Time To Speak

It is time to speak.  The times come when you have to say the words that are sitting at the back of your tongue waiting to be said.   I have been watching the news like a rabid fox for weeks.  Anyone who knows me, knows my position on Israel.   They know my passion for that fantastic place and my undeniable support for the State of Israel.  This post will be no surprise to them.

However,  this post is about the unacceptable level of antisemitic activities that we are seeing in the world today.  The areas I will discuss include Europe, Boycotts, and Social Media.  The problem here is that the antisemitic acts are on French citizens, British Citizens, American Citizens...  Jews yes, but they are not Israel. If you have a bone to pick with Israel take it out on Israel not on Jews.   There are Jews everywhere, hopefully.  They are citizens of many countries with many views.  They may or may not support Israel.  They may or may not practice their religion and may or may not believe in God.  Regardless of their views they are not Israel.  To take this conflict outside of the realm of the national conflicts and to the individual Jews living throughout this world, peacefully going about their business, is where antisemitism shows its roots.  In this we see that the actions have very little to do with the conflict currently happening and are an underlying problem. 

Europe: 

For the Love of God folks come on.  The antisemitic backlash has been tremendous. I would like to say 'been there done that' for Europe.  One might say that the population make up for Europe has changed substantially since the Second World War II and thus this is a new Europe.   The new Europe, incorporating huge immigration from Islamic lands including North Africa, has reacted in the streets in a  down right scary way.  Is this like the genocide of WWII?

Lets talk about France shall we.  Yesterday protests, in the suburbs of Paris called Sarcelles, got to the point of riots demolishing Jewish establishments and threatening Jewish French Citizens.  The Protest which had been banned by the government hurt people and succeeding in putting fear into the hearts of many. Even know the protest was banned flyers were posted all over stating to bring weapons and be prepared to raid the Jewish district. The crowd chanted "Gas the Jews" and "Kill the Jews". Rioters carried bayonets and fire bombs, and were only stopped yards from the local synagogue. French Jews were harassed, endangered saying it brought them back to 1938.   

In a discussion with a friend, he tried to tell me that Jews do the same thing.  I could not help but stomp that right down.  Were in the world are you seeing violent protests being led by Jews? Are they protesting the Arab countries that are backing the conflict or the Palestinians themselves?  No, is the answer.  You may see some people supporting Israel or showing strength for Israel at an anti-Israel protest.  Yet they are not violent and are not calling for the death of a people based on their religious choice.  Jews have always protesting on the side of peace even within Israel against their own people.  Jews have always been there in the civil rights movements and are found in great numbers supporting peaceful civil liberties.  

This issue is not limited to Europe as we have seen a huge rise in antisemitic happenings world wide over the last few years.   Why?  What are Jews doing so wrong?  Maybe it is the unending ability to inventing stuff to make the entire human races life easier, or maybe it is all the medical research curing diseases that puts the world at odds with the Jews?  Maybe it is in all the support that Jews give to people and causes all over the world whenever there is a situations of need.  That must be it.  

Oh, Oh, I know, it is the gall the Jews have had to survive the holocaust and build an amazing, successful, powerful nation where others had only grazed goats.   Maybe it is the self deprecating scene of humor that has entertained millions and millions of people in movies and TV.  Hmm mm.  Or Maybe they are just a convenient focus for rage and ignorance.

Boycott: 

What is with this?   Lets get the strongest minds and best thinkers in the world and get them to agree to boycott Israeli industry.  Hmm mm.  Got a cell phone folks, I guess you are going to turn that in.  Much of the technology behind those little babies comes for Israel.  Ready to go back to your land lines?  As much as I love Stephen Hawkins works, he would not be able to communicate at all without the technology developed in Israel to help him make himself understood.  Why is the Palestinian cause so more just to this group of boy-cotters?  What have they done to further human rights, humanity, science?  As if that should even be the question.   

Why would a company like Sephora, a makeup retailer, feel it has the moral high ground by boycotting Israel in the favor of a group that if they had their way would not even let women wear makeup.  This group also regularly abuses it's own citizens without the benefits of courts of law. The same society is working hard to take away all rights from women, gives no protection of minorities living withing their boundaries including Christians, and uses it's own citizens as human shields with no value on their lives.  

