The West will not lose its Jews in one dramatic moment. It will lose them through a slow drip of insult, a steady rise in fear, and a growing sense of no longer belonging.
To say that the West is “sleepwalking” excuses the very conscious decisions made by Western governments, media, academics, so-called cultural elites. The reality is that the West is ushering in an exodus of its Jews.
Bondi Beach pogrom. Who’s next? London, Toronto, Paris, New York? The West invited the Islamists to globalize the intifada, and the Islamists have obliged. The West is demanding its Jews have a Plan B. Do we? Do you?
For sure, but the article addresses the specific issue of Jews. There are over two billion Christians who’ve got considerably more power than a few million Diaspora Jews. Why aren’t they doing more to pressure their governments to respond to Islamic extremism? Why did the Pope use his Christmas sermon to talk about Gaza rather than Muslim attacks on and the shutting down of European Christmas markets? The West is sleepwalking, as the article notes, and Diaspora Jews are the easiest target and the first target.
How much more are western countries supposed to do without becoming full-on fascist states? The U.S. already got into not one, but TWO ultimately-pointless wars that cost untold amounts of money and American and foreign lives and gave millions more PTSD in the name of “fighting terrorism”. Oh, and one of those (Iraq War) actually made the terrorism problem WORSE than it already was. So tell me: how many gentile lives in the west and elsewhere must be sacrificed/ruined just so a few million Jews can feel safe?
Holy crap—how the hell did you even come up with that response? I NEVER said anything that even implied either of those things. I was merely pointing out the problem with saying that we need to “put more pressure” on our governments to “fight terrorism” without even knowing what that’s supposed to look like due to how much damage has actually resulted from that not being the case. And I must say, you really aren’t helping the cause of Jewish people here by just completely disregarding what I said about potential consequences for everyone else if we were to repeat the mistakes of the “war on terror” all over again. Kinda feeds into the stereotype of them seeing everyone else as disposable pawns, don’t you think?
Again, I NEVER said that. I simply said that SOME Jews seem to be in favor of us making the same kinds of reckless mistakes we made starting in the early 2000s that made everyone’s problems worse. There’s a difference between blaming them and pointing out that some of them are supporting it (certainly if this comment section is anything to go by) and that they should maybe think harder about the implications of what they want to have happen.
Unfortunately you’ll be replaced with Muslims, the NHS is currently like the UN and apparently Muslim parents in the UK are very keen on their children going to university, which tends to counter their image as backward god-botherers.
Wow, so now we’re so keen on fighting Muslim antisemitism that we’re fully embracing a worldview that is almost always antisemitic in nature? Looks like we’ve come full circle, folks!
Very true assessment! I live and work in Sweden, where the Jewish community is only about 20,000 people — small, but full of incredibly bright and driven young people. And now so many of them have already moved, or are preparing to move, to Israel. These are kids who will become doctors, engineers, scientists — the kind of minds that shape the future. It’s bittersweet to watch them leave, but I know this: their talent and passion will make Israel stronger than ever.
By moving to a place with an even larger proportion of fanatics? How does this make sense? Since when has Israel ever actually been safer for Jews than Sweden in the modern day?
They were talking about beliefs. Are the beliefs of Muslims not similar to ones in the Torah? I know that Evangelical Protestant Christians love the Old Testament with all its calls for genocide of non-Jews.
I said that the Old Testament calls for genocide of non-Jews (which it literally does) and yet Evangelicals still love it. And you know, they’ll always try to rationalize that somehow, but those of us who don’t believe in the Bible know what they’re actually doing even if they don’t fully realize it.
Perhaps you haven't noticed that both Jews and Christians have ceased to follow many of the injunctions of the Hebrew Bible e.g. executing adulterers and homosexuals; practising polygamy etc. Many Muslim countries are following these injunctions, picked up by the Quran from the Bible.
Is that meant to be a fully realized argument? That Evangelicals advocate the murder of unbelievers because of a 3 thousand year old admonition? Really? Have a great life.
Okay, so what are you going to do about it? Pack up and leave again? How about solutions as well as complaint, Nachum? I love your writing, and this essay is valuable, but again, are we going to just recognize the problem, shake our collective heads, abrogate responsibility to all that have suffered this before and begin to suffer again? The same old script.
My solution is a take on John Galt’s solution. Stop the money: Investment, donations, philanthropy. Walk away from research, the arts, medicine, etc. Don’t donate to ANY political campaign. Take all these measures for a time, and see what happens then. You cite an urgent and credible threat to diaspora Jews. Well then, you need a credible, difficult and painful solution. Otherwise, if things are as bad as you say, pack your bags again.
Thank you for offering at least one possible, effective solution. As a Christian, I have to tell you that the exodus of the Jews from the United States is a chilling prospect. Because, I firmly believe God will withdraw His blessing and protection over this country as a result. On another note, permit me to relate this story. Not long after October 7th, Sen. Schumer delivered a powerful cautionary message, as well as being personally moving, regarding the rise of antisemitism. As a conservative republican I called his office to thank him for his speech. Fast forward to a couple of months ago. I saw a video of Sen. Schumer dancing around at a rally, with a keffiyeh around his neck. I was shocked. I thought to myself, "Chuck, what are you doing? Do you not know, do you not believe that the intifada people are coming for you and your people?" It was a sad day for me. I mostly haven't agreed with his political positions but I always respected him as a leader.
Given we’re on the cusp of Chanukah, it’s fitting to remember the Hellenized Jews who sided with Antiochus and his campaign to eliminate real Judaism in the Land. They thought by going with the flow it would protect them. Schumer is just another one of today’s Helloni. They are delusional.
Thank you for your thoughtful reply, Jane. Whether God withdraws his blessing or not, withdrawing dollars always seems to work pretty well at getting people to “rethink”.
Bobby, at this point, I doubt very much that withdrawing dollars will have an impact. For every Jewish dollar withdrawn there are a hundred Qatari dollars in its place. History shows us that antisemitism does not respond to reason, incentive or the honest appeals of the Jewish community. Western civilisation is destroying itself, as have many civilisations before it. The Jewish people will survive and thrive again because, as it turns out, being anchored to your history, faith and moral code is a pretty effective survival strategy. That’s a lesson civilisations seem to resist to their peril.
I went to high school with Chuck the schmuck. James Madison, Brooklyn, New York. He has no spine. He has sold his people down the river. I don’t know how he can look in the mirror.
It is tragic. It must not have occurred to him that in selling his people down the river, he may find himself on a boat down the river and no one around to help him out. He COULD be positioning himself as a strong, uncompromising voice for Jews in America. He already has a national platform. I heard that voice a few days after October 7th, in his speech warning of the rising tide of antisemitism. He appears to have now stepped into the background, allowing the likes of AOC to be the face of the democrat party.
Problem is, the Muslim money has become more important that the Jewish money. Islamists have given billions to elite universities (and we see the results of that) and even K-12 schools now. Billions to influence politicians (or outright buy them), billions on social media. Jews are waaaayyyy outnumbered.
The money issue may be problematic for the Jews but muslim money is a problem for every single American. I am not Jewish but I grew up (and am now 76) believing that Jewish philanthropy was significant in education, the arts, science, medicine and on and on. The donations have blessed American life in a positive ways. The muslim money, au contraire, is a different thing altogether. It is designed to destabilize and ultimately destroy American institutions and eventually establish a muslim caliphate. You think I'm a conspiracy theorist? You won't offend me by calling me one. There are muslim leaders in this country saying this is where America is headed. To hell with democracy.
A conspiracy theory has no real proof. Saying Muslim money is corrupting our institutions is not conspiratorial because we know where they are spending money, and it is not on pro-America or pro-arts. You are not a conspiracy theorist, you are stating the truth.
As long as those Hadji scum keep committing mass murders on US soil we will all quietly wish every last one of them was ghosted. San Bernardino, Orlando, 9-11 etcetera haven't been erased from everyone's memory. All of maga no doubt wants them boiled down into soap, as do many liberals and most Jews.
The issue is our unelected leadership who is chosen due to connections and the old boys' network often, rather than ability, at least in Canada. When the Jewish leadership act like Court Jews in 18th century ghettos, going grovelling to the long time Jew hater, the Irish Catholic PM, Carney, and his Hamas atrocity loving Liberal Party, to beg for protection, we have lost the fight already. Why should non-Jews do anything to help when we Jews act as if we are seemingly helpless victims who refuse to fight for ourselves, and think that by debating, writing opinion pieces, and begging the Jew hating police for protection is the only solution. These same police, just like in Britain, believe Jews can be intimidated as we obviously are harmless, thanks to our so-called gutless leaders, and thus threaten us with arrests for walking down the street near a demonstration or have a counter demonstration, rather than the violent virulent jihadists like in Toronto, Winnipeg and Montreal, who love to go on Jew hunts, or commit arson, shoot at Jewish schools, synagogues, and Jewish homes, and threaten us with death.
