Israel Attacks Gaza - and the World-Wide Anti-Semitism Movement

I am an avid reader of Newsweek. As my father, of blessed memory, told me, he had a subscription to Newsweek "because they are less anti-semitic than 'Time Magazine'."

One of the best weekly features of Newsweek is the "My Turn" column, written by a different reader on a different topic each week. These are not commissioned pieces. They are unsolicited musings by "regular folk" submitted to the weekly magazine. I imagine that they get thousands each year, from which they select just 50.

I have often fantasized about my getting to write one. I have many thoughts in my head for articles and many topics that are of interest to me, from comedy, to politics, to entertainment, to libertarianism, etc. But if I had one shot at it, I'd probably want to write about the hypocrisy of the anti-semite and how difficult it is to be a Jew - any Jew, but in particular an Orthodox religious Zionist - in the world today.

To be sure, Jews today have a great deal of freedom in many countries to practice our religion freely. We have doors open to us - in the professions, in business, in politics - like never before. We have had, in this country alone, an Orthodox Jewish candidate for Vice President of the United States, an Orthodox Jewish Attorney General and an incoming White House Chief of Staff who belongs to an Orthodox synagogue.

And yet...

Rabbi Meir Kahane, the founder of the Jewish Defense League, who was assassinated by a Muslim terrorist, once said that there are two kinds of non-Jews: Those who have shown their anti-semitism rather openly, and those who have not shown it - yet.

While that cynicism may be an exaggeration - for there are certainly righteous Jew-lovers among the non-Jews in the world - he had an interesting point. When there is trouble in the world, it still is "blame the Jew" time. (In case you don't remember, Mel Gibson said that the Jews started every war. Jews are being blamed for the financial industry meltdown. Despite what I wrote in my blog (below) that Madoff should make the anti-semites dance for joy since he stole mostly from Jews, there's plenty of anti-semitism coming out of that incident, etc.)

And when a Jew - read: Israel - stands up to defend itself and protect its citizens in a way that ANY OTHER NATION ON EARTH WOULD if it were in the same situation, the world attacks Israel.

Imagine for a moment if some Canadian terror organization was lobbing 80-100 mortars and rockets into the populated areas of Niagara Falls (on the American side) and Buffalo on a daily basis, killing innocent citizens, maiming children, scaring the population of those cities, causing the schools to shut down, etc. and the terrorists were acting without any attempt by the Canadian government to prevent it.

Or if it was France attacked from across the border in Belgium. Or Italy from Austria.

I'll tell you what they wouldn't do. They wouldn't let it go on for 2 years... or 2 months... or 2 weeks... without responding. They might let it go on for a few days, demand that the government stop it, and say that if the foreign government won't stop it, they will.

And there would not be a measured response, whatever the hell that is. (I want to know what the world thinks Israel should do? If Hamas terrorists lob 80 mortars into Israel, would a measured response be for Israel to lob 80 mortars into civilian areas of Gaza?)

What America, or France or Italy would do is bomb the hell out of the terrorists hideouts on that foreign side of the border, destroying homes and killing its citizenry if, as Hamas has done, they have hidden the rocket launchers behind trees of residences, in playgrounds of schools and on the rooftops of mosques and hospitals.

Every time Israel has defended itself since the 6 Day War, they've been vilified and pilloried in the press, in the United Nations, in the court of (world) public opinion, by heads of virtually every state (except the U.S. and one or two others), and it has never made one iota of difference if the response was subdued, controlled, measured, with an enormous care for humanitarian concerns and prevention of collateral damage - often costing more Israeli lives - or if it was an all out, "let's end this thing quickly" type of attack. No matter what, Israel is wrong.

If anything, I've always condemned Israeli leadership for being too meek, for too much restraint, for not hitting back hard enough, and, most of all, for caring too much about world opinion, as if the world will ever look favorably on Israel.

The current attack on Gaza - with its intention on protecting its citizenry from terrorist attack - is completely just and righteous, despite what the immoral, hypocritical and anti-semitic world says.

And it is about time Israel does the right thing for its citizens rather than care about what those who wish them into extinction think.