By RON JAGER—
The celebration of the Jewish festival of Purim, whose observance began Saturday night, has always been linked to Persia, which is known today as the nation of Iran. Purim, has also been for most Jews a reminder of the blind hatred and never-ending desire to rid the world of Jews, a kind of yearly reminder that Anti-Semitism has been around and will be around for a long time, only to reappear from generation to generation in a different language, under a different national flag, yet always with the same perseverance to arrive at a “final solution”. Both Iranian President Ahmadinejad and the country’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who deny the truth of the Holocaust while plotting genocide of the Jews with their nuclear project, can be easily seen as latter-day Hamans (Haman being the arch villain in the Book of Ester) throughout the long and often tragic course of Jewish history.
Last week, the Chief Rabbi, Lord Sacks, warned that “the position of Jews in Europe today is very difficult. There are threats at this moment to brit mila and shechita, and Jews in Europe have begun to ask, is there a place for us here?” That warning follows a sharp rise in the number of anti-Semitic incidents in France after the murder of four Jews in Toulouse in March 2012. In the subsequent 10 days, 90 separate incidents were reported, over five times the average rate…. Also this past week, Two separate incidents, one at the University of Essex and a second at Oxford University, have shown the widespread European acquiescence and acceptance of overt anti-Semitism in the disguise of de-legitimizing not only Israel’s citizens but Israel’s right to exist at all.
Immediately following the announcement of a speech at Essex by Alon Roth-Snir, deputy ambassador of Israel to the United Kingdom, anti-Israel activists on campus began to organize to prevent the event from taking place at all. University of Essex Students’ Union President Nathan Bolton personally organized the protest: “I’ve made my position crystal clear. The Students’ Union has a position, which reflects my own, that the state of Israel is a state which its very existence is a crime.” At Oxford University, an incident took place between a former Israeli politician and a British MP, George Galloway who quit and walked out of a debate after discovering that his opponent was an Israeli citizen. The Respect party legislator, who is renowned for being staunchly pro-Palestinian, stormed out of the building saying: “I don’t recognize Israel and I don’t debate with Israelis.” “I refused this evening to debate with an Israeli, a supporter of the Apartheid state of Israel,” Galloway said in a statement late on Wednesday evening. “The reason is simple; No recognition, No normalization. Just Boycott, divestment and sanctions, until the Apartheid state is defeated.” With this being the general atmosphere in France and England its not surprising that in 2012 there were 102 violent attacks in France and 69 in the UK. One in four attacks in France involved a weapon. In three-quarters of the anti-Semitic incidents the perpetrators were reported as being of North African origin, a political correct euphemism for Muslims.
The current epidemic of anti-Semitic attacks and protests against Jews and anyone representing Israel on the European continent is not surprising. Let’s not diminish for not one moment European responsibility in fostering and cooperating with the Nazi’s attempt to wipe out the Jews in the past and the current apathy towards violent Muslim anti-Semitic violence against the Jews in recent years. The link between Nazism and modern day Islamic anti-Semitism did not begin in 1948 or even 1967 but was established in the 1930s. For example, in a Nazi directive of 1943: “The extermination of Jewry throughout the world is the precondition for an enduring peace”. Such a statement is remarkably similar, if not identical, to the hated leader of Iran, Ahmadinejad who proclaims at every opportunity that “the Zionist regime will be wiped out and humanity liberated”. The common thread unifying the desire for the total destruction of Jews is shared by European Islamic anti-Semites and Nazism. It is not a coincidence that both German Nazism and modern Islamism arose in the 1920s.The Nazi’s spoke of redemptive anti-Semitism, namely a form of anti-Semitism that explains all in the world and offer a form of “redemption” by exterminating the Jews. Modern radical Islamism provides the same rational for murdering Jews and Israeli’s in particular. Iranian television and Palestinian Arab Authority broadcasts daily programs to children and adults glorifying suicide bombers, hanging their pictures on light posts in major Arab Palestinian cities and promising heaven for those who murder Jews. Redemptive anti-Semitism has become the major ideological and religious believe that allows for and encourages the upsurge in deadly anti-Semitic violence spreading throughout the European continent.
Only by spreading the word and exposing the historically lethal link between modern day European Islamic anti-Semitism and Nazism and how they both propagate redemptive anti-Semitism, promising to liberate and free humanity by killing Jews, only then we can begin to regain the moral high ground in defending Israel against the global tsunami of every growing European and Islamic anti-Semitism taking over Europe.
The writer, a 25-year veteran of the I.D.F., served as a field mental health officer. Prior to retiring in 2005, served as the Commander of the Central Psychiatric Military Clinic for Reserve Soldiers at Tel-Hashomer. Since retiring from active duty, he provides consultancy services to NGO’s implementing Psycho trauma and Psycho education programs to communities in the North and South of Israel. Today, Ron is a strategic advisor to the Shomron Liaison Office. To contact: medconf@netvision.net.il