Bobby, I think you are under the misapprehension that antisemitism, and the societal mental rot that drives it, is the responsibility of Jews to solve. The role of Jews is to remain Jews, and stay true to Jewish values.
Number one is to use the courts like the American Jews have and Jewish lawyers providing pro bono services to people doing so. Secondly, refuse to be intimidated. If the jihadists are allowed to have virulent demonstrations in Jewish neighbourhoods, do the same back to them. Thus showing up the police and courts' double standards when the police threaten to arrest Jews or do arrest Jews who are doing exactly what the jihadists are allowed to do. Thirdly, leaders must stop thanking the police despite the open hostility to Jews by the police, the allowing of virulent demonstrations that break all hate crime laws, and the police acting as servants and bodyguards of the jihadists. They must go instead on the offensive to how the police are acting. Fourthly, rabbis and leaders must stop the ghetto message of hush, hush, do not make waves. Rather bring in experts who can teach how to be proactive in dealing with the jihadists and with the police and if necessary, organizing demonstrations where the message is not "Oh, we love Canada, despite being treated worse than dogs", but being tough, with only one message- we will fight whoever harms us. There needs to be no politeness, no Canadian flags, and no national anthem of a country where the government has consistently incited hatred and violence towards the Jews, and where the public supports the hatred of Jews.
Good suggestions. Thanks for answering and expanding the discussion. Again, I say stop the flow of money and you’ll see how fast the narrative changes.
This is one of the saddest articles I have read in a long time. If our political and community leadership don’t wake up and deal with it, the reality will be an exodus of Jews from the west many to Israel and many wherever they can find some semblance of safety and acceptance.The silent majority amongst nations also has to wake up and pushback in great ways against the wave of antisemitism and discrimination against Jews.
25-30 years ago I used to argue to the other Jews from Toronto that once public sentiment is against the Jews that the laws and protections won't be of any use any longer. They would dismiss and mock my predictions.
I am also a Canadian Jew living in Winnipeg and can identify with your frustration. The unelected leaders of our communities might as well be in the 18th century where "hush, hush, make no waves" is the constant coming from them. If one dares mention that Holocaust education is useless to fight this new form of Jew hatred, you get outrage. If you mention standing up to the hatred and using innovative ways to actually go out and fight it, and not be polite and submissive you are warned ironically, that will cause "them" to hate us. They already hate us, so maybe perhaps intimidate them instead with the courts, refusal of giving large donations, and big counter demonstrations and refusing to move. I must say Gail Asper from the Asper Foundation has shown a way. She refused this year after years of doing so, to fund over a million dollars to bring in a world famous musician for the opening of the Winnipeg Symphony's season starting this September. Why? The Symphony held its 75th anniversary celebration of the afternoon of Yom Kippur, the year before. Since the Jewish community had a big part in starting the symphony and a Jewish conductor was the first conductor for the symphony, it was met by many local Jews with outrage. No apology, nothing from the obvious Jew hating Symphony community, as a present after Oct. 7. Gail Asper gave her gift of no money back to them.
Alot of the Jews I knew in Toronto were far more dedicated to their social ideal of no nationalism rather than to the Jewish community or Israel. They projected on to Canada, and bought into the portrayal as such, an ideal of a multicultural paradise.
Most if not all of my family members were a nasty bunch. They portrayed themselves, as most Jews from the Toronto Jewish community I was from, as great moralists, but a layer 2 down past the onion skin they were a very nasty bunch.
My adult children are too busy with jobs and family to be aware of what is happening in the US and Europe (and beyond)--just as I was at their age. They think I'm a bit hysterical about the shocking rise of Jew Hate and what is going on, even at institution levels. Now that I'm older, wiser and retired, I could probably qualify for a Masters degree in Middle East politics; that is how immersed I am.
I try to explain to my kids that I'm not being "hysterical" --I'm being historical; the patterns of rising Jew Hatred we see now are nearly identical to those of the past. A tipping point--when it becomes undeniable and will force all Jews to pull their heads out of the sand--could come at any point. For instance, just imagine if Erika Kirk decides to announce she is certain that Israel and the Jews were behind the assassination of her husband (as fast-growing numbers of Jew haters are claiming loudly, along with all the other tropes they keep promoting).
I have never been bothered by "country club" Jew haters--people who just don't like Jews and exclude them from social activities and turn up their noses at the mention of Jews. That's all just "sticks and stones." But now we see the shocking rise of the most dangerous type of haters now, manifesting as pure, irrational hatred and belief that Jews really are Satan's spawn and should be expelled at best, sentenced to death at worst. These haters have millions of social media followers and are being promoted and "mainstreamed" in our culture.
I'm at the beginning of exploring what/when/how we may have to leave. My kids don't believe it is really going to get THAT bad. But the ground has already been prepared for it to happen: we are seeing growing praise for Hitler, growing denial about the Holocaust, and world leaders KNOWINGLY spreading lies and bashing Israel. A total loss of a moral compass. Of COURSE it could happen again. I hope it doesn't, but it surely could. At least THIS time, Jews have a place they can escape to.
Good question. If it were up to only me, I'd be getting everything prepared, lay down some groundwork at the very least. If/when a tipping point comes, it could make leaving more chaotic (and Israel is actually preparing for a sudden need to rescue large numbers of Jews around the world and absorb them into Israel). But my children and grandchild are here and still have their heads in the sand (which I understand). I won't leave without them.
Dana you are so right. I, too, can’t imagine leaving without my children and very young grandchildren, who seem unaware of the dangers that are so obvious to me. What to do is a conundrum that plagues me daily. They, including my wife (still a devoted “liberal” Democrat voter, although I cancelled my 58 year long registration as such), think I’m a hysteric, overreacting to what’s happening in our country. To my dismay, and utter astonishment, my youngest son (still in his 20’s) actually voted for Mandami and shakes his head at my talk of historical precedents. None of my other, older, children can divorce themselves from their work enough to even think of leaving. At 76 years old I won’t leave without them. It’s all so disheartening and dispiriting.
I totally get what you are thinking and feeling, Ken. A lot of us, do. The way some other in-denial Jews are thinking, feeling and voting is also "historical." The assimilated Jews of 1930's Germany were the same way, they simply could not believe that THE most cultured, educated, modern society in the world would actually build death camps, cruelly slaughter men, women, children, have so much hatred that EVEN WHEN it was clear the Axis of Evil was losing and the Allies were closing in and very close to winning--the Germans actually ACCELERATED their killing program to slaughter as many Jews as possible before the Allies marched in. Just like the Jew Haters today, the German haters were so mentally ill with their hatred that they defied all rationality and humanity just so they could kill more Jews, as many as possible, rather than surrender or escape capture. Truly, Jew Hate mind virus takes precedence over everything else. The Holocaust wasn't that long ago and there are still living survivors, and it happened in the most sophisticated and educated culture in Western Civilization. So to say it can't happen in the USA or elsewhere (where the people aren't as educated as the Germans were and they get constant hate nutrition on the Internet) is illogical. Yes, it CAN happen again and we are seeing the groundwork being laid out in the same pattern it has happened before.
Thank u Ken and Dana - for letting me know I am not alone and nuts. I am living the same life (have been for years. Wish I could say Oct 7 and its aftermath were a surprise; but for me, not in the least). I read a million thoughtful essays, but in the end it just boils down to what you both express. Hard not to feel resigned to our obvious future. My biggest fear has always been being that “1930’s German Jew” who failed to act. Living a similar life to you both, it certainly is a conundrum. Please give me a heads up when you figure out what to do.
I'm collecting info for now, about what it involves to move there. I plan to go to Israel in the spring to visit some cousins there and gather more info.
It’s funny seeing people like you try to slander everyone who voted for Mamdani as being okay with Jewish hatred and not, y’know, SIMPLY WANTING SOMETHING BETTER THAN WHAT CUOMO’S ESTABLISHMENT COULD’VE OFFERED. Yes, believe it or not, not everyone’s political ideas center solely around the question of, “Is it good or bad for The Jews?” and nothing else.
Schumer, among other Jewish Democrats of the traditional liberal left, seems to have great difficulty offering full-throated support for the defense of that sorely needed safe haven and guarantor of Jewish self-determination called Israel. This pursuit used to be called “Zionism” before Soviet Russia and its Middle-Eastern vassals, repressive Arab dictatorships, Islamist terrorist groups, and, most recently, well-born, over-privileged, useful idiots of the regressive left, saw fit to equate it with “ethno-nationalism,” “racism,” “settler colonialism,” “apartheid,” and, “genocide”—each one a mark of Cane, a notice of quarantine intended to isolate the Jewish state and its people, to brand them as singularly iniquitous and simply unfit to be counted among the family of nations. This rabid anti-Zionism, in its current “progressive” incarnation, is grounded in a sense of moral superiority and sanctimony that compels an avoidance of contamination by Zionist contact. As such, it is reminiscent of nothing so much as of Nazi Germany, the Nazis’ fetishizing of purity, their visceral revulsion at the thought of contact with Jewish “bacilli” and “vermin,” and the annihilationist antisemitism at the heart of it all. “But we’re just anti-Zionists, we’re not antisemites”? I’m not convinced: the membrane between these is permeable—and very thin.
