The truth about Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib that will shock Americans
Antisemitism is now a Pandemic, but it must not become the New Normal!
Each new year brings the hope of a new start including new resolutions–some that we will keep and some that will quickly fade away into oblivion. One such resolution that is well worth keeping is that of standing strong against this new tidal wave of antisemitism in America and most of the world. This renewed and re-invented brand of antisemitism is indeed a fast-spreading disease s. So, why is it that in many cases, people treat it as the new normal? What would happen if typhus, cholera or malaria would have been treated as the new way of life when they started to plague our planet? I wouldn’t be here to speak of it and neither would you to read me. What will it take for people to care enough and react to this exponential eroding of our Judeo-Christian values? During the 1930s and 1940s, many people removed themselves from the crisis by justifying that they were not Jewish or had no Jewish relatives or friends. Six million Jews later, the world woke -up…or did it?
If all the acts of antisemitism that have occurred globally in the last few months were to be reported properly, it is almost certain that we could document the hatred of the Jews as a daily occurrence. The last week of December 2019 in New York was an example of the momentum the beast has gained. Almost every single day during the celebration of the Feats of Hanukkah, the Jewish community was hit. We are not talking about graffiti or insult– bad enough in-and-of-themselves–we are talking about physical injuries and death if the perpetrators had had their ways. Jewish people were threatened, slapped, hit, pushed and even stabbed with a machete, and that is just one week in New York. Europe had its share as well, not to mention all the under-reported or not reported incidents. While I feel that it is necessary to focus on the Jewish people, I am very aware and greatly concerned about what is taking place against Christians as well.
When looking at the history of classic antisemitism, we can see a trend developing from the closing of the biblical record to the Middle Ages and the Reformation, culminating in the Holocaust. I believe that a similar trend can also be seen with the advent of the New antisemitism and End-Times antisemitism. While the original trend was following a growing chasm between Christians and Jews, the renewed trend follows a chasm between people in general (including Christians) and Jews.
First, what developed can be called theological anti-Judaism. Early Christians felt that the Jews were different and didn’t really fit theologically. Differences of opinion started to drive a wedge in a community where theological lines had been blurred for the first few hundred years during the infancy of Christianity. These differences were mostly verbal or written in some early works but not intended to lead to ostracism, demonization, violence or death, and yet, the wheel was already turning. Many Church Fathers took an allegorical approach to parts of the Scriptures that led to them seeing a transfer of God’s blessings and promises to the Church and away from ethnic Isreal. It was the little crack in biblical theology that created the seismic fault known to this day as Replacement Theology. But it could have remained a theological difference, so what made it go further?
During Christianity’s early years, only the spiritual leaders were educated and had access to manuscripts. The printing press wouldn’t come until 1450. The masses, if interested in spiritual matters, would have to fully rely on what they heard from the pulpits of their respective communities. They couldn’t check the veracity of the messages, they could only take what their leaders told them at face value. When they were told that the Church had replaced Israel and the Jews were “Christ-killers”, “lustful”, “rapacious”, “greedy” or even “possessed by the devil”, they believed it. The next move was obvious, if the Jews were so bad, we must protect our Christian communities from them, and so the crack went a bit deeper. Laws started to be passed to separate Christians from Jews, and then to further ostracize and eventually demonize the Jews. By now, we are in the Middle Ages (500-1500) and people continued to believe lies about the Jews and even started to fabricate some. The unwanted Jew was expelled from one European country after the other. Things progressively got worse for the Jews, but nobody really cared to check the facts. What started as a theological difference became a European epidemic that decimated six million Jews during the Nazi regime.
A similar process has been taking place for the last few decades. It started in the Middle East with the rise of Yasir Arafat (Chairman of the PLO from 1969 to 2004), the great defender of the Palestinian right for self-determination. The Palestinian narrative about victimization, oppression and occupation started as propaganda to reverse the tide, and make the perpetrators into the victims and vice-versa. It took a while to take root, and at first, it was challenged by some, but today, it is believed by many around the globe and the Jews are painted as the new Nazis of the Middle East. Arafat has been dead for sixteen years but his legacy of lies and hatred lives on, and it is pushed forward by uneducated people, not interested in checking the facts. Back in the days, the people were illiterate, today they are uneducated about the truth of the Middle East crisis. So they listen to whoever comes up with the most likely scenario faulting the Jews. The result is equally lethal, and with the advent of the Internet and the social networks, it has become far worse. It has now become a pandemic, but many are treating it as the new normal.
