Antisemitism in Its Finest Hours
Antisemitism in Its Finest Hours
"For now, it's no big mystery that this has nothing to do with the existence of the State of Israel and everything to do with Jew-hatred."
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If you agree that the terrorist group Hamas must be eradicated, like ISIS and others, then Egypt must allow innocent Palestinian civilians to be temporarily housed in Sinai (just south of Gaza).
With their vast fortunes, Arab countries who claim their brotherhood with the Palestinians should set up ample infrastructure and provide basic needs to the Palestinians in Sinai while Israel alone attempts to eradicate Hamas from the Gaza Strip.
We know that there are those in the Arab world with adverse geopolitical agendas who might be mandating to Egypt behind closed doors to not help the Israelis, even temporarily, and even though Israel and Egypt have been at peace for a few decades.
The Egyptians could very well be in an impossible position themselves, being threatened by other Arab countries who would rather see the Palestinians suffer and die because it serves these Arab countries’ interests for the Palestinians to remain impoverished and indefensible, and certainly not those of Israel.
We can also understand why Egypt could be intensely hesitant to allow innocent Palestinian civilians to be temporarily housed in Sinai. While Sinai is vast and entry into “proper” Egypt is not a stone’s throw away, Palestinian terrorists will very well be among these Palestinian civilians, and Hamas and Islamic Jihad could infect other parts of Egypt and create instability and even chaos for the Egyptians.
Let’s remember: Like Israel, Egypt is not on great terms with the Palestinians in Gaza, mainly because of the Hamas terrorist organization and Islamic Jihad there. It’s often stated that the Palestinians are barred from leaving Gaza, an unfortunate reality that both Israel and Egypt are aligned on for reasons mostly related to terrorism.
But with the proper setup in Sinai, thanks to a fraction of a fraction of a fraction of the Arab world’s vast fortunes, and perhaps support from the very Arab-friendly United Nations, these fears can be planned for and subdued.
This will enable Israel to best attempt to carry out the nearly impossible work of eradicating Hamas-infested Gaza, where Hamas and other terrorist organizations have built hundreds of miles of tunnels, multiple levels of them, and positioned themselves to unleash some of the most ruthless and inhumane combat tactics.
Not to mention, these terrorists will continue to use innocent civilians as human shields, including — unfortunately but quite probably — the living hostages they abducted last Saturday, October 7th.
Israelis will likely lose thousands of soldiers in our mission to destroy Hamas and other terrorist organizations in Gaza. Doing so immediately risks the opening of a second front in the North, where our other enemies are eager to support Palestinian terrorists in Lebanon, another Iranian proxy called Hezbollah. This second front could also lead to mass devastation in Israel, against Jews, but not only. (Something like three million of the nine million people in Israel aren’t Jewish.)
Some Israelis will blame Egypt and its Arab partners for not helping Israel eradicate Hamas with minimal damage to Palestinian civilians, but many Israelis (including myself) will not blame them. The Arab world has never really been our partners, even against the worst horrors of terrorism, and to expect them to change now is naive.
Yet many Israelis (including myself) are still very much ready to engage with the Arab world when they’re ready to genuinely engage with us, to ensure long-term peace and prosperity for the entire Middle East and all of its non-terrorist players.
As Golda Meir, a former Israeli Prime Minister, so aptly said:
“We can forgive the Arabs for killing our children. But we can never forgive them for forcing us to kill their children. We will only have peace with the Arabs when they love their children more than they hate us.”
If Egypt and its Arab partners don’t ensure the safety of Palestinian civilians from Gaza by temporarily giving them shelter and other basic needs in Sinai while Israel attempts to eradicate Hamas in Gaza, many of these Palestinian civilians — including children — will die.
And make no mistake: This will be Egypt and the Arab world’s fault, the blame of which can also be placed on the increasingly laughable United Nations. Unsurprisingly, the traditional media, social media, the United Nations, and the Arab world will blame Israel for endangering Palestinian civilians.
We already know this is happening across the traditional news outlets and social media across the world, rapidly perpetuating anti-Jewish narratives. Anti-Israel is anti-Jewish, because Israel is the Jewish homeland. Even many Jews who don’t support Israel on a regular basis fail to realize that anti-Israel is anti-Jewish.
Anti-Israel is not to be confused with being critical of Israel. As a matter of fact, millions of Israelis living in Israel and around the world are critical of Israel (myself included), but they are not anti-Israel. Also, many people fail to realize that you can be pro-Israel and pro-Palestinian; they are not mutually exclusive. I am both.
