Tzvi Ben-Gedalyahu, writing in the Jewish Press, tells us:
I find myself rather skeptical that the idea of an increase of 1,100 Jews making aliyah from France represents a soar, but why the heck not?Aliyah to Israel from France has soared 25 percent so far this year, from 4,000 to 5,100, according to figures supplied by French Jewish officials.
A sharp increase in the number of Jews moving to Israel from France also was recorded in 2013 following the escalation of violent anti-Semitism.
This past Januury was particularly bloody for Jews in Paris, where four Jews were murdered in an attack on a kosher deli and a Jewish cartoonist was among 12 victims in the attack on the offices of Charles Hebdo satirical magazine.
I, for one, would like to see as many Jews get out of Europe as possible, but I also understand that it is not necessarily so easy. People have lives. They have family and social and economic attachments, so it is not necessarily too easy to just up and move to Israel.
And, although this may be difficult for some to believe, there are plenty of Jews who are undoubtedly perfectly happy living in Europe and who barely even notice the increasing tension.
Nonetheless, I am one of those who tends to see in Europe a dying culture.
The home of the Enlightenment is being slowly absorbed by something else and anti-Jewish hatred and violence is very definitely on the rise.
In part this is due, obviously, to increasing levels of immigration of Muslim racists from North Africa and the Middle East, but you cannot blame European decline entirely upon Muslim emigres. Europeans still represent the vast majority in their own land and, therefore, must be held accountable for developments within their own countries.
The fact of the matter is that much of Europe has simply bought into the "Palestinian narrative" of pristine victimhood and, much like the Nazis before them, sincerely believe in Jewish malevolence.
I find it rather mind-boggling that within living memory of the Holocaust so many Europeans still consider the Jewish people - embodied, now, by the State of Israel - as horrendous people who enjoy killing children.
Have they learned nothing?
I was reading today that the entire staff of Hyper Cacher left the company after the attack. But they discovered that when they sought new jobs or places to live their pay stubs with the Hyper Cacher logo are no good - it's being boycotted.
ReplyDeleteTrudy, you are always a ray of sunshine in my day.
DeleteI enjoy her too!
DeleteAgain, it's not rational. It's psychological. And complex.
ReplyDeleteThis article is helpful:
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News.aspx/172613
There is a better article available at standpoint magazine, but for some reason their website is down at the moment.
It's really important to understand this. And, to realize that it doesn't stop at Europe.
That link didn't work.
DeleteTry this link:
Deletehttp://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/172613#.VYQqW_lVikp
You've probably seen this at Eof Z but if not:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-4668994,00.html
It's not just Europe.
Dear k,
DeleteI find the article not altogether convincing in its claims. Oh yes, there is a serious problem and it needs to be strongly countered. And I'm not saying that I'm not concerned, but NPR has had an anti-Israel slant for decades. That's not news. The Bernie Sanders story is however quite appalling. Diane Rehm ought to stick her head in the toilet. Come to think of it, the bottom of the toilet is where she got her "information" regarding Bernie Sanders. MSNBC is right behind them, employing hacks from the Nation such as... I can't even think of his name...the guy with the glasses. Call him Clarkov Kentsky. 30 years ago he would have been arguing that the US was preventing the USSR from realizing its wonderful potential as savior of humanity and therefore we should unilaterally disarm. But MSNBC has a small and silly audience. The NYT is still the "paper of record" that buried the Holocaust on page 12. Some things never change. My mother buys it on Sundays for the crossword puzzle.
Things can certainly get worse here, but, for now at least, this still is America, not Europe. Congress is not about to recognize "Palestine," and no one in the halls of power is going to seriously consider arresting Tzipi Livny should she turn up. I doubt very much that the next POTUS will be as bad for the Jews as the present one. Let's make no mistake about it, the current open season on Jews here got its driver's license from the top. I'm hopeful that the pro-Israel counter offensive will grow in the coming years. I am guardedly optimistic that the tide can be turned on the fuck heads, if we do our work, whereas Europe will need to be again shamed into putting a lid that certain prejudice for which it is famous.
Again, people tend to look at history inside out. The significance was never that 'now' antisemitism is on the uptick. What's fascinating is what it took to actually make it less popular for a brief period from say, 1945-1995 in a thousand year long timeline of hatred. So now we have the high water mark. The Holocaust is actually what it takes for Europeans to say 'too too much'. Anything less than genocide is more or less ok.
ReplyDelete