Op-Ed: The Growing Anti-Jewish Hate

The official name was called anti-Semitism, before that it was called anti-Judaism, but those names seem so vile. The present name is ant-Zionism. But they all mean the same, hate of the Jewish people as a whole.

Hate always seemed to gravitate towards the Jews.

The first sign of hate towards the Jewish people as a whole was in ancient Egypt when the descendants of Patriarch Jacob were enslaved by the pharaohs. Then they were attacked in the desert. Forty years later they got to the land. They fought for it and won. There were quiet years and there were wars. In time the cultures of the area were lost and new empires were built.

The nation had splintered off. The 10 tribes divided from the tribes of Yehuda and Binyamin under the kings of the House of David. Their histories were filled with anger and back stabbings. Not long after they were sent into exile, the ten tribes disappeared. That left Yehuda, Binyamin, some Leviim and Kohanim.

Divided, the Jewish people were weaker.

It did not take long for the new empires to trip over themselves in attacking the Holy Land. The Babylonians, the Greeks and Romans had to prove their strengths. They attacked the once strong and mighty nation.

Many Jews were murdered. The rest were sold to slavery or sent into exile throughout the discovered world. They were expelled from one country after another. They were massacred in their towns and villages, many times at the behest of the rulers and church. Their rights as a people were taken from them. Thousands were persecuted and killed for not converting, their property and livelihood confiscated.

Starting at the end of the 12th century through to half of the 18th century, the Inquisition spread throughout Europe by the Roman Catholic Church. Jews refusing to convert we burnt at stake. The remnant fled to the New World or from one European country to the other. Those that did not flee became Marranos – hidden Jews, facing the risk of being found out, tortured and burnt as well.

It was not much different for the Jews living under Islamic rule. Many Jews were forced to convert or be killed. At times, they were not given the chance or the choice.

Ghettos became a favorite place to pack the unwanted Jews of a city. Many families were packed into the smallest, inhumane, rundown section of a city. This made it easier for the mobs to steal, commit murder and rape. Chmielnitzki was an infamous Cossack leader from Ukraine, known for his brutality. He was the force behind hundreds of Jews being killed, women raped, properties destroyed. Many people were left homeless and orphans destitute.

The mobs did not need an excuse to attack the Jews. But it most definitely helped. For many, it came in the shape of blood libels. Malicious lies spread of Jews ritually murdering Christians, usually children, to be used in the Pesach matzo. Thousands of families were persecuted, their possessions stolen. There were times that the accusations were proven to be false.

One such case was in 1492, in Bazin, today Pezinok, Slovakia. The community was charged with kidnapping a nine year old boy. It turned out that the count, Count Wolf of Bazin kidnapped and hid the boy himself in Vienna. Fifteen Jews were burnt alive for the charges.

During the 1920, ‘21 and ‘29 Palestine Riots, Arab mobs attacked Jews in their homes, synagogues, orchards etc. Over a hundred Jews were killed, while close to eight hundred were injured. During the time of April of 1936 until the end of 1938, over six hundred Jews were massacred. In that span of time, over 400 were injured. The monetary loss soared to hundreds of dollars at least.

The most famous historical atrocity against the Jewish people worldwide is known as the Shoah, the Holocaust. Over six million Jews were murdered through starvation, hard labor, shooting and gas chambers to name a few ways. However, that was not enough to be considered an atrocity against human kind. If countries did not agree or help, they stood by. The latter of which can be considered as worse. It was a dark time.

Probably because of that fact they felt guilty and agreed to a Jewish state. In some way, many were hoping that it would not last. How could the tiny state surrounded by angry Arabs survive? Against all odds, it survived. Israel was constantly under threat from terrorists. Their embassies were under attack, their civilians under threat around the world. A few planes were hijacked. The Israelis were separated from the rest and deals were made for their releases.

There was the 1968 El-Al Flight 426. It was traveling from Heathrow Airport on the way to Tel Aviv with a stopover in Rome when it was hijacked. The non-Israelis were sent to France while in Algiers. The 5 Israelis and seven crewmembers were only released five weeks later after a deal between the terrorists and Israel was made. The result was the releases of 16 convicted terrorists.

Another, more famous hijacking is the 1976, Air France Flight 139 from Tel Aviv to Paris with a stopover in Athens. Again, Israelis were separated from the rest of the passengers. This time, the hostages were held in Entebbe, Uganda. The Israelis were held for a week until they were rescued by Israeli Special Forces. 256 hostages survived.

