Posted in political on August 15th, 2006
Working in a university setting has it’s advantages. I can get a quick sampling of how a lot of different groups view any given issue. In some instances, I can see changes in perceptions as they happen in our culture, such as the gay movement, or the squelching of free speech by advocates. Some of these changes are slow and hard to notice right away, and others are sudden and usually a response to some current event. Lately I’ve noticed a sudden rise in anti-Semitism linked directly to the current conflict between Lebanon and Israel. Is it possible the people of the U.S. are on their way to abandoning our best ally in the Middle East?
There’s always been a certain amount of what I would call anti-Israel behavior on our campuses. I don’t know if I would call all of it “anti-Semitic”. We have to be careful here, just disagreeing with the Jewish point of view doesn’t necessarily make you anti-Semitic, (although that point of view is used by our advocates). But I do think that if you feel we should abandon Israel, or that Israel should be given to the Palestians, thus displacing over 5 million Jews, you probably do qualify as anti-Semitic. (Notice I didn’t say give it “back”, some of you people need to follow history back more than 60 years).
Lately, I’ve been hearing from our faculty and a lot of students, that Israel is the real villain in the Middle East, and that we need to get out of the business of supporting them. They sympathize with Hezbollah, and do not view them as “terrorists” at all. In fact, they feel, for the most part, that any action taken by any of the “terrorist” groups in the Middle East is justified by some past action by Israel or the West. I’m not saying Israel has completely clean hands; some of the actions taken by Israel against the Palestians are not exactly conducive to getting along. But the punishment should not be the destruction of Israel, or the genocide of Jews.
In the years prior to WWII, we saw the same ugly type of prejudice against the Jewish people that we’re now seeing fermenting in the Middle East. Jews were blamed for everything from poverty to disease. A good example of how perverse this can become is the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion“. The Protocols of Zion were used all through the beginning of the 20th Century in Europe and Asia to help ferment suspicion and hatred against the Jews. With it’s protocols listing the Jew’s plan to take over the world, it gave birth to one of the earliest, and longest lasting conspiracy theories of the last century. Supposedly, Jews would follow this book and it’s protocol, handing it down secretly from father to son in an effort to rule the world. So effective was the use of this book in revealing the Jews “secret plan” that Hitler made it required reading for all of Germany’s students. Even here in America, it is regularly handed out at white supremist meetings as well as among black Muslims. Hate and fear are very powerful emotions and the principle tools that have caused violent acts against groups throughout history. What we are seeing now with sales of this book in Iran and Syria as well as here in America is the beginning of something we have seen before, prior to WWII.
Just as Hitler used propaganda to turn Germany against Jews, a new wave of anti semitism is brewing in Europe. Attacks on Jewish synagogues are on the increase as are incidents of Jews being beaten. This is even happening in countries know for their “tolerance”. While a large percentage of these incidents are being blamed on young Muslims, enough of a rise in attacks by white supremist groups is occurring to cause all of us to wonder what’s going on. Is it possible that Muslim funded organizations are taking a page out of Mein kampf and using it to turn America and Europe against the Jews? Are we all so naive to assume if the Jews were out of the way all the problems in the Middle East would just disappear?
At this point, I should point out that I am not Jewish at all that I am aware of. The only reason this concerns me is, history has a habit of repeating itself. It’s real obvious that anti-Semitism is growing in Europe and I fear it’s growing here in the U.S. also. I understand the fear that we all have about facing down the terrorism that is growing out of Islamic extremism, but abandoning the Jewish people will NOT make it all go away. There are arguments all around about whether or not a Jewish state should have ever been created, but it has. The U.S. helped stop the genocide of the Jewish people in WWII and it has always been something that made me glad and proud to be an American. If America is going to go to war over something, I would like it to be to stop the genocide of people anywhere in the world. We should not have ignored Rwanda, we should stop the killing in Sudan, and we should never tolerate countries who call for the destruction of Israel or the genocide of Jews. H.C.