Antisemitism like any other form of xenophobia, including racism against blacks, Arabs, Hispanics or any other ethnic community goes against everything the United States was founded upon. What happened to “Judeo/Christian” ethics? A few people pay lip service to the cause by denouncing the longest hatred, but they seem toothless. We need laws, they need to be enforced, and sentences need to be heavy. Antisemitism is akin to domestic terrorism, and terrorism affects all of us…Well at least it should.
If hitting Jews and trying to kill them almost daily has become the new normal, then we are not getting close to the atmosphere of the 1930s and 1940s…WE ARE THERE, and if we are not doing anything, we have become the new bystanders. Somebody, please prove me wrong and I will gladly and humbly stand corrected!
Who Can Fight Antisemitism With Words?
France, which is the third-largest Jewish community after Israel and the United States, has been the focus of much antisemitism lately. Just a few days ago, 107 Jewish tombstones were desecrated with painted swastikas in Westhoffen, in the Alsace region of France. This was not an isolated incident, but more of a recurring crisis in a country that has seen a 69% increase in antisemitic acts in 2018.
As a result of the cemetery defacing, President Macron was heard saying that “Anti-Semitism is a crime and we will fight it in Westhoffen as everywhere until our dead can sleep in peace.” or “Those who attack them, even their graves, are not worthy of the idea we have of France.” or even “Jews are and make France.”
These words sound great if you isolate them. Unfortunately, you cannot do that because antisemitism never happens in a vacuum and has been plaguing the Jewish people since biblical days, and in many instances, much worse in France and other parts of Europe. Words are cheap, but even when Mr. Macron says that France will fight until her dead can sleep in peace, what is he really saying?
Don’t quote me wrong, the departed need our utmost respect and need to be in our memories. But, instead of worrying about graves, we need to implement some real reforms so that the LIVING Jews can sleep in peace and wake -up the next morning. The French track record for fighting antisemitism is pathetic at best.
in 2012, after the Toulouse massacre that took the life of a Rabbi and three students at a Jewish school, President Sarkozy had a minute of silence for the victims and spoke of actions needed to be taken. A few Islamists were arrested in the following months. No laws were passed…people eventually forgot.
Ignoring a few other acts of antisemitism, fast forward to the terrorist attack that took place at the Hyper Kosher supermarket in Paris, in January 2015, the day after the Charlie Hebdo attack. Four Jewish people died on that Friday afternoon. A massive, impressive and potentially encouraging street demonstration took place in all of France (over two million people) the following Sunday. People held hands and corporately claimed “Je suis Juif” (I am Jewish), people sang, people brought flowers. No laws were passed…people eventually forgot.
Then there was the bloody attack at the Bataclan night club in November of the same year. 90 people died at the club which was attacked because the perpetrators hated the fact that it was “owned by two Jews.” People brought more flowers and held hands again. President Hollande declared a state of emergency for a few months and asked French people to stay strong in light of terrorism. A cartoon brochure was created to help people cope with terrorism (seriously?), as well as some hashtags. No laws were passed…people eventually forgot.
After the recent cemetery desecration, President Macron wants to create an office to fight hate crimes. The office would equally fight hate crimes against Christians, Muslims and Jews. French Prime Minister Christophe Castaner said, “To profane a grave is an expression of pure hatred.” True statement, but he is missing the point. Christian or Muslim cemeteries are rarely if ever under attack, while Jewish burial sites are a constant target. A hate crime is a hate crime and France’s secularism will make every effort not to marginalize any minority…at least on paper!
In reality, the new French office against hate crimes will most likely offer lip service. Some incidents will be reported, a few people might be arrested, but seldom if ever will anybody be prosecuted to the full extent of the laws, and that is for those that are reported. Again, people will eventually forget.
Christians and Muslims might become more vocal if and when they are targeted in those attacks, but Jews have learned through continued hardships that the only way you to fight antisemitism with words is at the basic–very needed– level of education. Schools need to teach about hatred, xenophobia, and Holocaust history. Education is foundational but cannot stand on its own without a judicial system in place.
Another committee to discuss how to fight antisemitism is akin to fighting a deadly virus by quarantining the infected until they die. It never solves the problem. Only eradicating the virus does. The virus is antisemitism and it is killing the Jews. Laws must be passed AND enforced in every case until those targeting Jews fear the repercussions. Until then, the only ones fearing…and fleeing France and other parts of the world, are the Jews!
We are way beyond using words only!
What unites the Left more than its disdain for Trump?
