The Silence is Deafening

Many of us Jews have experienced some form of antisemitism at some point. In Israel, the modern day Jew there rarely experiences the same kind of antisemitism that we in the diaspora do. Theirs is both better and worse. 

Worse because of the very real existential threats Israelis face every day simply because they are Jewish. When their children go to a discotheque they may never return home. When their children serve in the IDF they may return home missing arms or legs or again never even make it home. 

Better because they don't face the often over looked and sometimes even subliminal antisemitic behaviour that we in the West often face. I've certainly been subjected to it, right here in the freedom loving, liberal, democratic state of Canada. Both as a child getting beaten up because I was Jewish and as an adult who was denied jobs because I wrote in my resume that I lived on a kibbutz in Israel.

My good Israeli friend who migrated to Canada years ago from Israel along with his wife said that he wanted to bring his parents along. His father who suffered in the Holocaust and faced plenty of vile antisemitism in Poland prior to the war (what Jew didn't?)  told him that he's had enough with the goyim. So my friend moved here and had the pleasure of confronting our style of antisemitism head on. I befriended him because he was being attacked on all sides at work. By some of his co-workers and by his bosses. I helped represent him at hearings. In the end he was pushed out of his job. 

I mention this case because it's more common that one would think. These cases of antisemitism are not mentioned in the mainstream media. In fact they are not mentioned in any media (except for here). Why? Because they are so commonplace and because Jews don't like playing the victim despite that victimhood theology being the fad these days. After the Holocaust most Jews moved to Israel and built a thriving, beautiful country. With hard work and courage they made the desert bloom while simultaneously defended themselves from yet another possible genocide from their Arab neighbours. Of all the people in the world that could have played the victim card, surely those Holocaust survivors could have played it. They suffered what thankfully very few people in history have. They could have sought revenge. They could have sat on their asses and waited for people to help them with food, lodging, shelter, welfare. I doubt too many people would condemn them if they did. But they did not. The Jews like my folks who miraculously survived the worst event in modern history left Europe with their heads high and started new lives all over the world. With empty pockets and a will to live, most led successful lives, built families, households and business and thrived. Rarely did they ask for help and next to none ever portrayed themselves as victims once they arrived at their new homes. 

One of the things they learned first hand (whether they wanted to or not) was about antisemitism. Some of us learn about antisemitism from an academic point of view. I'm happy of that but learning about it from a book is not nearly the same thing as facing it in real life. A generation or two later and the yearning to really understand antisemitism and the fight to take it on, has waned. 

Today it has once again become so commonplace that it has gained a form of mainstream acceptance. One look no further than the most Jewish friendly country in the world outside of Israel, the United States. Mass shootings of Jews while praying in a US synagogue is certainly an obvious and painful example. More insulting however was blaming the most pro-Jewish president for that heinous crime.

Congress women Ilhan Omar who's photo was posted at my daughter's government office in Toronto for Women's Day 

And now we have many people in the US government who are blatant antisemites. To put it in perspective, there have always been antisemites in the US government and dare I say that there always will be. But I believe we've reached a new level. Three congresswomen, two of which are radical Muslims who have publicly stated in one form or another their wish to destroy Israel, too many senators to name, an attorney general and others who are running for president are all antisemites. One by one they are coming out of the closet to attack Israel, Israel's democratically elected PM and anyone who supports the Jewish State. 

Some prominent Jewish Democrats like Harvard Law professor Alan Dershowitz have spoken out against the antisemitic congresswomen Omar and Tlaib. That's great Alan. When they were first elected to congress in your party (the party of hate) you thought so naively that diversity is great. Jews like me thought that when you elect radical Muslims to government there is a strong chance that Jews will be attacked. You give your 3 minute speeches condemning them when you can get interviewed on mainstream media. But why are you still a Democrat party member, let alone vote for some of the worst Democrat leaders like Obama? Heck you were doing his advocacy for him for both his terms as an obvious anti-Israel president. I guess it helped your career because whenever there is any antisemitic event you seem to be the go to person to get interviewed on the news. 

Jewish Senator Chuck Schumer, who often has much to say about everything is silent with regards to his fellow antisemitic congresspeople. In fact he was no where to be found when Pelosi, the leading Democrat, was trying to decide what to do about the vile antisemitic tropes that kept coming out of the mouths of her recently appointed congress women. 

Jewish senator and G-d forbid, possible US president, Bernie Sanders defends these women. I wrote him off as a self hating Jew years ago and I was 100% right. There are many other prominent Jewish senators, and members of Congress and others in government who are also silent or almost silent. 

Why? The short answer: they are scared. One would think that after what the Jews suffered not too many years ago in Europe, that people of all faiths would come together to defend Jews from antisemites and fight hard to stop them in their tracks. But why should non-Jews attack antisemites when Jewish leaders do not? These Jewish 'leaders' are shameful in their collusion with these antisemites. They are a kind of modern day kapo. You know antisemitism has arrived not when Muslim congresspeople slur Jews in public, but when the Jews in their same party (as if I have to say it -Democrats) are silent and cowering in fear. The silence is deafening.