Working in a university setting has it’s advantages. I can get a quick sampling of how a lot of different groups view any given issue. In some instances, I can see changes in perceptions as they happen in our culture, such as the gay movement, or the squelching of free speech by advocates. Some of these changes are slow and hard to notice right away, and others are sudden and usually a response to some current event. Lately I’ve noticed a sudden rise in anti-Semitism linked directly to the current conflict between Lebanon and Israel. Is it possible the people of the U.S. are on their way to abandoning our best ally in the Middle East?
There’s always been a certain amount of what I would call anti-Israel behavior on our campuses. I don’t know if I would call all of it “anti-Semitic”. We have to be careful here, just disagreeing with the Jewish point of view doesn’t necessarily make you anti-Semitic, (although that point of view is used by our advocates). But I do think that if you feel we should abandon Israel, or that Israel should be given to the Palestians, thus displacing over 5 million Jews, you probably do qualify as anti-Semitic. (Notice I didn’t say give it “back”, some of you people need to follow history back more than 60 years).
Lately, I’ve been hearing from our faculty and a lot of students, that Israel is the real villain in the Middle East, and that we need to get out of the business of supporting them. They sympathize with Hezbollah, and do not view them as “terrorists” at all. In fact, they feel, for the most part, that any action taken by any of the “terrorist” groups in the Middle East is justified by some past action by Israel or the West. I’m not saying Israel has completely clean hands; some of the actions taken by Israel against the Palestians are not exactly conducive to getting along. But the punishment should not be the destruction of Israel, or the genocide of Jews.
In the years prior to WWII, we saw the same ugly type of prejudice against the Jewish people that we’re now seeing fermenting in the Middle East. Jews were blamed for everything from poverty to disease. A good example of how perverse this can become is the “Protocols of the Elders of Zion“. The Protocols of Zion were used all through the beginning of the 20th Century in Europe and Asia to help ferment suspicion and hatred against the Jews. With it’s protocols listing the Jew’s plan to take over the world, it gave birth to one of the earliest, and longest lasting conspiracy theories of the last century. Supposedly, Jews would follow this book and it’s protocol, handing it down secretly from father to son in an effort to rule the world. So effective was the use of this book in revealing the Jews “secret plan” that Hitler made it required reading for all of Germany’s students. Even here in America, it is regularly handed out at white supremist meetings as well as among black Muslims. Hate and fear are very powerful emotions and the principle tools that have caused violent acts against groups throughout history. What we are seeing now with sales of this book in Iran and Syria as well as here in America is the beginning of something we have seen before, prior to WWII.
Just as Hitler used propaganda to turn Germany against Jews, a new wave of anti semitism is brewing in Europe. Attacks on Jewish synagogues are on the increase as are incidents of Jews being beaten. This is even happening in countries know for their “tolerance”. While a large percentage of these incidents are being blamed on young Muslims, enough of a rise in attacks by white supremist groups is occurring to cause all of us to wonder what’s going on. Is it possible that Muslim funded organizations are taking a page out of Mein kampf and using it to turn America and Europe against the Jews? Are we all so naive to assume if the Jews were out of the way all the problems in the Middle East would just disappear?
At this point, I should point out that I am not Jewish at all that I am aware of. The only reason this concerns me is, history has a habit of repeating itself. It’s real obvious that anti-Semitism is growing in Europe and I fear it’s growing here in the U.S. also. I understand the fear that we all have about facing down the terrorism that is growing out of Islamic extremism, but abandoning the Jewish people will NOT make it all go away. There are arguments all around about whether or not a Jewish state should have ever been created, but it has. The U.S. helped stop the genocide of the Jewish people in WWII and it has always been something that made me glad and proud to be an American. If America is going to go to war over something, I would like it to be to stop the genocide of people anywhere in the world. We should not have ignored Rwanda, we should stop the killing in Sudan, and we should never tolerate countries who call for the destruction of Israel or the genocide of Jews. H.C.
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