At what point does the Jewish victim become the aggressor? Is this a reality to which we Jews should be acclimatized? Jews, over centuries, were placed in the role of scapegoat and whipping boy; we experienced pogroms and the barbaric murder of six million of our people simply because we were Jews. With these historical facts, should we be surprised at what is happening today?
Like many, I am watching too much TV. I pull myself away from the painful, heart-wrenching stories coming from mothers, fathers, sisters, and brothers here describing how their loved ones were barbarically murdered on what should have been a day of joy, Simchat Torah. The anguish of those whose family members are in the hands of Hamas, and the words of a father on learning of his daughter’s death – saying death is preferable to her being captured by Hamas – ring in my ears.
To find out how my British friends are viewing the conflict, I turn to Sky News.
In the immediate aftermath of the massacre suffered by those in the South of the country, Israel received the support of the civilized world’s leadership which, initially was reflected in their newscasters’ reports. However, this did not deter thousands from going out into the streets of the United Kingdom and elsewhere supporting Hamas, even while the mutilated bodies of Israeli civilians had not yet been identified because they had been burnt, dismembered, or beheaded.
Attacking Hamas makes the Jewish victims into the aggressors
And now that we are bombing Hamas in Gaza, the tide has turned. We, the Jewish victims, are portrayed as the aggressors. We, whose IDF is alone in the world in giving warnings to the enemy’s population to move away from the areas Israel intends to bomb, are projected as the vile instigator of war.
Thoughts of hostages in the hands of Hamas (including those who are not Israelis) appear to be forgotten. True, a mother and daughter from Chicago have been released, and recently a further two elderly women – but what of the other 200-plus hostages captured by Hamas, in addition to more than 50 held by other armed groups in Gaza?
Following the IDF presenting proof that it was an Islamic Jihad rocket aimed at Israel that misfired and landed in the car park of a hospital in Gaza, it appeared virtually impossible for the international media to put out a story that differed from their initial version which blamed Israel for bombing the hospital.
And why does the BBC find it impossible to call Hamas terrorists? To paraphrase a quote from Shakespeare’s Hamlet – something is rotten in the state of the BBC. What is crystal clear is the overriding need to project Israel as the aggressor despite facts that prove otherwise.
AS ISRAEL endeavors to eliminate Hamas, we concurrently witness an unprecedented rise in Jew hatred throughout the world.
Dave Rich, policy director at Britain’s Community Security Trust (CST) – the organization ensuring the safety of Britain’s Jews by guarding synagogues, Jewish schools, and any other place where Jews gather in large numbers – reminds us that on the very Saturday of the massacre itself when Israel could not even count the bodies because terrorists were still holding people hostage in their own homes, a demonstration in support of Hamas took place outside the Israeli Embassy in London.
“From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” the demonstrators chanted. In the words of Rich, “This is a movement that seeks to eliminate the world’s only Jewish state. Make no mistake, the pro-Palestinian movement in Britain – and in other countries – has become an antisemitic movement….”
Last Saturday’s demonstration of some 100,000 in central London – under the banner of “Free Palestine” – again carried placards calling for the elimination of Israel. Rich commented, “Today, people marched through my city with placards calling for jihad against Israel and for Israel to disappear. All this after a pogrom that killed 1,300 Jews with a further 200 Jews still being held hostage by those same murderers. What am I supposed to make of this?”
On Sunday, October 22 – the day following the above hate-filled anti-Israel rally – Michael Gove, secretary of state for leveling up housing, and communities of the United Kingdom, addressed a large Jewish community-organized rally in London’s Trafalgar Square which demanded the release of hostages abducted from Israel.
The rally attracted some 10,000 pro-Israel demonstrators, something that London has not seen for a long time. Gove spoke of the suffering of families who watched their relatives being butchered in front of them, as well as those who had relatives captured two weeks ago now living in Hamas dungeons.
Britain is just one of many countries where antisemitism has risen to an unprecedented level. What of America’s top universities such as Harvard and Stanford, where antisemitism is blatantly expressed? Is it not disturbing that those bright enough to be studying at top universities identify with those wanting to eliminate the one Jewish state? Perhaps we should not be surprised, given that Israel’s rebirth took place in the aftermath of six million Jews being barbarically murdered by a country known for its cultural heritage.
But yesterday is not today, for we are the privileged generation to live in a world where there is an Israel that not only guards those who live within its borders but also brings security for every Jew everywhere.
Hamas’s desire to wipe Israel off the map, coupled with the unprecedented rise of antisemitism, proves that when hatred of Jews raises its ugly head – whether in Israel or outside – we come together as one, regardless of previously held divisive views.
Am Yisrael chai!
The writer is chairperson of Israel, Britain, and the Commonwealth Association.