage to peak any of these pertinent truths. But they
could condemn Poland.
Let's focus on this: "They were afraid to say that the Muslim world has a history of anti-Semitic violence, violence condoned by explicit religious teachings. They were afraid to say that Muslim Arabs have a history of collaboration with Nazism. No one had the courage to peak any of these pertinent truths. But they could condemn Poland."
ReplyDeleteQuite a few Jews have long been effectively blaming Poland for the German-made Holocaust. That's old news. But now some Jews effectively blame Poland for Hamas.
The wells of Jewish Polonophobia run very deep.
The problem is not just that people -- not just Jews but many people, including some Poles -- support the Bieganski, Brute Polak stereotype.
ReplyDeleteThe problem is also that Poles have not effectively addressed the Bieganski, Brute Polak stereotype.
Blacks and Jews, two stereotyped groups, have devoted energy to addressing negative stereotypes.
Poles have not done that work, and Poles pay the price
As ever, look in the mirror. Looking for a helping hand? Look at the end of your own arm.
And yet, when Poles do stick up for themselves, they are called "nationalists" or "heroic narrative" or "Jesus Christ of nations". Go figure.
ReplyDeleteYes, we have been put in a Catch 22 here. If we do not protest this constant vilification, then it must be true, or else we would protest it. But when we do - and we do - then that means we are "deniers" - so it must be true.
DeleteAny group put in this position by "the world" and its Movers and Shakers would find it impossible. But isn't that the point of a Catch 22?