It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that America’s political landscape is suffering from the worst case of polarization in its history. The amount of hatred for President Trump currently displayed by his opponents is mind-boggling. Republicans and Democrats used to be somewhat cordial even when disagreeing. They even found ways to advance and promote the United States in a bi-partisan way. Everything seems to indicate that these days are gone. Yet, there is something else that unites the Left even more than their disdain for Trump, it is their hatred for Israel and the Jewish people. It doesn’t always appear to be that bad, but under a thin veneer of social justice and multiculturalism, antisemitism is quickly identified.
One of the most asked questions, when I speak around the United States, has to do with the American Jewish community’s apparent support of the Leftist agenda. With a puzzled look on their faces, people often ask me to explain why so many Jewish people vote Democrat. I must say that as a Jew, I don’t categorize myself as either a Democrat or a Republican. Yet, I would tend to be very conservative. This being said, I could have voted for a Democrat like JFK back in the days, but Democrats of yesteryear are a far cry from today’s Left.
So what makes Jewish people in America vote Democrat? First, the Republican party often appears to be the party of “Right-wing bigots” or “white supremacists.” It is often thought to be a party that aligns itself with the political agenda of Nazi Germany, and we all know how that played out for 6,000,000 Jews. Incidentally, the Nazi Party or “The National Socialist German Workers’ Party” had “Socialist” in its name. To this day, its adherence to a Socialist agenda is widely debated. Hitler might have used the word “Socialist” to attract people to a movement that would end-up becoming a totalitarian, genocidal party closer to Fascism than Socialism. Instead of looking at what we call a political spectrum with moderate in the center of Left and Right, we need to consider a full circle with Left and Right getting closer together the further they move away from the moderate center. Eventually, they meet on the other end of that circle. Let’s face it, extreme Right and extreme Left promote a lot of the same agendas.
Another reason why Jews vote Democrat is that the more liberal agenda of the Democrats appeals to the Jewish community at large–at the very least to the 85%+ who are not religious. The issue is that to the non-religious Jews, social justice is more important than Israel, Jewish identity or even Jewish survival. Jewish identity used to be connected to a feeling of belonging to Israel one way or another. Support for Israel was much stronger from American Jews a couple of decades ago. It appears that the non-religious Jewish community finds more solace in supporting any sort of social justice agenda rather than supporting Israel. In the process, they seem to ignore–willfully or not–that the Left is anti-Israel, period! Consider the following:
• Democratic candidate Elizabeth Warren recently said she will “reverse President Trump’s policy decisions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to restore aid to the Palestinians, resuming support for the U.N. agency that assists Palestinian refugees and inviting a Palestinian envoy back to Washington.” She completely ignored the way that the Palestinian leadership goes about things ie: Rocket launching out of Gaza and other acts of terrorism.
• The liberal Jewish organization J Street met recently for its eighth annual conference where they clearly pushed the idea that the USA should withhold aid to Israel to promote peace in the Middle East. Many of the current Democratic candidates for 2020 were present and in support of that move. As JTA reported J Street president Ben-Ami said “assistance to Israel could be checked against, for instance, the Arms Export Control Act, which requires U.S. arms sales to be used strictly for self-defense.” Well, is there still any doubt–at least in the minds of people of goodwill– that Israel is always acting in self-defense, only retaliating because of acts of terrorism, but never initiating acts of terror?
• Bernie Sanders (a Jew) declared that he would rather have some of the money the USA gives to Israel be re-routed to Gaza. He said, “My solution is, to Israel, if you want military aid you’re going to have to fundamentally change your relationship to the people of Gaza,” he said. “I would say that some of the $3.8 billion should go right now to humanitarian aid in Gaza.” What for, Mr. Sanders? More rockets, more tunnels or more money to reward the families of homicide bombers? Incidentally, for reasons that totally escape me, Muslim feminist activist Linda Sarsour has become Sanders’ campaign surrogate. Somebody needs to explain to her that the words “Muslim” and “Feminist” are oxymoronic at best unless she is a trojan horse slowly making her way into the American political landscape. Consider the concept of taqiyya where it is OK for a Muslim to lie to “gain the upper-hand over an enemy.” This obviously does not mean that all Muslims are deceivers, but rather, that some in powerful positions have agendas that are unethical and as a result, make a bad name for the rest of the Muslim community.
A lot more could be said to make a case against the Left’s antisemitic agenda. Overwhelming growing support for BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) against Israel for “occupation” and “colonization” of “Palestine” is a recurring problem based on hearsay. Campus indoctrination of our youth against Israel, known as “Campus Intifada” is also going rampant. Are we becoming responsible for raising a new generation of Jew-haters?
