Europe's Jewish problem

Op-ed: EU hostile to Jewish State because Israel’s success flaunts Europe’s failure

Moshe Dann |Published: 07.26.10 , 10:51

Antipathy for Israel among Europeans is increasing and alarming as campaigns of de-legitimization and vilification spread across the world, fueled by Muslim propaganda and money, whetted by the hunger for oil. Even once friendly European countries, those that helped establish the State of Israel and tried to assist Jews during the Holocaust, have become more hostile towards Israel. Europe's brief love affair with Israel seems over. Why?

Yoram Hazony, director of Jerusalem's Shalem Center, offers a unique and compelling perspective:

"The path of national self-determination ... lies beneath the nearly boundless disgust so many feel towards Israel, and especially toward anything having to do with Israel’s attempts to defend itself… It is driven by the rapid advance of a new paradigm that understands Israel, and especially the independent Israeli use of force to defend itself, as illegitimate down to its foundations."

Still, this does not explain why the right of self-defense, sacrosanct and enshrined in national and international law, does not apply to Israel.

For Europeans today, who did not experience the Holocaust, Israel is a constant reminder of their complicity and guilt in the genocide of Jews. They want to forget it; Israel can't.

Before and after World War II, the Soviet Union slaughtered, persecuted and enslaved Jews in gulags, sponsored and trained Arab terrorists, and attempted to wipe out Judaism. Eventually, the barriers fell, Jews emigrated, and the USSR folded and became the FSU.

Every time we force European dignitaries to visit Yad Vashem, we rub their noses in what they allowed; a return to scenes of their crimes. We make them pay when they see how vibrant we are and - the ultimate snub, except for Russia - with an army more powerful than their own!

Deliberately, methodically, Europe became Judenrein; instead it has mosques and veils, and primitive Islamic laws to worry about.

Europe rid itself of most of its Jews - some escaped, built a country, and now Israel has a more stable economy than theirs. What an indignity that those whom you punished and persecuted for so long sing and dance before you, and make you pay to see their heritage revealed in archeological sites.

Let Arabs do dirty work

For 2,000 years, Europe expelled or murdered Jews, stole their property, tried to crush their spirit, and yet, they came back even stronger. Jews are on the cutting-edge of everything, while Europe can't seem to find the tools. It doesn't make sense.

Jews were supposed to be finished off in ghettos, gas ovens, and slave labor prisons. That didn't work. Ok, give them a state and let the Arabs, generously supplied by most European governments and corporations, finish them off; that didn't work either.

Ok, Oslo, a diplomatic coup, land-for-nothing: still undecided. Welcome Iran to do the job, its nuclear reactors built by Russians, French and Germans, financed by the ever-neutral Swiss; well, maybe that will work.

Israel's success flaunts Europe's failure. And, despite European economies going down the tubes, EU countries still fund Arab Palestinian hate groups and rescue terrorists. Having used the most powerful forces in the world to eliminate the Jewish people, Europeans must feel frustrated at the audacity of Jews, not only to defend themselves, but to survive as Jews, forcing their leaders to salute a flag that bears a Jewish symbol, and shake hands with Jewish generals.

Instead of their traditional Jew-hatred, Europeans smile, and slip cash to the Arabs to do their dirty work. Condemning Israel is easier than feeling shame.

Jews in Israel are a traumatized people. Traumatized by the Holocaust and by constant Arab terrorism, we are also traumatized by our own leaders who, in the name of peace, emboldened our sworn enemies and exposed us to their murderous efforts. And many Israeli academics never lose an opportunity to condemn the country that pays their salaries. Israel's media often operate as propaganda machines for the Left.

How Europeans must relish their bigotry when they see Israeli political cartoons, opinion pieces (as "news"), literature and art that depict Israelis as vicious, Jews as despicable, and Judaism as worthless.

Ach, Europe, how you must shiver with humiliation when you need Israeli-produced technology, science and medicine. What angst overtakes you when you must decide whether to boycott Israeli fruit and vegetables, or enjoy them.

Like a supposedly dispatched victim, Israel comes back to haunt Europe, not only to confront it with its strength, but ablaze with Jewishness. What an indignity for Europeans to see flourishing Jewish communities instead of piled corpses, bones of those buried in mass execution pits renewed in Israeli children.

Europe hates Jews, finally, because it hates itself; it knows what European civilization allowed, permitted, and condoned. "Never Again" is the Jewish password; Europeans know it can.