What to do in the Face of Global Anti-semitism

Since a year or five we do notice that the ten years of the growing ‘right’ has not only brought an aversion against immigrants and/or refugees. More and more the Jewish community became target of bullying and hate actions.

The deathly attack on the Jewish museum in Brussels was something which should have awaken the politicians. In Belgium the Jewish schools and centres could receive extra security measures from the Belgian government. That is nice but should be something that would not be necessary.

All over the West-side of the European continent we do see a growing resistance or hate against the choice of living of the Jews in Europe. Several young Jews found it already better to take everything together and to leave this part of the world to go to live in Israel, even when that meant also to go in the army for two years.

Many of us really wonder what we should do today in the face of global anti-Semitism?

There are those who still caution a “better to hush it up and make believe it isn’t there” policy. Giving it publicity, they claim, will only stoke the fire. A shrill response is counterproductive. When we show that we hurt, the argument goes, we’re giving our enemies comfort.
But they are wrong. They are as wrong as those in the early stages of the Holocaust who pretended not to see, who claimed Hitler can’t really be considered a threat, who were sure that the evil of Jew hatred was so obviously uncivilized and barbaric that it had no chance of succeeding. Wait it out, said those who counselled against protests, those who didn’t want to identify themselves as Jews with profound interest in saving their fellow Jews. It can’t happen here, they claimed. But it did – and they were proven wrong six million times over.

There are all too many Hamans today. Anti-Semites require the spotlight of our attention and the public scorn of our protests and demonstrations.

Today we see the growing  hostility toward or prejudice against Jews or Judaism as well as against Muslims, because of fundamentalist Muslims (Jihadists) defiling the Muslim faith and calling for a hate against Jews and non-believing people. It looks like we are also getting a revival of the rising nationalism like the one of the 19th century. Today we also see how the Roman Catholic Church, which in the 19th century sometimes subscribed to the idea of Jewish racial identity and sometimes denied it, like then not only fails to condemn European anti-Semitism and anti-Islamism, now the Muslim communities stayed too long silent condemning those Islamist fundamentalists who have nothing to do with real Islam. A problem by the Catholics is that in the East of Europe there are still some very right-wing priests and we must remember that in the Balkan several priests in the past had worked together with the Germans to get rid of the Jews. For Rabbi Giuseppe Laras this can well be the reason why the Catholic Church does not react stronger against the growing anti-semitism. He sees in it a continuation of a contempt towards the Jewish people that found genocidal expression during World War II, when Catholic Priests ran half the concentration camps in Fascist Croatia. Though we also should remember that this loathing also extended to Orthodox Christian Serbs, real or non-trinitarian Christians, like the Jehovah Witnesses, and also other minorities like the Roma who were slaughtered in these same camps by the hundreds of thousands.

By the threats of the jihadist groups like Al Qaeda, Daesh or ISIS, and the big amount of refugees coming into Europe lots of poorer Europeans see their jobs threatened and are fearing they would loose out on them.

Anti-Semitism in the 21st Century: The Resurgence (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

We need not only to shout out our pain, we should motivate others to open their eyes and to see what is going on. We have to call onto those who say they are lovers of God.

We need to assert our Jewish identity – not mask it – with increased passion and vigor. We need to make the elimination of anti-Semitism not simply a Jewish cause but the universal response to a heinous crime which for far too long has soiled the pages of history.

As we prepare to observe Purim this year, let us make the noise required to eradicate the genocidal ambitions of anti-Jewish hatred which still continue to plague us.

The US delegation for the 2004 OSCE Conference on Anti-Semitism, led by former New York Mayor Ed Koch and former US Secretary of States Colin Powell. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

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Preceding article

Seeds from the world creating division and separation from God

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Additional reading

1. Religious Practices around the world
2. Protest against Tzahal concert in Antwerp
3. Migrants to the West #6
4. 2014 European elections
5. Hamas the modern Philistines
6. January 27 – 70 years ago Not an end yet to genocide
7. World remembers Auschwitz survivors
8. 25 Orthodox rabbis issued a statement on Christianity
9. French Muslims under attack
10. At the closing hours of 2016 #1 Looking down at terror
11. Jews the next scapegoat for Donald Trump
12. The American clouds of Anti-Semitism
13. Objective views and not closing eyes for certain sayings
14. Donald Trump after declining numbers of people victimised for their religion managed to increase the numbers again

