How can they continue to escape the conclusion that they are
the architects of their own misfortune, and have been since they came into
being as a distinct group calling themselves Jews? Of the dozens of articles
written lately about the so-called anti-Semitism rising worldwide in tandem
with Israel's rising genocidal activities in Gaza, only one article hinted at a
sign of sanity that may – just may – take roots and grow to become a serious
movement among Jews … but don't hold your breath.
Translated from the Spanish, here is how the relevant
passage reads: “For now, each country must debate its own reactions to this
problem – as must local Jewish communities, which should participate freely in
such discussions in a critical as well as autocritical spirit.” Notice that the
word “autocritical” means self-criticism. This is a passage that came in an
article written by Enrique Krauze under the title: “Anti-Semitism Stirs in Latin America ” and published on August 16, 2014 in the
New York Times.
The author begins by saying that the “sleeping monster of
anti-Semitism” has awakened in Europe, and that it is stirring in Latin
America, including Mexico ,
where he was born to parents of Polish Jewish ancestry. He cites Chile , Brazil ,
Cuba and Venezuela whose leaders spoke publicly against
the war that Israel has been
waging on Gaza – leaders that also recalled
their ambassadors from Israel
to signal their dissatisfaction at the savage method by which Israel is
conducting that war.
Unlike his counterparts elsewhere in the world, especially
in North America and the Anglophile territories where they would have hollered
that such words and such actions were proof positive that anti-Semitic
sentiments exist, Enrique Krauze writes this: “While such political rejection
is not anti-Semitic, something new is emerging in Spanish-language social
media, mostly among young people, where condemnation of Israel is accompanied
by anti-Semitic diatribes.”
He goes on to discuss the bitter history of Jews in Europe
where anti-Semitism began even before Christianity, and their flight to Latin America that took place centuries later. This was a
continent where they also met with anti-Semitism, especially in Argentina ,
where the phenomenon was modeled after the European “facsimile,” he says. Mexico too was affected, especially during the
Second World War when anti-Americanism spilled over to include the Jews, and
literature of the anti-Semitic kind, mostly imported from Europe
but some produced locally, was circulated widely among the elites of the
nation.
More recently, the author says that two new factors are
influencing attitudes toward the Jews in Latin America :
sympathy generated for the suffering of the Palestinian people, and the growth
of social networks. He goes on to say that “the bombardment of Gaza has greatly intensified these
reactions.” He then pleads for “a just solution in the Middle East [that] could
reduce anti-Semitism not only in Latin America
but the entire world.” And that's where he ends by saying self-criticism is in
order.
Apparently, however, Krauze's memo did not reach his
counterpart in Britain for, on that same day, August 16, 2014, Brendan O'Neil
published the standard Jewish talking points containing not a hint that Jews
bear some responsibility for the spread of anti-Semitism, or that they should
participate in the solution – if there is to be one – instead of just moaning
about it and begging for pity.
Although a self-proclaimed atheist, O'Neil wrote: “It's Britain , So the Anti-Semitism Is More Refined,”
an article that also came under the subtitle: “Cutting and pasting the old
prejudice of Jews as infanticidal global masterminds onto Israel .” It was published in the
Wall Street Journal.
If that article says anything, it says that if you give the
Jews a finger, they will find someone who will spit in your face and demand the
whole arm. Read the following passage and see how it will stir your bile:
“I don't buy that Britain is an oasis of
prejudice-free anti-Zionism in a European desert of anti-Semitic sentiment.
Rather, Brits have simply proven themselves more adept than their Continental
counterparts at dolling up their prejudices as political stands … Britain
isn't free of anti-Semitism – we're just better than our cousins on the
Continent at expressing that poisonous outlook in a more coded, clever way.”