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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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
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.
Trading Judeo beliefs for Islamic tolerance is western suicide.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
Dream on
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.
They don’t give
a s-t.
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
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.
Depressing but truthful essay.
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.
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.