What a perfectly written essay. Sad to say that it's 100% accurate, every damn word. As a Jewish activist I've been decrying where we are heading here in the West. I live in Toronto, Canada. A once beautiful city. Now it's become a dangerous shit hole, loaded with mostly Muslim immigrants (legal or not) and other dumbed down Lefty useful idiots. I feel that I've been talking to the wall. What infuriates me the worst is that so many Jews are on the Left which means they either already are or soon will become, self haters. Even many of my right winged Jewish friends are either apathetic (they don't bother voting), or they are so neurotic that they demand perfection from our right winged, pro-Jewish, pro-Israel leaders, like Poilievre here in Canada, Trump in the US or Bibi in Israel. https://leonupsidedown.blogspot.com
Yes, but Canada and the US are very different. Even in Canada, many citizens do not agree with the govt's behaviour. One cannot generalize about "the West" in this regard
Jewish success has always challenged the basic philosophy of the Left. The Left promises protection from what it considers to be an unjust and racist society.
The fact that many Jews succeed in spite of being hated as an ethnic group negates the stated thesis of the Left.
Socialists are suspicious of success, and they believe that success without their intervention or supervision must be based upon nefarious behavior.
Jews and Israel therefore, are probably guilty of some sort of crime in their minds.
If there's any bright spot for Jews and anyone else of good conscience to look towards, it is that the Left has been repudiated by the election of Donald Trump, who won in a landslide despite being an extremely flawed candidate. That's not to say that Right-wing Antisemitism is any less dangerous than the Antisemitism of the Left, but right now, Republicans aren't chasing Jews off of college campuses. Quite the opposite is happening.
This article and the circumstances it details highlights the reasons Israel must exist. Unfortunately while Israel is very successful in its mission to serve as the refuge for the world's Jews, Israel is too small to save everyone from the West's decline.
The Left could retake the White House in three years. That's bad, as they will SURELY be anti-Israel (and at the rate the Republican haters are growing, they could as bad or worse than the Left if the Republicans don't shake off the haters). We can't count on elections.
Is supporting Israel supposed to give us back the federal funding for our public services that the current admin took from us? Oh right, it won’t. Just admit already that you care more about Israel than your own country assuming you ARE actually an American.
No other ally provides to the USA what Israel does, including the technology for the Golden Dome Trump is building. Israel is our National Security partner. Israel is our greatest ally. Israel is preeminent in National Security and military technology. You don't want to believe the facts because it's Israel/Jews, but here is a partial list of benefits:
The reason American taxpayers are not currently paying for Israel’s defense in the same way they are for Ukraine lies in the nature of the U.S.–Israel relationship and how defense assistance to Israel is structured. The U.S. provides long-term, pre-approved military aid to Israel — primarily through the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed under President Obama, which guarantees $3.8 billion annually in military assistance for ten years. This aid is not an open-ended war appropriation like Ukraine’s; rather, it’s a stable, planned security partnership that allows Israel to maintain its own self-defense capabilities rather than rely on American troops or emergency funding each year.
Ukraine, by contrast, receives emergency appropriations voted on by Congress each time Russia escalates its invasion. Those funds go to sustain Ukraine’s military and economy because Ukraine’s defense is almost entirely dependent on outside aid. Israel, on the other hand, manufactures much of its own equipment, including Iron Dome and other advanced systems—many of which are co-developed with the U.S. Israel doesn’t need U.S. soldiers or direct war funding; it needs strategic and technological backing, which it already has.
Israel also functions as a forward defense outpost for U.S. intelligence, cyber security, and counterterrorism operations. American and Israeli defense cooperation directly benefits the U.S. military through shared technology, battlefield testing of systems like missile interceptors, and intelligence gathering against Iran, Hezbollah, and other regional threats.
In short: America doesn’t pay for Israel’s war efforts the way it does for Ukraine because Israel’s defense is already integrated into long-standing, mutually beneficial security arrangements — not a reactive funding measure.
Stop following dangerous fringe right-wing influencers that hate Israel and the Jews. If Israel falls (the only democracy in the Middle East), then America falls.
Actually, I was talking about the social services that have been gutted by the current administration. The fact that you immediately started going on and on about “defense” shows what kind of person you are. Hint: it’s NOT the kind of person I’d trust with my wellbeing in ANY situation.
that you brought Israel into it and "caring" more about it shows exactly what kind of person YOU are. You want to throw shit on Israel, blame Israel. You're a troll.
Assuming that you are American? This is an article about Antisemitism, not Maga, and the fact that there's a new very scary bunch of people on the Left that think terrorism is just peachy and are have created a whole new Neo antisemitic movement that is chasing Jewish students off of college campuses and teaching history straight out of the Hezbollah play book. Nazis have always been there, but the Left is making Antisemitism their new membership requirement.
Your comment that “socialists are suspicious of success and believe that success without their intervention is based on nefarious behavior,” really strikes a chord and reminds me of the time 15 years ago when I started my business in Toronto.
I was still living in a basement apartment with a roofer laborer as a roommate. Yeah, I was making good money, but all of 2 weeks in those Toronto socialism-indoctrinated fools were already chomping at the bit to rip me to shreds and redistribute the wealth to the "people."
One worker's comment has stayed with me all these years: he commented that he expected the government could tax me based on average expected income for my industry. I was astounded. There's no guarantees of work coming in. While he was at home on the weekends strumming his guitar and getting high, I was out driving through the city doing quotes for customers. Every single work day was a jobsite I had attended already, quoted in competition with other companies, and won the contract for us to have another day of work.
Those entitled fools actually thought of the situation as some kind of conveyor belt delivering jobs. I would often have to remind them that we don't deserve anything, nobody owes us anything. Show some respect and learn about customer service.
"Jewish success has always challenged the basic philosophy of the Left. The Left promises protection from what it considers to be an unjust and racist society."
What?
The Left in the US was the party of slavery, Jim Crow and the KKK was 100% Democrat. The Democrats now embrace Islam. The Left in all Western countries embrace Islam. The Left detests Israel. What planet are you living on?
Your protection is coming from the Party that detests you?
And now Trump’s administration is helping the billionaire class suck the American people even drier than before. But sure, tell us how he’s good for Jews. It isn’t like that just supports the worst stereotypes about you or anything.
There are Antisemites on the Far Right and Left. The difference is that the vast majority of Republicans condemn their behavior while the Left has just renamed Antisemitism or ignored it to suit their political needs. I don't believe Trump hates his Jewish children and grandchildren. I also didn't comment on Trump's other victories and failures, as I didn't comment on Biden's, Obama's or GWB's.
You realize I was talking about other people reacting to Jews SUPPORTING Trump, right?
To explain: I find it hypocritical for certain (thankfully not all or even most) Jews to complain about antisemitic stereotypes depicting them as moneygrubbers draining the common people dry AND THEN SUPPORT THE POLITICAL FACTION WHICH IS DOING THAT VERY THING.
Don’t kid yourself. The Republican party under Trump is sucking the blood of the American people and probably a lot of other people too. If you’re Jewish and you don’t want people accusing you of sucking their blood, then don’t treat Trump like he’s your messiah whose arrival has saved you from all of us evil-antisemitic-Nazi-gentile-scum who make up the 99%. It’s not that hard to understand.
Right. Jews should support the likes of the Squad and Mamdani (and you) who would like to wipe all of them out. And, by the way, before you start cursing the Jewish God who is also the Christian God, I am a Hindu, not a Jew. And am not going to waste any more time on you.
I don’t want to wipe out all Jews. I just wish to protect myself of people from ANY background who want to take everything away from me when I didn’t even have that much to begin with. If you have a problem with that, then maybe you need to check YOUR privilege.
I have no idea what you are talking about or who is trying to take everything away from you or what that has to doth blaming Jews for everything. “Check your privilege” is a stupid putdown that tells me everything I need to know about your point of view. Bye bye
In almost all Western Countries, Jews have no place to go but Israel.
In America, Jews should get out of Blue States and Blue Cities whether Blue or Red States, in other words in any location run by Democrats because Islam is now the Democrat Party @ Prayer.
I live in sold Red State with no large cities and have Jewish friends. They feel safe here.