At the end of the day, the Leftist antisemitic agenda–albeit not always physically violent–encourages those on the fringe of society to act against Jewish people in America and the rest of the world. Physical harm resulting in death is now a recurring very alarming theme for the Jewish global community. America has long been the friend of Israel, based on our Judeo/Christian common heritage. Biblically speaking, Israel remains in God’s program and will never be destroyed (Jeremiah 31:35-37), but too many on the Left have little regard for God or His Word. While it is not always a black and white proposition, I still think that it is time for American Jews to consider moving away from the party that wants them dead and join the party that understands Israel’s right to exist in her ancestral biblical land.
Omar, Tlaib and Israel: A lose/Lose Situation No Matter What!
Congresswomen Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar recently prepared for a trip to Israel. Technically, no member of the US Congress should be banned from visiting Israel. As a matter of fact, the best way to get a balanced understanding of the Middle East crisis is to visit Israel and look at both sides of the conflict. If such a visit could be accomplished without any preconceived notions of who is at fault, much progress could be made towards peace.
When Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar announced their decision to visit Israel, it was first agreed that they could go, but there is a law in Israel that prevents people from entering the country if they support the boycott of Israel. It is known as “Amendment No. 28 to the Entry Into Israel Law (No. 5712-1952).” It is an amendment to a 1952 Law giving Israel’s government the right to refuse entry to any foreigner with or without a visa. The 2017 amendment was passed (46-28) specifically to bar BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) supporters and promoters from entering Israel.
I am having a hard time understanding why Ms. Tlaib and Ms. Omar were surprised when they were stopped from entering Israel. Consider their positions on Israel’s right to exist and their promoting of the BDS movement.
Rashida Tlaib is not shy about her support of BDS. In 2018, she said, “I personally support the BDS movement. Economic boycotts are a way to bring attention to issues like racism and the international human right violations by Israel right now.” Ilhan Omar follows suit when she states, ” “Israel has hypnotized the world, may allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel.” or “I believe and support the BDS movement and have fought to make sure people’s right to support it isn’t criminalized.” Both Congresswomen are what we could call “eliminationists.” They promote the boycott of Israel not for justice but for the eventual elimination of Israel. So, let me get this right, “Israel has no right to exist” but they still want to visit?
Some would say that we should let them in and see for themselves. Assuming that they were interested in truth, I would agree, but as it appears, they are not. For starters, their trip’s itinerary was titled “Delegation to Palestine“, hardly an unbiased title for a trip to Israel! Additionally, Their trip was planned by an organization known as Miftah, led by Palestinian lawmaker and negotiator Hanan Ashrawi.
This is an organization that is far from being fair and has a reputation for being anti-Israel if not anti-Semitic. Using Miftah to organize a visit to Israel is far from being a neutral decision. Then, when Israel decided to allow Ms. Tlaib entry to the Palestinian Territories on a humanitarian basis to be able to visit her aging grandmother, she quickly turned it down and politicized the whole move. Does she hate Israel more than she loves her grandmother?
This attempt to visit Israel seems to be a farce. Tlaib and Omar have already made up their minds about the region and have dispensed plenty of antisemitic venom in and out of the US Congress to show their true colors. This will become a huge opportunity for the two congresswomen to do more bashing of the Trump administration and of Israel. It doesn’t matter if they went or not because in both cases they would have found grounds for pointing the finger in the same direction.
If they had gone, they would have visited only Palestinian sites and met with pro-Palestinian people, and then return to make a case for how bad things are in the region. By not going, they can spin the story into a racist, colonialist, apartheid decision “proving their point about Israel.”
They were quick to state (and some news outlet as well) that they were banned from entry because they are Muslim. The reason had nothing to do with their religion but with their anti-Israel position. Yes, they happen to be two Muslim women, and yes, there might be a connection with that and their hatred of Israel and the Jewish people, but this is not part of the reason why they were turned down, especially if you understand Israel’s acceptance of Muslims even to the point of having Muslim members of the Knesset.
This failed attempt at coming to Israel will, unfortunately, serve their purpose as much as a visit would have. They are set in their ways and the only way to make sure that things don’t get worse is to vote them out next time we have a chance. They were elected legally and are part of our government, like it or not. It is pretty much a guarantee that they will continue their war on Israel and the Jewish people, and they will pick up momentum and more supporters in the process. Again, to put a stop to it, we simply have the power to not re-elect them. For the time being, we expose their lies. We also pray that they would have a change of heart. This too is possible because of the God we serve!
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