There was a time before 1967 when most Jewish retail enterprises that dealt directly with the public, displayed a box marked with a plea asking the visitor to donate money that will go to help needy Israel. This was the extent to which the Jews went to identify with Israel.
Then came the Israeli surprise attack on its
neighbors in 1967. It was considered a brilliant success, and thought of as a
6-day war, not the first battle that started the 6-year war of attrition, which
culminated in Israel’s defeat in 1973 and its expulsion out of the Sinai.
But it was during those 6 years that the
relationship between the Jews of North America and Israel went through confused
changes. At first, there were the events that took place in the Sinai, and
there were the Jews, each of whom reacted differently to every event. With time,
however, most Jews had organized themselves to singing from the same song
sheet.
The events that stirred non-Jews, and that caused
the Jews to react, can be classified in two categories. There was the
deliberate propaganda that was put out by the Jewish propaganda machine to try
and cash in on what was billed as a Jewish-Israeli military success. And there
were the actions that Israel took right after the initial attack, when it still
had the upper hand and could do as it wished without meeting much opposition
from Egypt.
As always, the Israeli propaganda consisted
of complaining about others exercising their freedom of speech while at the
same time beating their breasts like a gorilla celebrating a banana triumph. To
wit, the Jews showed a picture of the iconic Egyptian television building, and
bragged that they could bomb it to kingdom come if they wanted to. They also
showed a doctored picture of Ben Gurion sitting on a life ring in the sea, and
saying to himself: Today the Sinai, tomorrow Florida. This behavior elated some
Jews and disgusted others.
As to the actions that Israel took, there was
the shooting down of a Libyan airliner that had Salwa Hegazi aboard. She was a
lovely television personality with whom I had the honor of doing some work for
a children program. The Israelis also bombed a factory producing building
material, situated across the Suez Canal from where they were stationed. But
the worst of their crimes was committed when they managed to send their
warplanes deep into Egyptian space and bomb a school for girls near Cairo. This
too, was the kind of behavior that elated some Jews and disgusted others.
It was during such moments that Jewish
Central was able to bring most Jews to closely identify with Israel, and
express opinions that were in line with what it was saying and doing. The
argument that worked for Jewish Central, was that Israel was a home away from
home for every Jew, a “nation” that must be defended no matter what it does,
and what others may think of it.
But then it happened that the once docile
Palestinians went through a transformation of their own. The toddlers were now
teenagers who didn’t like their parents telling them to obey what the Jewish
settlers and Israeli soldiers will tell them to do, lest they be shot dead at a
checkpoint in the West Bank. Instead of obeying their parents or the Jews, however,
the Palestinian kids began to throw stones at the Israeli tanks, prompting
Israel to respond by blowing up the Palestinian homes. The world noticed this
savagery, and responded in such a way that the Jews of North America protested
they had nothing to do with Israel. They added that it was antisemitic to
associate them with Israel or its activities.
Ever since that time, the Jews have wanted to
have it both ways. They wanted to be seen as separate from Israel whenever
Israel committed acts that were considered hateful by the rest of humanity, but
also wanted to be associated with Israel whenever it did the things, they beat
their breasts about, and displayed pride for being Jews. They demonstrated this
attitude by refusing to enlist in the Canadian and American militaries, and yet
went to serve in the Israeli military.
You can see a hint of that in the article
that came under the title: “The progressive left now sees antisemitism as
‘acceptable’ racism,” written by David Baddiel, and published on September 18,
2021 in the New York Post. The following is how the writer began the article:
“There was renewed violence between Israel
and the Gaza Strip. Even though I am Jewish, this would not concern me any more
than the other things going on 4,000 miles away from London where I live. This
may confuse those who think that Jews and Israel are the same thing. They
aren’t, and to assume so is racist”.
This is how David Baddiel put a distance
between himself and Israel. He is not saying whether he served in the British
or Israeli militaries, but he avoided the subject entirely. He did not say if
there is anything that makes him—the Jew that he is—want to associate with
Israel. He thus only told half the story. And it is for this reason that his
contribution to the ongoing debate is worthless. Here is an example of that:
“There is debate these days about how to
separate antisemitism from antizionism. The use of ancient tropes is
antisemitic. Criticizing the actions of Israel whilst avoiding those tropes is
not. Lately, there has been a weakening of the intellectual border between
antisemitism and antizionism. Progressive activist Tariq Ali said: “Stop the
occupation, stop the bombing and casual antisemitism will soon
disappear.” This notion that antisemitism only stems from the actions of
Israel is ahistorical in the extreme”.
These words mean nothing because they come out a truncated context. Until the Jews begin to see both sides of the story, they will remain the pariah they have been for thousands of years.