Watch carefully what Mamdani does in NYC, Newsome in CA and Walz in Minnesota for clues as to your safety.
Lots of us don’t feel safe in red states. But I guess any problems we have is just your God’s judgment on us for being gentiles and therefore inferior, isn’t it?
How is calling certain Jews out for being arrogant towards other marginalized groups “Jew-hatred”? I mean, I’m certainly getting that impression from people here.
Are you “calling out” everyone you think is arrogant? Or are only Jews arrogant according to you? And you hardly come across as particularly humble yourself
Yes, if you actually bothered to read my comments you’d understand that I dislike arrogant people with superiority complexes in general and that I simply don’t like the idea that some people like that must be placated because they’ve been an oppressed minority.
Regarding countries which kiss Islamist ass, it would serve them right if most of their Jews left, and the countries were left awash in sharia law, culture destruction, and jihad.
Trump is Trump, but when it comes to kissing Islamist ass, Starmer, Macron, Albanese, and Carney make Trump look like an amateur. Who's YOUR "messiah," Sinwar? In that case, my condolences.
And yet something tells me a number of those countries are still better for those of us who just want to have basic social services. Also, invoking dead terrorists isn’t going to make us not want them either. I don’t care if I have to say this a million times, but believe it or not, THE WHOLE WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND THE WISHES OF HARDLINE ZIONIST JEWS. Or even Jews in general. I for one can respect Jews who respect me, but trying to take away things I barely have enough of “bEcAuSe HaMaS” is crossing the line. And yes, I DO feel the same way about Islamists like the ones who refused to vote against Trump “bEcAuSe GeNoCiDe”. And blacks. And trans people. And every other demographic containing this or that proportion of people who think they’re owed everything for nothing in return. My message to all of you is: as long as I have nothing to give and you refuse to help me out of the gutter that I ended up in because of circumstances, I OWE YOU NOTHING. Do you understand now?
You're going off on tangents, but your use of "hardline Zionist Jews (in all caps, yet)" reveals something twisted in your psyche. Let me explain what a Zionist is, by telling you what an anti-Zionist is: someone who believes all people/religions are entitled to their ancestral homes/holy places, except the Jews. If that describes you, I have nothing further to say to you. If it doesn't describe you, perhaps further dialogue is possible.
If you knew Jews better, you'd realize we don't think we're "owed" anything. Mainly, we just want to be left alone. I'm not Israeli, but I've visited the place. You can't understand the Israeli mindset until you think about the fact that it's probably the only country in the world with building codes which require safe rooms and bomb shelters. Where the entire nation comes to a two-minute halt when sirens sound to remember the victims of the Holocaust and a different two minutes, to honor those who fell in defensive wars and due to 100s of Arab terror attacks.
The America-Israel friendship makes both countries stronger. I'm proud of that alliance.
Something twisted in MY psyche? Dude… You’re the one insisting everyone in the west should spend unlimited amounts of money and resources on keeping Americans and Jews in a region where most people hate both of them because… reasons? For goodness’ sakes, I’m of partial Arab descent and even I don’t want to live alongside most modern Arabs because I know I don’t like their culture for my own reasons and they wouldn’t respect me in turn. Why would I want to live in an endless war zone? Ironically, you’re the one who sounds like they have a death wish for Jewish people by expecting them to do that. And for the record, your question about bomb shelters is hilarious to me because Switzerland also has a law requiring everyone to have access to bomb shelters in spite of being in the European heartland and famously not being interested in waging war on their neighbors even in WWII. Maybe you’d have a better time establishing Jewish communities there—assuming, of course, that you don’t make the same mistake of kicking the locals out of their homes like you did back in ‘48. That would indeed make anyone angry.
Don't put words in my mouth, "Dude." Your logic is like telling a black family they shouldn't live in a white neighborhood, because it's filled with too many white supremacists. Here's the thing: Israel is Jewish ancestral land. Even the Quran specifically states that Israel is for the Jewish people (you'd be surprised how many Arabs "conveniently" overlook those Surahs). Although I live in the U.S., should I ever decide to move to Israel, I won't be seeking the permission of local Arabs or anyone else (sorry, not even you).
America provides foreign and military aid to Israel, yes. Fortunately, most of that money creates American jobs, partially because the aid has strings attached. Israel is required to buy American. As a close ally, Israel increases American security in the region, particularly regarding jihadist attacks. It has also alerted America and Europe to threats in those countries. Israel also shares advances in tech, medicine, agriculture, and other areas, which is a lot more than I can say for "Palestinians (to whom we've given billions, over the years, much of which they use to pay salaries to terrorists)."
Locals weren't "kicked out out their homes" in '48. That's just "Palpaganda." Even PA President Mahmoud Abbas admits his family was told to leave by Arab leaders, to facilitate the anticipated liquidation of the Jews, and they could return home in a week or two. I've heard countless Arabs tell the same story. Others fled out of fear of the war Arabs started. Don't discount the fact that Arabs who decided to stay weren't forced out, which is why there's 2 million Israeli-Arab citizens today (in a country the size of New Jersey). Guess how many Jews remain in Muslim lands, after 850,000 were forced out? I think there's about 8K in Iran, and perhaps a thousand, everywhere else combined. And those Jewish communities pre-existed Arab conquest, by centuries. Yemen, Libya, Iraq, Egypt, Arabian Peninsula - Jews were there 1500-2500 years. Those were the hostile neighborhoods. Israel is the refuge, so get it straight.
Let me know if you have any questions. I know lots of stuff you won't hear on CNN.
I love how you guys act as if Jews are literally the only group standing between any other group of people and civilizational destruction. Like, excuse me, but who actually made you the sole arbiters of cultural preservation for everyone else? And no, “God” doesn’t count because your “God” is an invention who everyone should’ve soundly rejected after the Dark Ages anyway. You are not superior to the rest of us and there is no way you can argue that without sounding exactly like the Nazis you so despise.
Superior to us? No just superior to you and the other human jackals that pray to not be found out as the cowards you truly are. Can you stop your self hatred and accept that you are a flawed person with delusions of adequacy.
Maybe a famous jew or two in say NY or London who is proudly progressive can put on a disguise and walk the streets of London ( or another large duty in England or say sydney forva few days ) while sporting an I ❤️ Israel tee shirt and let's see what happens. No entourage. No body guards.
I feel so utterly powerless here. I've been worried sick since October 7th and the consequent response in the west. I vote for and donate to politicians who fight for the good cause but we're approaching a point of no return and there's still no political resolve to turn this around among the general public. On the contrary, our public broadcast brainwashed everyone into protesting against Israel. If I voice anything remotely sympathetic to Israel on universities I get disgusted faces and these are our next generation politicians. I'm considering moving out of Europe because I can't live out the rest of my life awaiting the inevitable. I want to be among people where there's hope and resolve.
To say that the West is “sleepwalking” excuses the very conscious decisions made by Western governments, media, academics, so-called cultural elites. The reality is that the West is ushering in an exodus of its Jews.
exactly right
As well as the very conscious decisions made by thousands, maybe millions, of ordinary people to side with Jew hatred. They're not blameless either.
Bondi Beach pogrom. Who’s next? London, Toronto, Paris, New York? The West invited the Islamists to globalize the intifada, and the Islamists have obliged. The West is demanding its Jews have a Plan B. Do we? Do you?
Plenty of White people have been killed by Muslims. Do you care about them or do you only care about Jews?
Are European/American Jews white or non-white? Make up your mind. Because Jew-haters have decided Jews are white colonisers.
No they are not. Only niggers think Jews are White. But niggers are retarded so who cares?
OK, this is definitely a bot as the name indicates.
Bots don't don't say nigger, nigger.
For sure, but the article addresses the specific issue of Jews. There are over two billion Christians who’ve got considerably more power than a few million Diaspora Jews. Why aren’t they doing more to pressure their governments to respond to Islamic extremism? Why did the Pope use his Christmas sermon to talk about Gaza rather than Muslim attacks on and the shutting down of European Christmas markets? The West is sleepwalking, as the article notes, and Diaspora Jews are the easiest target and the first target.
How much more are western countries supposed to do without becoming full-on fascist states? The U.S. already got into not one, but TWO ultimately-pointless wars that cost untold amounts of money and American and foreign lives and gave millions more PTSD in the name of “fighting terrorism”. Oh, and one of those (Iraq War) actually made the terrorism problem WORSE than it already was. So tell me: how many gentile lives in the west and elsewhere must be sacrificed/ruined just so a few million Jews can feel safe?
Hilarious @Kai Clark. Good thing only jews died on 9-11 amirite? Good thing Islam wants only to live in peace with the "Sunday people" amirite?