Do the boy-cotters give a hoot about all the violations of human rights going on all over the world or is Ahava an Israeli hand cream company such a threat to their ways of life.  Does Israel poison it's own people with chemical weapons, or drag their own people through the streets behind motorcycles until the bodies have no human features recognizable, all without an legal proceedings, due to a suspicion they may be 'collaborators'.  

Maybe, just maybe those poor people who were murdered as 'collaborators' were actually moderate citizens standing up to Hamas in even a small way.  How is a moderate Muslim ever suppose to stand up against these powers.  If they protest this situation they themselves will be killed and their families with them. There is no voice for the moderates, only fear and compliance. Maybe there needs to be a protest standing up for moderate Muslims that want peace and security not ignorance and fear.  That is a protest that I could support.   

Does Israel use humanitarian aid to build terror tunnels and buy bombs? Does Israel even turn their back on terrorist in need of medical attention after the terrorist kills Israel people? No, they do not.  Why boycott Israel, unless you are really boycotting Jews and thus this is a much bigger agenda of antisemitism and the Palestinians are just a convenient tool being used.

On that subject do the Arab world leaders really care about the Palestinians?  Or do they use them as a pawn to continually poke at the bear that is Israel.  If the Arab world wanted to they could fund the Palestinians to the point where each person would be bathing in gold tubs full of gems.  They could feed, house even absorb these few million people easily.  But they want them unhappy, discontent and miserable.  They want this conflict to continue.   

Social Media: 

I must admit I am surprised and delighted by the quality, quantity and strength of the social media coming out of Israel.  This is the first time in my 45 year life that I have seen Israel actually get the upper hand in any media battle.  Not sure who they have working on their team this time but they are doing a fantastic job.  The voice has been focused onto giving the same messages and give them well.  This is a great example of Integrated Marketing Communication done well.  

Of course this is my view of the social media that I am seeing in my feeds.  What I will say is that the amount of info coming out of this conflict is much more then in the past.  In previous conflicts Israel has stuck to the position that "we are right and everyone will see that."    Well that does not actually work, you see.  You have to be right and be in every one's face about it.   This time they are in every one's face and Bibi is doing a fantastic job of bringing it to the English speaking populations of the world. 

The social media coming out of this conflict is showing the fear, strength, anger, and generosity of the Israeli people. I am glad to see it being shared over and over by friends in my feed.  I see it coming from Jews, and from Non Jews alike. Yet social media allows you to tailor what you see to what you want to see. 0

Social media also lets people comment on stuff like a bunch of fools. I have seen some pretty ignorant comments coming from people who can't help but show their inherent antisemitic tendencies.  On one post by the PM of Israel I noticed several comments including "Hitler had it right", "Four more years of Hitler and the Jews would have been gone" ,  "They killed Jesus and now they will pay".  One could say those comments are because of the national focus, well a similar comment showed up on a local Columbia Tribune article about a local protest.  Thankfully the Tribune removed the comment as inflammatory and inappropriate. So ignorance and evil know no bounds.

None of these comments are about Israel, none are about the conflict.  They are all about Jews and Antisemitism.  There are millions of non-Jews living in Israel happily going about their lives in peace and security.  They are Christians, Muslims, Druzes, Bedouin, Armenians, Thai, etc....   The comments are not about the multifaceted face of Israel, they are all directed at Jews.

So are we supposed to stand by and watch all this and say nothing.   Thankfully media is pushing this in our faces to the point where we can't just sit by.  I have been having anxiety dreams for weeks and have not been able to see through the haze to know why I was having them.  In yoga, I realized it is because of this conflict.  Because of my frustration, fear and love for Israel and her people.  I feel vulnerable as a Jew yet I am a voice that can be heard.  I will not sit back and say nothing as the world goes crazy around me.  I will not sit back and wait for it to hit home.  It has already hit home as I am a Jew.  As Jews in France, Belgium, England, or anywhere else are being harassed we are all feeling it and our very humanity is called in to question if we do nothing.  

It is Time to Speak.