But let’s get one thing straight, before the timeline becomes hazy for many: “Pro-Palestinian” demonstrations around the world calling for violent Palestinian uprisings and the gassing of Jews began after Hamas’ massacre of Jews on October 7th, and before Israel’s response in Gaza. They were not solidarity with Palestinians; they were celebrating dead Jews.
“It is always interesting to note that only western liberal democracies tolerate and give succour to the most heinous arguments and positions in public protests,” wrote Gareth Cliff, a South African radio personality and television host who says he is not Jewish and has no ties to Israel.
“You couldn’t picket on the side of quite laudable things like education for girls in Taliban Afghanistan, gay rights in Syria, or against the death penalty in Saudi Arabia,” he added. “The Ayatollahs of Iran wouldn’t allow women to protest the hijab there under threats of violence. But London, New York, Sydney and even Johannesburg will embrace marches where people actively call for genocide.”
If Israel bombs Hamas, it’s purposefully endangering Palestinian civilian life. If Israel gives civilians advance warnings to relocate from certain areas, it’s engaging in ethnic cleansing. If Israel fires missiles into civilian infrastructure where Palestinian terrorists purposely house their forces and equipment, Israel is committing war crimes. If Israel attacks northern Gaza, it’s genocide. But if Israel pleads with the people of northern Gaza to relocate first, that’s “forced transfer,” which is genocide.
Don’t you wish people would just say it, without beating around the bush: “Let yourselves be massacred, Jews. Don’t fight back. Don’t do anything at all.”
Blaming one group (Israel) for another group’s refusals and failures (Egypt, the Arab world, the United Nations, and others) is called antisemitism, also known as Jew hatred.
Yet it's not the blatant antisemitism that so many of us think of when we hear this word. It’s covert antisemitism, subliminal antisemitism, disguised as “anti-Israel” or “pro-Palestine.” And this is what makes it hard to detect.
We all think we’re just watching the news, but we don’t realize that the news is perpetuating covert and subliminal antisemitism.
Antisemitism, both covert and overt, is nothing new to Jews. What is new, relatively speaking, is that the Jews now have their own country, with impeccable defense and intelligence. Israel will not be limited by its capabilities, but by international opinion and politicians across the world who are driven not by peace, justice, and ethics, but by appeasing their “pro-Palestinian” voters so they can count on their votes in future elections.
As a dual Israeli-American citizen, I personally worry that the Biden administration’s base of Democrats will quickly turn his administration from pro-Israel and pro-Palestine, to predominantly pro-Palestine, against the backdrop of the next U.S. presidential election in 2024, which Biden and the Democrats obviously want to win.
The pictures coming out of Israel and Gaza will only get worse in the coming days and weeks. The media and social media will use these to “shock and awe” people because this creates addiction to the news and social media, which serves the revenues behind these “journalism” and “social network” companies.
I will write more on this topic in the coming days, but for now: The Jewish future could very well depend on the outcome of this war. If Hamas is not completely eradicated, this could have unprecedented ramifications for Israel and the Jewish People across the world for decades to come.
Please do not misunderstand me: I am not fear-mongering. I am trying to convey the immensely sobering reality, albeit from an Israeli-American Jewish perspective. Jews across the world ought to be united against terrorists who vow for our annihilation, and we need our non-Jewish family and friends to stand with us side-by-side, no matter how nasty or seemingly hard-to-stomach things become in this war.
Let me be clear: I am only advocating for war against the Palestinian terrorists and those who (directly and indirectly) support Palestinian terrorists — a war they started on October 7th. I am also advocating for a two-state solution between the Palestinians and Jews, still trying to barely believe that this option is realistic and genuine on all sides, even as the reality staggeringly suggests otherwise.
But I will not sacrifice my people and sit quietly as double standards and covert prejudices continue to harass and exterminate us Jews, as they have for thousands of years.
“For now, it’s no big mystery that this has nothing to do with the existence of the State of Israel and everything to do with Jew-hatred — that great, festering wound in the side of humanity from which all prejudice flows,” Gareth Cliff wrote. “It has been there for thousands of years and every time we think it has healed, some monstrous collective claws it open again.”
Excellent and insightful piece, as usual! One possible correction. You refer to Egypt and other Arab countries that it has to contend with. Iran is not "Arab" as far as I understand, and it is a very major player.