Shalom Pollack – Caught in the Headlights

 

Increasingly one hears of outlandish anti-Semitic beliefs held by an ignorant Jew-hostile world.  It is a very old disease. When did the current  "wave" begin? Is it indeed merely a wave? What was the trigger for the "outburst"? Jews ask this question from time immemorial - and they are still asking.

Growing up in a very Jewish community in Brooklyn before social media,  I was shielded from having to confront or hear them. If I were living there today I probably would be made more aware of it as there is little room to hide in the shadows anymore. Very few are left in the dark and unaffected by the instant information reality we live in.

When celebrities and cultural icons of all political and cultural stripes are proud and giddy about revealing their animus and threats toward things Jews it is a license that many others surely will use.

Clearly,  classic antisemitism has not died, even after the shock of the Holocaust or the "age of Aquarius".

It would be amusing if it weren't so tragic  - the countless highs of Jewish hope for acceptance and enlightenment; always followed by the crash of disillusionment and shock.
The  shocked deer stares into  the headlights

Think of a deer staring into oncoming headlights; surprised, not sure what it all means and what is next.

The Jewish people have been transfixed by those beams for a very long time.
At times the intense lights may  seem to become dim, and weak, but the high beams return always

Israel was created to put an end to the historic tragedy, and to rebuild a healthy Jewish nation in its own land.

History shows us that there has been no other people or country that has tried so hard to win the acceptance of other people and other countries. The Jewish people and Israel are way out of their adolescent years; experienced enough to know that it simply does not work.
A  pathetic example of lessons unlearned occurred this week at the International soccer games in Qatar. Israelis and Israeli media flocked there - to the country that is the number one supporter of Hamas. Forget national honor. The games must go on!

They seemed genuinely shocked and crushed when they were confronted by waves of intense anti-Semitism on the streets.
Just as German Jews believed that "Bildung '' - education will solve antisemitism, Israelis thought that soccer will bind all of the fans.
Almost all.
They resorted to hiding and lying about their identities.
The proud Israeli.
The new Jew.

There was an item about one Israeli at the games who wore traditional Orthodox Jewish garb and was treated with respect.
What does that tell you?
Perhaps if you respect yourself, others might too.?

The anti-semitic disease is frustrating and scary enough outside the borders of the Jewish state. How is faring within its borders?

Anti-Semitic public statements by Arab politicians and other public figures are a part of the "democratic discourse in the Jewish state. We offer them the perfect platform and they take advantage of what they understand is our weakness.
For them and the  Israeli-Arab masses who vote for them, the 1948 war of independence is not yet over. Justice will come.

Speaking of Israeli Arabs, I had a conversation with one today.

She seems to enjoy her job as a masseuse in the club I attend. We always greet each other cordially.
Today, we had a chance for a conversation. I always like to practice my Arabic and I took the opportunity.

I told her I would like to know what she thinks is the reason for the famous violence within the Arab community in Israel
She replied, "how do I know it exists"? I said I hear the media reports constantly.
She dismissed them as fake news. She asked me if I had seen the incidents myself.
(she claimed that violence is the work of organized crime and guess who is most responsible for organized crime in the entire Mid East? The Jews)
I said no but I also have not seen the Holocaust but I believe it took place.

She then asked me how many Jews I think were killed in the Holocaust.
I said six million.
She dismissed the number as hugely exaggerated. It was simply impossible for one people to kill so many others in such a short time.- technically impossible. Yes, she admitted people were killed and that is sad but the official figure is fake.

Did I just meet for the first time in my life a real-life Holocaust denier, right here in  Jerusalem?

She pressed me for proof that six million were killed.
I said that it wasn't the victims that make the claim but rather the meticulous Germans that kept strict records of the murders, or the progress of the final solution to the Jewish problem.
She dropped the subject.

She said that the USA is a terrible country. I said if that is the case why do people from all over dream of living there including loads of Arabs who fill the US embassy?
She did not have a response but asked me why I came to Israel if the US is a good place to live.
I told her it is because I am a Zionist who came home to the land of Zion as the Torah instructs Jews to do. It's God's promised land to His people.
She was shocked.

She then said that the Jews removed and manipulated parts of the Torah and corrupted the religion. (a common claim) Only the Koran is the truth unadulterated.

It was interesting that she described herself as not "religious". I understood that for Muslims that term does not mean non-belief or affiliation but rather things like not covering one's hair.
You will hardly find a Muslim that will criticize or question their faith.
They share solidarity - not love for one another but a tribal loyalty vis a vis non-Muslims.

That is one of their strengths as opposed to Jews and why Jews fear Arabs in the Jewish state and Arabs have nothing to fear for Jews.
Israel has almost two million such Arab citizens. Troubling?

Last week when a Druse boy was killed and abducted by Muslims, the Druze community was outraged and demonstrated total solidarity They abducted a Muslim and threatened to kill him if the body was not returned immediately.
He was returned immediately.

Hamas has held the bodies of Jewish soldiers and live Israeli citizens for years. They are still there.
Where is the Jewish solidarity? Where is the outrage?

Muslims do not fear angering Jews.

It's ironic but I am quite sure that if we had a Druse education, defense, and public security minister, Jews would be prouder of their identity and be far safer in the country established so that "never again" is not just a slogan.

How did we reach this point?

shalompollack613@gmail.com

tour guide  

and author of
"Jews, Israelis and Arabs"