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Further reading

1. Anti-Semitic threats towards Jewish Centers continue to rise in numbers
2. anti-Semitism, the DNC, and Donald Trump
3. Anti-Semitism row at Bristol University as lecturers rally round academic who claimed Jews should stop ‘privileging’ the Holocaust
4. Jeffrey Goldberg on Mel Gibson: He is “Hollywood’s leading antisemite”
5. This #Muslim interfaith activist knows more about #Zionism than most Jews
6. France has passed the point of no return
7. Far-right candidate sees a France sans kippas, headscarves — NZ Friends of Israel Association Inc
8. Anti-Semites attack Philadelphia, USA Jewish cemetery
9. Jewish cemetery in Philadelphia vandalized, more than 100 headstones toppled
10. How has it come to this?
11. Another day, another Muslim ban
12. Meet ‘Based Stick Man,’ the Alt-Right’s LARP-y New Hero
13. Mourning Oak Grove
14. Israel: Boycotters are no longer welcome — Israel restricts visas — “If anyone insults us, we respond.”
15. Israeli Apartheid Week in France — anti-Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment has been high in France while Jews flee to the Israeli homeland — Under French law boycotting is illegal
16. President Trump Vows to Give Up Denouncing Anti-Semitism for Lent
17. In Israel, Lauding and Lamenting the Era of Trump
18. American Liberal Jews: “staggeringly naive believing that marching at airports with signs that read “We love Muslims” will change those Muslims who hate Jews into Muslims who love Jews”
19. Steve Cohen’s ‘That’s Funny, You Don’t Look Anti-Semitic’
20. Rochester Area JCC Re-Opens After Morning Bomb Threat
21. A Sixth Wave Of Bomb Threats On Jewish Centers Also Targeted The Anti-Defamation League
22. “The sad phenomenon of Jews accusing other Jews of provoking antisemitism can be found throughout Jewish history”
23. Seattle Fed Says Kadima Purim Event Violates Promo Policy
24. Donald Trump Is Not the “Least Anti-Semitic Person” Ever
25. Switzerland funds NGOs that call for Israel’s destruction
26. Glimmers of Hope
27. Entire U.S. Senate Demands Trump Act on Jewish Center Threats
28. The anti-Semitic Martin Luther
29. So Many Hamans- Anti Semitism Rears Its Ugly Head
30. Tomb of Purim Heroes Esther and Mordechai Still Standing in Modern-Day Persia -Breaking Israel News | Latest News. Biblical Perspective.
31. Why Is Purim Essential?
32. Headlines — 3/08/17
33. “If you talk privately to those who work in the Jewish organization world, many will confide that the greatest threat to the security of the American Jewish community is “changing demographics,” which is a euphemism for a growing population of Arab migrants to the United States”
34. A Liberal Zionism for the Trump Era
35. Cindy Jacobs Wants To “Harvest” The Jews
36. Also in Media: “The View from Israel: The Inevitable Outcome of the Establishment of Palestine.”  March 7, 2017
37. Anti-Semitism (by If we the people)
38. Ilan Pappe asks “Am I an anti-Semite?”
39. Four steps to reach mutual understanding
40. In An Angry And Fearful Nation, An Outbreak Of Anti-Semitism (by K Street)
41. Remembering Amalek’s oppression of us-and others
42. Goucher’s Jewish community reacts to anti-Semitic attacks
43. The Rise of Anti-Seminism
44. In an Angry and Fearful Nation, an Outbreak of Anti-Semitism (Reprint)
45. The Story of Esther is Now
46. United against Freedom…
47. Activist: ‘Let’s free England from Jewish control’
48. “A key teaching of the Book of Esther is that once the plague of Jew-hatred gets in the air, almost any environment can nourish it”
49. Auschwitz
50. Alternative Reality #5: Friends Indeed: Hoteps and Neo-Nazis Unite
51. Islamophobia and its apologists
52. Temple De Hirsch Hosts BDS Rabbi
53. PewDiePie, Nazi?
54. Show your love
55. ADL plans Silicon Valley center to fight cyberhate
56. A Sign That Reads ‘Beware of Jews’ Appeared in London
57. Beware of Jews
58. The Restless Ghosts of Baiersdorf
59. Front National: Back to Holocaust Denial
60. YouTube Grows a Spine
61. Labour selects anti-Semite as New Plymouth candidate
62. The enemy inside
63. US ‘Outraged’ by UN Report That Accuses Israel of Establishing ‘Apartheid Regime’ That ‘Dominates the Palestinian People’
64. The Guardian: Why won’t YouTube and Google consider moderators to tackle online hate?
65. What Type of Utopia Will Israel Be?
66. Italian rabbis accuse biblical conference of fueling anti-Judaism
67. 167 House members ask Trump to retain ambassador to combat anti-Semitism
68. US Muslim vets vow to protect Jewish communities
69. Jews Support Muslims against Trump’s border closure
70. Organizations call for Sebastian Gorka resignation for ties to far-right group
71. On anti-Semitism, anti-Islam and fictitious alliances in U.S.
72. Money Sought To Protect Jewish Schools
73. Praying for an anti- anti-Semitic Awakening
74. Alliel – A Window Into Tribal Arrogance
75. Jewish mentality: Charging Palestinians millions of dollars to have their homes demolished
76. Culture Clashes Real and Imagined
77. The Old Man and the Tortoise
78. The Goy According To Hoenlein
79. Lost Tribes of Israel, Blood and History
80. Sanctuary: An Interfaith Movement
81. Vienna – 1938
82. Come in, Come in
83. Not That Jewish
84. Why Call it Judaism? The Case for Humanistic Judaism
85. Legitimacy: the Struggle of Progressive Judaism
86. Is Pope Francis ushering in a revival of Catholic anti-Semitism as it seeks to ally itself with Islam? Prominent Italian Rabbi Giuseppe Laras sounds the alarm
87. Sermon: Anti-Semitism: Do We Have a Problem?

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