Holy crap—how the hell did you even come up with that response? I NEVER said anything that even implied either of those things. I was merely pointing out the problem with saying that we need to “put more pressure” on our governments to “fight terrorism” without even knowing what that’s supposed to look like due to how much damage has actually resulted from that not being the case. And I must say, you really aren’t helping the cause of Jewish people here by just completely disregarding what I said about potential consequences for everyone else if we were to repeat the mistakes of the “war on terror” all over again. Kinda feeds into the stereotype of them seeing everyone else as disposable pawns, don’t you think?
Hilarious. So America makes mistakes in the "war on terror" and it's the JJJOOOOSSS fault. Got it.
Again, I NEVER said that. I simply said that SOME Jews seem to be in favor of us making the same kinds of reckless mistakes we made starting in the early 2000s that made everyone’s problems worse. There’s a difference between blaming them and pointing out that some of them are supporting it (certainly if this comment section is anything to go by) and that they should maybe think harder about the implications of what they want to have happen.
An easy start—enforce domestic law and disincentivize jew-hatred in the culture.
And what does disincentivizing Jew-hatred look like to you, might I ask?
Unfortunately you’ll be replaced with Muslims, the NHS is currently like the UN and apparently Muslim parents in the UK are very keen on their children going to university, which tends to counter their image as backward god-botherers.
Wow, so now we’re so keen on fighting Muslim antisemitism that we’re fully embracing a worldview that is almost always antisemitic in nature? Looks like we’ve come full circle, folks!
Very true assessment! I live and work in Sweden, where the Jewish community is only about 20,000 people — small, but full of incredibly bright and driven young people. And now so many of them have already moved, or are preparing to move, to Israel. These are kids who will become doctors, engineers, scientists — the kind of minds that shape the future. It’s bittersweet to watch them leave, but I know this: their talent and passion will make Israel stronger than ever.
Why are they moving to Israel? So they can increase their chances of being killed?
Probably to escape their high chances of being killed due to Sweden’s mass muslim immigration and the state’s capitulation to the migrant communities.
By moving to a place with an even larger proportion of fanatics? How does this make sense? Since when has Israel ever actually been safer for Jews than Sweden in the modern day?
Trading Judeo beliefs for Islamic tolerance is western suicide.
Islam should be banned from Western countries. It may not happen everywhere; but most Americans want to see it happen.
A lot of the most problematic beliefs in Islam clearly have their roots in Judaism. What even is this argument?
Roots are one thing, modern action is another.
They were talking about beliefs. Are the beliefs of Muslims not similar to ones in the Torah? I know that Evangelical Protestant Christians love the Old Testament with all its calls for genocide of non-Jews.
Beliefs are different from actions. When did you last find Jews stoning homosexuals or practising polygamy?
Evangelicals call for and love genocide? Proof?
I said that the Old Testament calls for genocide of non-Jews (which it literally does) and yet Evangelicals still love it. And you know, they’ll always try to rationalize that somehow, but those of us who don’t believe in the Bible know what they’re actually doing even if they don’t fully realize it.
Perhaps you haven't noticed that both Jews and Christians have ceased to follow many of the injunctions of the Hebrew Bible e.g. executing adulterers and homosexuals; practising polygamy etc. Many Muslim countries are following these injunctions, picked up by the Quran from the Bible.
Is that meant to be a fully realized argument? That Evangelicals advocate the murder of unbelievers because of a 3 thousand year old admonition? Really? Have a great life.
Okay, so what are you going to do about it? Pack up and leave again? How about solutions as well as complaint, Nachum? I love your writing, and this essay is valuable, but again, are we going to just recognize the problem, shake our collective heads, abrogate responsibility to all that have suffered this before and begin to suffer again? The same old script.
My solution is a take on John Galt’s solution. Stop the money: Investment, donations, philanthropy. Walk away from research, the arts, medicine, etc. Don’t donate to ANY political campaign. Take all these measures for a time, and see what happens then. You cite an urgent and credible threat to diaspora Jews. Well then, you need a credible, difficult and painful solution. Otherwise, if things are as bad as you say, pack your bags again.
Thank you for offering at least one possible, effective solution. As a Christian, I have to tell you that the exodus of the Jews from the United States is a chilling prospect. Because, I firmly believe God will withdraw His blessing and protection over this country as a result. On another note, permit me to relate this story. Not long after October 7th, Sen. Schumer delivered a powerful cautionary message, as well as being personally moving, regarding the rise of antisemitism. As a conservative republican I called his office to thank him for his speech. Fast forward to a couple of months ago. I saw a video of Sen. Schumer dancing around at a rally, with a keffiyeh around his neck. I was shocked. I thought to myself, "Chuck, what are you doing? Do you not know, do you not believe that the intifada people are coming for you and your people?" It was a sad day for me. I mostly haven't agreed with his political positions but I always respected him as a leader.
Given we’re on the cusp of Chanukah, it’s fitting to remember the Hellenized Jews who sided with Antiochus and his campaign to eliminate real Judaism in the Land. They thought by going with the flow it would protect them. Schumer is just another one of today’s Helloni. They are delusional.
Thank you for your thoughtful reply, Jane. Whether God withdraws his blessing or not, withdrawing dollars always seems to work pretty well at getting people to “rethink”.
Bobby, at this point, I doubt very much that withdrawing dollars will have an impact. For every Jewish dollar withdrawn there are a hundred Qatari dollars in its place. History shows us that antisemitism does not respond to reason, incentive or the honest appeals of the Jewish community. Western civilisation is destroying itself, as have many civilisations before it. The Jewish people will survive and thrive again because, as it turns out, being anchored to your history, faith and moral code is a pretty effective survival strategy. That’s a lesson civilisations seem to resist to their peril.
EXACTLY. Before I saw your comment, Danny, I wrote a comment expressing the same thing, but you expressed it way better.
Kash Patel would agree with you
Good thinking! 😊
He is a politician never to be trusted. Plus he is a leftist. An enemy of America.
I went to high school with Chuck the schmuck. James Madison, Brooklyn, New York. He has no spine. He has sold his people down the river. I don’t know how he can look in the mirror.
It is tragic. It must not have occurred to him that in selling his people down the river, he may find himself on a boat down the river and no one around to help him out. He COULD be positioning himself as a strong, uncompromising voice for Jews in America. He already has a national platform. I heard that voice a few days after October 7th, in his speech warning of the rising tide of antisemitism. He appears to have now stepped into the background, allowing the likes of AOC to be the face of the democrat party.
Great. I for one don’t want to live under a deity worshipped by Bronze Age Hebrews anyway.
Problem is, the Muslim money has become more important that the Jewish money. Islamists have given billions to elite universities (and we see the results of that) and even K-12 schools now. Billions to influence politicians (or outright buy them), billions on social media. Jews are waaaayyyy outnumbered.
The money issue may be problematic for the Jews but muslim money is a problem for every single American. I am not Jewish but I grew up (and am now 76) believing that Jewish philanthropy was significant in education, the arts, science, medicine and on and on. The donations have blessed American life in a positive ways. The muslim money, au contraire, is a different thing altogether. It is designed to destabilize and ultimately destroy American institutions and eventually establish a muslim caliphate. You think I'm a conspiracy theorist? You won't offend me by calling me one. There are muslim leaders in this country saying this is where America is headed. To hell with democracy.
A conspiracy theory has no real proof. Saying Muslim money is corrupting our institutions is not conspiratorial because we know where they are spending money, and it is not on pro-America or pro-arts. You are not a conspiracy theorist, you are stating the truth.
Thank you!
As long as those Hadji scum keep committing mass murders on US soil we will all quietly wish every last one of them was ghosted. San Bernardino, Orlando, 9-11 etcetera haven't been erased from everyone's memory. All of maga no doubt wants them boiled down into soap, as do many liberals and most Jews.
The issue is our unelected leadership who is chosen due to connections and the old boys' network often, rather than ability, at least in Canada. When the Jewish leadership act like Court Jews in 18th century ghettos, going grovelling to the long time Jew hater, the Irish Catholic PM, Carney, and his Hamas atrocity loving Liberal Party, to beg for protection, we have lost the fight already. Why should non-Jews do anything to help when we Jews act as if we are seemingly helpless victims who refuse to fight for ourselves, and think that by debating, writing opinion pieces, and begging the Jew hating police for protection is the only solution. These same police, just like in Britain, believe Jews can be intimidated as we obviously are harmless, thanks to our so-called gutless leaders, and thus threaten us with arrests for walking down the street near a demonstration or have a counter demonstration, rather than the violent virulent jihadists like in Toronto, Winnipeg and Montreal, who love to go on Jew hunts, or commit arson, shoot at Jewish schools, synagogues, and Jewish homes, and threaten us with death.
Okay, so again, Bonnie, what do you propose as a counter measure? I’d like to hear what Canadian Jews think. I know what my American friends think.
