As a child growing up in the 1930s I wasn’t aware of the scope of anti-Jewish feelings around the world…the zoning restrictions, the unwillingness of organizations to accept Jewish members, or of Universities that excluded or limited Jewish enrollments, or the contradictory success of Louis Brandeis, the 1st Jewish Supreme Court Justice, and later, Felix Frankfurter. And then, the refusal of Western Democracies, like Canada and the United States, to admit Jewish refugees trying to flee from the terrors of Nazi Germany following Crystal Nacht and Hitler’s stated objective of mass genocide.
In 1945 when the gates of Auschwitz, Dachau, and 900 other camps around Europe revealed the magnitude of the slaughter, the complicity of the Pope and once friendly Jewish neighbors, a cumulative sense of worldwide guilt evolved.
Still, in the postwar United States restrictions against Jews, along with Negroes and Asians, persisted. A sign at the Ft. Lauderdale city limits read ‘No Jews or Niggers after sunset.’
Meanwhile a ½ million, half-alive, Jewish survivors needed a home. They certainly couldn’t be repatriated to Germany, Ukraine, Poland or Romania…countries that had willingly sacrificed them.
In 1947 President Harry Truman, influenced by his old Jewish haberdashery partner, agreed to support the UN resolution to establish a Jewish homeland (as long as it wasn’t located next to New Jersey). Most of the world didn’t care, they were moving to the suburbs and having families. Even American Jews were divided. Judaism is a religion…religions don’t have their own country. But in 1948 the State of Israel was born. The next day it was invaded by seven Arab nations who lived nearby.
But when this piss-ant little country with its broken people and obsolete weapons survived, the world took notice. The first seedlings of respect took root. Jews around the world opened their windows and shouted, ‘NEVER AGAIN!’
Antisemitism ebbed. The Oslo Accords and other attempts at a permanent peace were interrupted by further attempts of Arab nations to eradicate this pimple in their midst. During these six decades, those who suffered the most were the Palestinian people. Each war shrunk their territory, dimmed their hopes. Corrupt leaders diverted large sums of money meant to improve their lives. A long-term peace remained elusive. Assassinations followed and positions hardened as leaders on both sides failed to lead. The world moved on, more concerned with Vietnam, Civil Rights, Global Warming, Immigration and other problems that felt more urgent…more relevant.
And then, October 7th, as the Jewish Festival of Sukkot was ending, Hamas fighters crossed the barbed-wire border 200 yards away to attack and savagely slaughter more than 1,200 innocent Israelis and take another 250 hostages.
The world was stunned and outraged. The issue returned to the front page of newspapers and the lead story on the evening news. For the next few weeks antisemitism ebbed even further.
But today, the tragic fate, or future, of those hostages who might still be alive has been lost in the magnitude of Israel’s brutal response.
The destruction of Gaza’s cities, the death of more than 30,000 people, and the near famine of two million survivors has, in months, eradicated the sympathy and respect that had accumulated since the doors of the death camps were opened.
Students are rioting on campuses around the country. Two generations of Jewish men and women are awakening to a level of anger they’d never experienced. Leaders who are urging sanity are being drowned out.
For God’s sakes…will someone do something!