Gaza Fallout: Playing The Holocaust Card

... “the New York Times would report on anti-Semitism in Europe the minute the civilian dead in Gaza reached 1000.”

Now that it’s getting close to 2000 and civilians, including many children, have been killed in schools, hospitals and UN shelters (to the point that even the US government was “appalled” at the “disgraceful shelling” near a UN school), the rhetoric continues to ratchet up. So now the real lesson of the  war is …  that there could be another holocaust in Europe. 

“We are looking at the beginnings of another Holocaust” 

Calling the rise in anti-Semitic incidents accompanying Israel’s invasion of Gaza an “SOS situation,” [Israeli Jewish Congress president Vladimir] Sloutsker warned that if left unchecked, such behavior could lead to another European genocide.

“Never before since the Holocaust, have we seen such a situation as today,” he said, referring to the continent-wide demonstrations by pro-Palestinian activists, a number of which have degenerated into violence and many of which have featured racist rhetoric. “We are potentially looking at the beginning of another Holocaust now. …

Desperate times call for ramping up policies long advocated by the organized Jewish community in Europe and  throughout the  West: Abolishing free speech and adding to the bureaucracy aimed at “anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia.” Israel, after all, is an exemplar of a society free from all these evils.

Sloutsker also called on all European governments to impose what he called “strict regulations” on the format and content of demonstrations in order to prevent further violence against Jews.

Citing a recent proposal by Belgian Jewry to establish a position of Special European Commissioner to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism and Racism, Sloutsker said such measures would “help send a strong message that European leadership is united and committed to combating anti-Semitism, racism and xenophobia.” …

In a wonderful bit of extreme hasbara or self-deception, Israel is portrayed as a passive victim, and the recent upsurge in hostility toward Jews has  nothing whatever to do with the  conflict in the Middle East:

“Fight together with us,” Yisrael Beytenu MK Shimon Ohayon urged the diplomats present, adding that he was opposed to “dangerous propaganda” that painted Israel as an aggressor.

Jews in Europe have been targeted not because of any territorial claim or conflict in the Middle East, the lawmaker asserted, but “because they are Jews,” citing attacks against Jews in France, including a recent riot in the Parisian suburb of Sarcelles in which the synagogue and Jewish stores were targeted.

“We ask you to stop this wheel” of “anti-Semitic hatred in Europe,” he added, calling anti-Zionism the “new anti-Semitism.” …

It’s simple: the Palestinians are terrorists:

Committee chairman Yoel Razbozov said the world “must understand” that Israel is fighting against terrorism, echoing the prevailing sentiment among the lawmakers present.

Jews in the Diaspora should not be linked with the actions of the Israeli government (despite the strong support for the Israel perspective by the organized Jewish community throughout the Diaspora):

Jews in Belgium are being asked “why are you killing children in Gaza,” Rafael Werner, a representative of that country’s Jewish community recounted, asserting that there is little distinction being made between Jews and Israelis.

Europe’s problem is that there is not  enough pro-Israel propaganda (!):

“There is no hasbara in Europe,” he complained, using the Hebrew term for public diplomacy.

Natan Sharansky chimed in with a more interesting perspective (“Anti-Semitism Means The Future Of Europe’s Jews Is Under Threat“). While agreeing that Jews are under threat in Europe, he realizes that the problem is that the very trends that Jews promoted have come back to bite them.

Jews had historically and naturally felt very much at home in the liberal, progressive parts of European society, they were part of developing that,” he added. “Now, the ideology of liberalism has become bound-up with multiculturalism, against religion, against nationalism. …

“Europe’s new ideology comes from John Lennon; let’s see the world without anyone having religion, or cultural identity, without state, without nationality. Europe has embraced this.”

Europe has opened its doors to millions of Muslim immigrants with values that are antithetical to the values that brought them there in the first place — values championed by the organized Jewish community, as well as Jewish elites in the media and universities. The upsurge in violence against Jews in Europe is entirely because of the actions of the Muslim community, but the anti-Israel attitudes of the left enable the violence:

“These two forces [anti-Zionist campaigners on the Left, and Muslim radicals] are not allies, but they inevitably are co-operating and work in one direction. One side hates Jews as a race, the other blames Israel for being racist. Unless this changes, Jews will not continue to live in Europe.

Despite the recent spate of violence directed against Jews because of the behavior of Israel, there will be no change in the attitudes of the organized Jewish community in the  Diaspora. In fact, more Jews are leaving Europe for Israel, but there is no indication that Jewish elites are leaving. As throughout the West, elites have been able to avoid the costs of immigration which fall disproportionately on the lower classes, including Jews. There is therefore no indication that this will affect Jewish power and influence. because Jewish power derives not from their numbers but from Jewish elites in the media, universities, and in funding political parties.

So the bottom line is that the policies that Jews advocate in the diaspora are incompatible with Israel as a Jewish state:

“Israel is proud of its national character, it wants its own borders, and that is a relic, as far as European liberals are concerned and they don’t like it.”

We can only hope that Europe will come to its senses and realize the value of national character and borders. But they won’t get any help from the  Diaspora Jewish communities in the  West.