Bobby, I think you are under the misapprehension that antisemitism, and the societal mental rot that drives it, is the responsibility of Jews to solve. The role of Jews is to remain Jews, and stay true to Jewish values.
Number one is to use the courts like the American Jews have and Jewish lawyers providing pro bono services to people doing so. Secondly, refuse to be intimidated. If the jihadists are allowed to have virulent demonstrations in Jewish neighbourhoods, do the same back to them. Thus showing up the police and courts' double standards when the police threaten to arrest Jews or do arrest Jews who are doing exactly what the jihadists are allowed to do. Thirdly, leaders must stop thanking the police despite the open hostility to Jews by the police, the allowing of virulent demonstrations that break all hate crime laws, and the police acting as servants and bodyguards of the jihadists. They must go instead on the offensive to how the police are acting. Fourthly, rabbis and leaders must stop the ghetto message of hush, hush, do not make waves. Rather bring in experts who can teach how to be proactive in dealing with the jihadists and with the police and if necessary, organizing demonstrations where the message is not "Oh, we love Canada, despite being treated worse than dogs", but being tough, with only one message- we will fight whoever harms us. There needs to be no politeness, no Canadian flags, and no national anthem of a country where the government has consistently incited hatred and violence towards the Jews, and where the public supports the hatred of Jews.
Good suggestions. Thanks for answering and expanding the discussion. Again, I say stop the flow of money and you’ll see how fast the narrative changes.
Give to overly Jewish supporters in Congress like Brad Schneider
We can strike. We may have to.
This is one of the saddest articles I have read in a long time. If our political and community leadership don’t wake up and deal with it, the reality will be an exodus of Jews from the west many to Israel and many wherever they can find some semblance of safety and acceptance.The silent majority amongst nations also has to wake up and pushback in great ways against the wave of antisemitism and discrimination against Jews.
they won't wake up and deal with it. They never have and show no signs of it now.
I'm not Jewish, but I find it all heartbreaking.
25-30 years ago I used to argue to the other Jews from Toronto that once public sentiment is against the Jews that the laws and protections won't be of any use any longer. They would dismiss and mock my predictions.
I am also a Canadian Jew living in Winnipeg and can identify with your frustration. The unelected leaders of our communities might as well be in the 18th century where "hush, hush, make no waves" is the constant coming from them. If one dares mention that Holocaust education is useless to fight this new form of Jew hatred, you get outrage. If you mention standing up to the hatred and using innovative ways to actually go out and fight it, and not be polite and submissive you are warned ironically, that will cause "them" to hate us. They already hate us, so maybe perhaps intimidate them instead with the courts, refusal of giving large donations, and big counter demonstrations and refusing to move. I must say Gail Asper from the Asper Foundation has shown a way. She refused this year after years of doing so, to fund over a million dollars to bring in a world famous musician for the opening of the Winnipeg Symphony's season starting this September. Why? The Symphony held its 75th anniversary celebration of the afternoon of Yom Kippur, the year before. Since the Jewish community had a big part in starting the symphony and a Jewish conductor was the first conductor for the symphony, it was met by many local Jews with outrage. No apology, nothing from the obvious Jew hating Symphony community, as a present after Oct. 7. Gail Asper gave her gift of no money back to them.
Alot of the Jews I knew in Toronto were far more dedicated to their social ideal of no nationalism rather than to the Jewish community or Israel. They projected on to Canada, and bought into the portrayal as such, an ideal of a multicultural paradise.
Most if not all of my family members were a nasty bunch. They portrayed themselves, as most Jews from the Toronto Jewish community I was from, as great moralists, but a layer 2 down past the onion skin they were a very nasty bunch.
My adult children are too busy with jobs and family to be aware of what is happening in the US and Europe (and beyond)--just as I was at their age. They think I'm a bit hysterical about the shocking rise of Jew Hate and what is going on, even at institution levels. Now that I'm older, wiser and retired, I could probably qualify for a Masters degree in Middle East politics; that is how immersed I am.
I try to explain to my kids that I'm not being "hysterical" --I'm being historical; the patterns of rising Jew Hatred we see now are nearly identical to those of the past. A tipping point--when it becomes undeniable and will force all Jews to pull their heads out of the sand--could come at any point. For instance, just imagine if Erika Kirk decides to announce she is certain that Israel and the Jews were behind the assassination of her husband (as fast-growing numbers of Jew haters are claiming loudly, along with all the other tropes they keep promoting).
I have never been bothered by "country club" Jew haters--people who just don't like Jews and exclude them from social activities and turn up their noses at the mention of Jews. That's all just "sticks and stones." But now we see the shocking rise of the most dangerous type of haters now, manifesting as pure, irrational hatred and belief that Jews really are Satan's spawn and should be expelled at best, sentenced to death at worst. These haters have millions of social media followers and are being promoted and "mainstreamed" in our culture.
I'm at the beginning of exploring what/when/how we may have to leave. My kids don't believe it is really going to get THAT bad. But the ground has already been prepared for it to happen: we are seeing growing praise for Hitler, growing denial about the Holocaust, and world leaders KNOWINGLY spreading lies and bashing Israel. A total loss of a moral compass. Of COURSE it could happen again. I hope it doesn't, but it surely could. At least THIS time, Jews have a place they can escape to.
But when to leave the sinking ship?
Good question. If it were up to only me, I'd be getting everything prepared, lay down some groundwork at the very least. If/when a tipping point comes, it could make leaving more chaotic (and Israel is actually preparing for a sudden need to rescue large numbers of Jews around the world and absorb them into Israel). But my children and grandchild are here and still have their heads in the sand (which I understand). I won't leave without them.
Dana you are so right. I, too, can’t imagine leaving without my children and very young grandchildren, who seem unaware of the dangers that are so obvious to me. What to do is a conundrum that plagues me daily. They, including my wife (still a devoted “liberal” Democrat voter, although I cancelled my 58 year long registration as such), think I’m a hysteric, overreacting to what’s happening in our country. To my dismay, and utter astonishment, my youngest son (still in his 20’s) actually voted for Mandami and shakes his head at my talk of historical precedents. None of my other, older, children can divorce themselves from their work enough to even think of leaving. At 76 years old I won’t leave without them. It’s all so disheartening and dispiriting.
I totally get what you are thinking and feeling, Ken. A lot of us, do. The way some other in-denial Jews are thinking, feeling and voting is also "historical." The assimilated Jews of 1930's Germany were the same way, they simply could not believe that THE most cultured, educated, modern society in the world would actually build death camps, cruelly slaughter men, women, children, have so much hatred that EVEN WHEN it was clear the Axis of Evil was losing and the Allies were closing in and very close to winning--the Germans actually ACCELERATED their killing program to slaughter as many Jews as possible before the Allies marched in. Just like the Jew Haters today, the German haters were so mentally ill with their hatred that they defied all rationality and humanity just so they could kill more Jews, as many as possible, rather than surrender or escape capture. Truly, Jew Hate mind virus takes precedence over everything else. The Holocaust wasn't that long ago and there are still living survivors, and it happened in the most sophisticated and educated culture in Western Civilization. So to say it can't happen in the USA or elsewhere (where the people aren't as educated as the Germans were and they get constant hate nutrition on the Internet) is illogical. Yes, it CAN happen again and we are seeing the groundwork being laid out in the same pattern it has happened before.
Thank u Ken and Dana - for letting me know I am not alone and nuts. I am living the same life (have been for years. Wish I could say Oct 7 and its aftermath were a surprise; but for me, not in the least). I read a million thoughtful essays, but in the end it just boils down to what you both express. Hard not to feel resigned to our obvious future. My biggest fear has always been being that “1930’s German Jew” who failed to act. Living a similar life to you both, it certainly is a conundrum. Please give me a heads up when you figure out what to do.
I'm collecting info for now, about what it involves to move there. I plan to go to Israel in the spring to visit some cousins there and gather more info.
It’s funny seeing people like you try to slander everyone who voted for Mamdani as being okay with Jewish hatred and not, y’know, SIMPLY WANTING SOMETHING BETTER THAN WHAT CUOMO’S ESTABLISHMENT COULD’VE OFFERED. Yes, believe it or not, not everyone’s political ideas center solely around the question of, “Is it good or bad for The Jews?” and nothing else.
RE: "My kids don't believe it is really going to get THAT bad."
Neither did the Jews in Germany in the late 20's & early 30's.
exactly.
No worries. We have Chuck Schumer to protect us.