On June 4, 1967, Israel was surrounded by Egypt, Syria, Jordan and Iraqi troops. The six day war had begun. It was Israel’s 264.000 troops and 11.000 tanks against the combined 547.000 troops and 2.504 tanks.

The U.N. was conveniently not around. Egypt had kicked them out of the Sinai a couple of weeks earlier. Did they really believe that everyone suddenly loved Israel? It was very unlikely that the enemies suddenly becoming friends. They had to know that there would be a war, unless they chose to ignore it.

False rumors were spread against the state, igniting the first Intifada at the end of 1987. Threats and attacks against Israelis spread throughout the country. It did not take long for the world to sympathize with the Arabs. Lies were believed and spread. Many Jews were attacked simply for being Jewish and sympathetic to Israel. Incidentally, the second Intifada was based on a false report accusing the IDF of killing, Muhammad al-Durrah, a child in a shootout. Proof was later shown that France 2 had falsified the footage.

More recently, the past few years have been horrible times for Israeli citizens. They had to live with suicide attacks, kidnappings and rocket fires on schools and homes. Instead of condemning or taking actions to these attacks, the United Nations sanctioned against Israel. They tell Israel that she may not defend herself against attacks. The U.N. puts all the blame on the country that has been constantly attacked.

There has been a steep rise in anti-Semitic attacks worldwide. The general population does not really concern itself with such trivial events.

It was not a trivial event when Jewish French citizen Ilan Halimi was held captive for more than three weeks in 2006. The 23 year old was kidnapped, tortured and left for dead near railroad tracks. He later died of his ordeals.

Anti-Semitism has been spreading throughout Europe again. They are not the only ones. Hate has been growing in North America as well. The New York State Division of Criminal Justice Services released a report stating of 2009 crimes, 85 percent of crimes committed by religious motivation were against Jews. Hate spreads. Australia is not singled out when it comes to hate.

Jeremy Jones, the Director of Community Affairs for the Australia/Israel and Jewish Affairs Council, reported there were at least ten anti-Semitic incidents a week in the past year. Jones stated support for these crimes are growing in media outlets.

Israel’s enemies wish to reduce Jewish sympathy and to undermine Israel’s integrity. One way to do so is to take a page out of the Nazis’ book. Draw cartoons depicting Jews as evil and money hungry.

Hate in the Middle East is not a strange thing. An example is Jewish American journalist Daniel Pearl. Pearl was kidnapped and later beheaded on February 1, 2002. In Daniel Pearl’s last words he said:

“My name is Daniel Pearl. I am a Jewish American from Encino, California, USA. I come from, on my father’s side the family is Zionist. My father’s Jewish, my mother’s Jewish, I’m Jewish. My family follows Judaism. We’ve made numerous family visits to Israel. Back in the town of Bnei Brak there is a street named after my great grandfather Chaim Pearl who is one of the founders of the town.”

Pearl had three factors going against him. He was Jewish, American and an Israeli citizen.

In 2009, Israeli tennis player, Shahar Peer, was denied entry to the UAE for a 2 million dollar women’s tennis tournament, because she is Israeli.

The two thousand year question is why there is anti-Semitism. As we mentioned earlier, great empires were building up. For them to feel completely successful in their mission, they have to destroy their enemy. That’s how it worked for all of them, until it came to the Jews. The tiny, stiff necked people would just not disappear. They were a thorn to the victories. The only solution to that was to demonize the Jewish people in the public eye to keep a victorious face.

The second question as to why anti-Semitism is acceptable is a little harder to answer. In the past, the people had no choice but to agree with those in charge, the church or the monarchy. The people didn’t know differently. In our day and age information is open, we may look for the truths and we can think for ourselves. So why then, has anti- Semitism, Judaism and Zionism become acceptable? What does that say to our society?

When we turn a blind’s eye to those who call for death, we embolden them. We give our enemies a pass to spread lies to justify their crimes. To make ourselves feel less guilty, we blame the ones that are being attacked. In our times the latter is Israel. The enemies are the Arabs. The appeasers, such as United States Ambassador Howard Gutman, are those that have the audacity to blame Israel for getting attacked.

When we can learn from the past and speak up, we will have a fighting chance.