Schumer, among other Jewish Democrats of the traditional liberal left, seems to have great difficulty offering full-throated support for the defense of that sorely needed safe haven and guarantor of Jewish self-determination called Israel. This pursuit used to be called “Zionism” before Soviet Russia and its Middle-Eastern vassals, repressive Arab dictatorships, Islamist terrorist groups, and, most recently, well-born, over-privileged, useful idiots of the regressive left, saw fit to equate it with “ethno-nationalism,” “racism,” “settler colonialism,” “apartheid,” and, “genocide”—each one a mark of Cane, a notice of quarantine intended to isolate the Jewish state and its people, to brand them as singularly iniquitous and simply unfit to be counted among the family of nations. This rabid anti-Zionism, in its current “progressive” incarnation, is grounded in a sense of moral superiority and sanctimony that compels an avoidance of contamination by Zionist contact. As such, it is reminiscent of nothing so much as of Nazi Germany, the Nazis’ fetishizing of purity, their visceral revulsion at the thought of contact with Jewish “bacilli” and “vermin,” and the annihilationist antisemitism at the heart of it all. “But we’re just anti-Zionists, we’re not antisemites”? I’m not convinced: the membrane between these is permeable—and very thin.
We should have been aware before 10/7 that CRT and DEi were regnant with anti Semitism
What a perfectly written essay. Sad to say that it's 100% accurate, every damn word. As a Jewish activist I've been decrying where we are heading here in the West. I live in Toronto, Canada. A once beautiful city. Now it's become a dangerous shit hole, loaded with mostly Muslim immigrants (legal or not) and other dumbed down Lefty useful idiots. I feel that I've been talking to the wall. What infuriates me the worst is that so many Jews are on the Left which means they either already are or soon will become, self haters. Even many of my right winged Jewish friends are either apathetic (they don't bother voting), or they are so neurotic that they demand perfection from our right winged, pro-Jewish, pro-Israel leaders, like Poilievre here in Canada, Trump in the US or Bibi in Israel. https://leonupsidedown.blogspot.com
Toronto sounds pretty much like London.
Typical Jewish behavior denying the obvious. Didn’t the Nazis teach them anything? Apparently not.
Toronto sounds like any other West EU large city.
Yes, do lecture us on how not wanting a president who involved himself in this is “demanding perfection”: https://www.livemint.com/news/us-news/donald-trump-witnessed-infanticide-during-jeffrey-epsteins-sex-trafficking-crimes-doj-documents-share-chilling-details-11766539533049.html
Hot take: if having a THING like that as our head of state is necessary for Israel to exist, THEN ISRAEL DOES NOT DESERVE TO EXIST.
Yes, but Canada and the US are very different. Even in Canada, many citizens do not agree with the govt's behaviour. One cannot generalize about "the West" in this regard
Jewish success has always challenged the basic philosophy of the Left. The Left promises protection from what it considers to be an unjust and racist society.
The fact that many Jews succeed in spite of being hated as an ethnic group negates the stated thesis of the Left.
Socialists are suspicious of success, and they believe that success without their intervention or supervision must be based upon nefarious behavior.
Jews and Israel therefore, are probably guilty of some sort of crime in their minds.
If there's any bright spot for Jews and anyone else of good conscience to look towards, it is that the Left has been repudiated by the election of Donald Trump, who won in a landslide despite being an extremely flawed candidate. That's not to say that Right-wing Antisemitism is any less dangerous than the Antisemitism of the Left, but right now, Republicans aren't chasing Jews off of college campuses. Quite the opposite is happening.
This article and the circumstances it details highlights the reasons Israel must exist. Unfortunately while Israel is very successful in its mission to serve as the refuge for the world's Jews, Israel is too small to save everyone from the West's decline.
Hopefully, elections will save Western Culture.
The Left could retake the White House in three years. That's bad, as they will SURELY be anti-Israel (and at the rate the Republican haters are growing, they could as bad or worse than the Left if the Republicans don't shake off the haters). We can't count on elections.
Is supporting Israel supposed to give us back the federal funding for our public services that the current admin took from us? Oh right, it won’t. Just admit already that you care more about Israel than your own country assuming you ARE actually an American.
No other ally provides to the USA what Israel does, including the technology for the Golden Dome Trump is building. Israel is our National Security partner. Israel is our greatest ally. Israel is preeminent in National Security and military technology. You don't want to believe the facts because it's Israel/Jews, but here is a partial list of benefits:
The reason American taxpayers are not currently paying for Israel’s defense in the same way they are for Ukraine lies in the nature of the U.S.–Israel relationship and how defense assistance to Israel is structured. The U.S. provides long-term, pre-approved military aid to Israel — primarily through the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed under President Obama, which guarantees $3.8 billion annually in military assistance for ten years. This aid is not an open-ended war appropriation like Ukraine’s; rather, it’s a stable, planned security partnership that allows Israel to maintain its own self-defense capabilities rather than rely on American troops or emergency funding each year.
Ukraine, by contrast, receives emergency appropriations voted on by Congress each time Russia escalates its invasion. Those funds go to sustain Ukraine’s military and economy because Ukraine’s defense is almost entirely dependent on outside aid. Israel, on the other hand, manufactures much of its own equipment, including Iron Dome and other advanced systems—many of which are co-developed with the U.S. Israel doesn’t need U.S. soldiers or direct war funding; it needs strategic and technological backing, which it already has.
Israel also functions as a forward defense outpost for U.S. intelligence, cyber security, and counterterrorism operations. American and Israeli defense cooperation directly benefits the U.S. military through shared technology, battlefield testing of systems like missile interceptors, and intelligence gathering against Iran, Hezbollah, and other regional threats.
In short: America doesn’t pay for Israel’s war efforts the way it does for Ukraine because Israel’s defense is already integrated into long-standing, mutually beneficial security arrangements — not a reactive funding measure.
Stop following dangerous fringe right-wing influencers that hate Israel and the Jews. If Israel falls (the only democracy in the Middle East), then America falls.
Actually, I was talking about the social services that have been gutted by the current administration. The fact that you immediately started going on and on about “defense” shows what kind of person you are. Hint: it’s NOT the kind of person I’d trust with my wellbeing in ANY situation.
that you brought Israel into it and "caring" more about it shows exactly what kind of person YOU are. You want to throw shit on Israel, blame Israel. You're a troll.
You’re the one who used Israel to fearmonger about “the Left” taking control. Don’t you gaslight me like that.
Assuming that you are American? This is an article about Antisemitism, not Maga, and the fact that there's a new very scary bunch of people on the Left that think terrorism is just peachy and are have created a whole new Neo antisemitic movement that is chasing Jewish students off of college campuses and teaching history straight out of the Hezbollah play book. Nazis have always been there, but the Left is making Antisemitism their new membership requirement.
Your comment that “socialists are suspicious of success and believe that success without their intervention is based on nefarious behavior,” really strikes a chord and reminds me of the time 15 years ago when I started my business in Toronto.
I was still living in a basement apartment with a roofer laborer as a roommate. Yeah, I was making good money, but all of 2 weeks in those Toronto socialism-indoctrinated fools were already chomping at the bit to rip me to shreds and redistribute the wealth to the "people."
One worker's comment has stayed with me all these years: he commented that he expected the government could tax me based on average expected income for my industry. I was astounded. There's no guarantees of work coming in. While he was at home on the weekends strumming his guitar and getting high, I was out driving through the city doing quotes for customers. Every single work day was a jobsite I had attended already, quoted in competition with other companies, and won the contract for us to have another day of work.
Those entitled fools actually thought of the situation as some kind of conveyor belt delivering jobs. I would often have to remind them that we don't deserve anything, nobody owes us anything. Show some respect and learn about customer service.
"Jewish success has always challenged the basic philosophy of the Left. The Left promises protection from what it considers to be an unjust and racist society."
What?
The Left in the US was the party of slavery, Jim Crow and the KKK was 100% Democrat. The Democrats now embrace Islam. The Left in all Western countries embrace Islam. The Left detests Israel. What planet are you living on?
Your protection is coming from the Party that detests you?
Yes I agree with you. That's what I'm saying. Read the rest of my comment.
If the Democrats are still the party of slavery and the KKK, then how come most people who wave Confederate battle flags seem to hate Democrats?
And now Trump’s administration is helping the billionaire class suck the American people even drier than before. But sure, tell us how he’s good for Jews. It isn’t like that just supports the worst stereotypes about you or anything.
There are Antisemites on the Far Right and Left. The difference is that the vast majority of Republicans condemn their behavior while the Left has just renamed Antisemitism or ignored it to suit their political needs. I don't believe Trump hates his Jewish children and grandchildren. I also didn't comment on Trump's other victories and failures, as I didn't comment on Biden's, Obama's or GWB's.
You realize I was talking about other people reacting to Jews SUPPORTING Trump, right?
To explain: I find it hypocritical for certain (thankfully not all or even most) Jews to complain about antisemitic stereotypes depicting them as moneygrubbers draining the common people dry AND THEN SUPPORT THE POLITICAL FACTION WHICH IS DOING THAT VERY THING.
Don’t kid yourself. The Republican party under Trump is sucking the blood of the American people and probably a lot of other people too. If you’re Jewish and you don’t want people accusing you of sucking their blood, then don’t treat Trump like he’s your messiah whose arrival has saved you from all of us evil-antisemitic-Nazi-gentile-scum who make up the 99%. It’s not that hard to understand.
Right. Jews should support the likes of the Squad and Mamdani (and you) who would like to wipe all of them out. And, by the way, before you start cursing the Jewish God who is also the Christian God, I am a Hindu, not a Jew. And am not going to waste any more time on you.
I don’t want to wipe out all Jews. I just wish to protect myself of people from ANY background who want to take everything away from me when I didn’t even have that much to begin with. If you have a problem with that, then maybe you need to check YOUR privilege.
I have no idea what you are talking about or who is trying to take everything away from you or what that has to doth blaming Jews for everything. “Check your privilege” is a stupid putdown that tells me everything I need to know about your point of view. Bye bye
Dream on
In almost all Western Countries, Jews have no place to go but Israel.
In America, Jews should get out of Blue States and Blue Cities whether Blue or Red States, in other words in any location run by Democrats because Islam is now the Democrat Party @ Prayer.
I live in sold Red State with no large cities and have Jewish friends. They feel safe here.
Watch carefully what Mamdani does in NYC, Newsome in CA and Walz in Minnesota for clues as to your safety.
Lots of us don’t feel safe in red states. But I guess any problems we have is just your God’s judgment on us for being gentiles and therefore inferior, isn’t it?
Wow. Classic Jew-hater here, not even making a pretence of being just "anti-Zionist." And by the way, I am not a Jew but a Hindu.
How is calling certain Jews out for being arrogant towards other marginalized groups “Jew-hatred”? I mean, I’m certainly getting that impression from people here.
Are you “calling out” everyone you think is arrogant? Or are only Jews arrogant according to you? And you hardly come across as particularly humble yourself
Yes, if you actually bothered to read my comments you’d understand that I dislike arrogant people with superiority complexes in general and that I simply don’t like the idea that some people like that must be placated because they’ve been an oppressed minority.
And all Jews are like that?!
Regarding countries which kiss Islamist ass, it would serve them right if most of their Jews left, and the countries were left awash in sharia law, culture destruction, and jihad.
Wouldn’t America under Trump count? Or do you not touch him even when he kisses Islamist ass because he’s actually your long-awaited messiah?
Trump is Trump, but when it comes to kissing Islamist ass, Starmer, Macron, Albanese, and Carney make Trump look like an amateur. Who's YOUR "messiah," Sinwar? In that case, my condolences.
And yet something tells me a number of those countries are still better for those of us who just want to have basic social services. Also, invoking dead terrorists isn’t going to make us not want them either. I don’t care if I have to say this a million times, but believe it or not, THE WHOLE WORLD DOES NOT REVOLVE AROUND THE WISHES OF HARDLINE ZIONIST JEWS. Or even Jews in general. I for one can respect Jews who respect me, but trying to take away things I barely have enough of “bEcAuSe HaMaS” is crossing the line. And yes, I DO feel the same way about Islamists like the ones who refused to vote against Trump “bEcAuSe GeNoCiDe”. And blacks. And trans people. And every other demographic containing this or that proportion of people who think they’re owed everything for nothing in return. My message to all of you is: as long as I have nothing to give and you refuse to help me out of the gutter that I ended up in because of circumstances, I OWE YOU NOTHING. Do you understand now?
You're going off on tangents, but your use of "hardline Zionist Jews (in all caps, yet)" reveals something twisted in your psyche. Let me explain what a Zionist is, by telling you what an anti-Zionist is: someone who believes all people/religions are entitled to their ancestral homes/holy places, except the Jews. If that describes you, I have nothing further to say to you. If it doesn't describe you, perhaps further dialogue is possible.
If you knew Jews better, you'd realize we don't think we're "owed" anything. Mainly, we just want to be left alone. I'm not Israeli, but I've visited the place. You can't understand the Israeli mindset until you think about the fact that it's probably the only country in the world with building codes which require safe rooms and bomb shelters. Where the entire nation comes to a two-minute halt when sirens sound to remember the victims of the Holocaust and a different two minutes, to honor those who fell in defensive wars and due to 100s of Arab terror attacks.
The America-Israel friendship makes both countries stronger. I'm proud of that alliance.
Just ignore this person (if it is a person, and not a bot. Nazi-level Jew hating troll.
Something twisted in MY psyche? Dude… You’re the one insisting everyone in the west should spend unlimited amounts of money and resources on keeping Americans and Jews in a region where most people hate both of them because… reasons? For goodness’ sakes, I’m of partial Arab descent and even I don’t want to live alongside most modern Arabs because I know I don’t like their culture for my own reasons and they wouldn’t respect me in turn. Why would I want to live in an endless war zone? Ironically, you’re the one who sounds like they have a death wish for Jewish people by expecting them to do that. And for the record, your question about bomb shelters is hilarious to me because Switzerland also has a law requiring everyone to have access to bomb shelters in spite of being in the European heartland and famously not being interested in waging war on their neighbors even in WWII. Maybe you’d have a better time establishing Jewish communities there—assuming, of course, that you don’t make the same mistake of kicking the locals out of their homes like you did back in ‘48. That would indeed make anyone angry.
Don't put words in my mouth, "Dude." Your logic is like telling a black family they shouldn't live in a white neighborhood, because it's filled with too many white supremacists. Here's the thing: Israel is Jewish ancestral land. Even the Quran specifically states that Israel is for the Jewish people (you'd be surprised how many Arabs "conveniently" overlook those Surahs). Although I live in the U.S., should I ever decide to move to Israel, I won't be seeking the permission of local Arabs or anyone else (sorry, not even you).
America provides foreign and military aid to Israel, yes. Fortunately, most of that money creates American jobs, partially because the aid has strings attached. Israel is required to buy American. As a close ally, Israel increases American security in the region, particularly regarding jihadist attacks. It has also alerted America and Europe to threats in those countries. Israel also shares advances in tech, medicine, agriculture, and other areas, which is a lot more than I can say for "Palestinians (to whom we've given billions, over the years, much of which they use to pay salaries to terrorists)."
Locals weren't "kicked out out their homes" in '48. That's just "Palpaganda." Even PA President Mahmoud Abbas admits his family was told to leave by Arab leaders, to facilitate the anticipated liquidation of the Jews, and they could return home in a week or two. I've heard countless Arabs tell the same story. Others fled out of fear of the war Arabs started. Don't discount the fact that Arabs who decided to stay weren't forced out, which is why there's 2 million Israeli-Arab citizens today (in a country the size of New Jersey). Guess how many Jews remain in Muslim lands, after 850,000 were forced out? I think there's about 8K in Iran, and perhaps a thousand, everywhere else combined. And those Jewish communities pre-existed Arab conquest, by centuries. Yemen, Libya, Iraq, Egypt, Arabian Peninsula - Jews were there 1500-2500 years. Those were the hostile neighborhoods. Israel is the refuge, so get it straight.
Let me know if you have any questions. I know lots of stuff you won't hear on CNN.
They don’t give
a s-t.
I love how you guys act as if Jews are literally the only group standing between any other group of people and civilizational destruction. Like, excuse me, but who actually made you the sole arbiters of cultural preservation for everyone else? And no, “God” doesn’t count because your “God” is an invention who everyone should’ve soundly rejected after the Dark Ages anyway. You are not superior to the rest of us and there is no way you can argue that without sounding exactly like the Nazis you so despise.
Superior to us? No just superior to you and the other human jackals that pray to not be found out as the cowards you truly are. Can you stop your self hatred and accept that you are a flawed person with delusions of adequacy.
That last sentence absolutely REEKS of racist condescension. “Oh, you poor self-hating gentile, let me tell you how inadequate you are…”
Wow, you are really desperate to push this cultural messiah complex on us. Too bad some of us actually realize how ridiculous that is.
You are just ridiculous. Sorry.
Maybe a famous jew or two in say NY or London who is proudly progressive can put on a disguise and walk the streets of London ( or another large duty in England or say sydney forva few days ) while sporting an I ❤️ Israel tee shirt and let's see what happens. No entourage. No body guards.
Suicide
Depressing but truthful essay.
I feel so utterly powerless here. I've been worried sick since October 7th and the consequent response in the west. I vote for and donate to politicians who fight for the good cause but we're approaching a point of no return and there's still no political resolve to turn this around among the general public. On the contrary, our public broadcast brainwashed everyone into protesting against Israel. If I voice anything remotely sympathetic to Israel on universities I get disgusted faces and these are our next generation politicians. I'm considering moving out of Europe because I can't live out the rest of my life awaiting the inevitable. I want to be among people where there's hope and resolve.