Can Kristallnacht 2.0 be Averted?

On November 7, 1938, teenage Jewish boy Herschel Grynszpan, while in Paris heard of his family’s expulsion. He decided to assassinate the German Ambassador to France, but not able to locate him, settled for another official by the name of Ernst Vom Rath who died two days later on the 9th of November. While I never am one to condone revenge of any kind, I empathize with Gryszpan sense of desperation.

Grynszpan provided Joseph Goebbels with the perfect excuse to launch a series of pogroms that became known as Kristallnacht or “the Night of Broken Glass”.

These pogroms (organized riots) took place during the night of November 9-10, 1938 throughout parts of Germany and Austria. They were solely against Jewish property and Jewish people. 91 Jewish people were killed, 30,000 were arrested and sent to camps, 1,000 synagogues set on fire and over 7,000 Jewish businesses destroyed. Kristallnacht was a combination of pogrom and boycott.

In her superb work on the Holocaust titled “The War Against the Jews: 1933-1935″ Lucy Dawidowicz writes: “On Kristallnacht, the Jewish community of Germany went up in flames…. All Jewish institutions were burned down or banned by order of the Gestapo. The Jewish press was suppressed… Tasks of emigration, welfare and education were assigned by the Gestapo. Its real function was to preside over the final liquidation of German Jewry1.”

Lucy Dawidowicz and the vast majority of Holocaust scholars see Kristallnacht as the starting point of the implementation of the “Final Solution to the Jewish Question”. The question that we need to ask ourselves now is: “Is another Kristallnacht on the way and can it be averted?”

In the last few days I posited that the Third Intifada could be global and happening now in from of our very eyes. I still believe it, but we might be seeing something bigger on the horizon, like another Kristallnacht. Kristallnacht 2.0 so to speak!

The main difference between and intifada (uprising) and another Kristallnacht, is the fact that the first one is mostly reactive and somewhat disorganized, while the later is pro-active AND very organized. These are some of the signs that indicate that things are heating-up towards Kristallnacht 2.0 in Europe (these all took place in the last few weeks and they are just a handful of many):


• Saint-Nicolas, Belgium: A café owner displayed a sign in his window saying: ” Dogs are welcome inside but Zionists are not!”

• Antwerp, Belgium: About 500 people demonstrated on the streets, screaming: “slaughter the Jews”

• London, England: During a street protest, people were brandishing signs saying :” Hitler you were right” or even f*** the Zionists”. A Jewish boy on his bicycle was hit by a rock thrown at him by a woman wearing a niqab.

• Spain: A letter signed by 100 Spanish celebrities such as Penelope Cruz calls Israel to “stop the Genocide“.

• The Hague, Holland: an ISIS (the new self proclaimed Caliphate of the Islamic State) street gathering has been calling for the killing of “dirty Jews from the sewers”.

• Berlin, Germany: Street protesters are calling for Jews to be gassed.

• Paris, France: 4,000 pro-Palestinian demonstrators defy a ban on the streets of Paris as they burn the Israeli flag, many of them shouting “Allah Akbar”

• French Facebook site: For a short time, the French Facebook site hosted a page from Young French Revolutionaries that displayed photos and names of 32 Jewish people for the sole purpose of finding them and physically assaulting them. They found one of them at his home and descended on him violently. The site has since been closed by Facebook. Incidentally, a new site came up, titled “Death to Israel and Zionists” and it also doesn’t violate Facebook’s community standards! They need to be reported.

• Paris, France: A synagogue and several Jewish stores were firebombed in Paris and suburb.

• Nice, France: In the south of France, people on the streets were shouting “we are all Mohammed Merahs“, referencing that they compared themselves to the 2012 Toulouse Muslim murder of a rabbi, three Jewish school children and three soldiers.

For some reason–and it might be related to the fact that the largest community of European Muslim lives in France– the temperature is the hottest there. This only helps us to measure the gravity of the situation and plan ahead for other areas to be hit.

Some call it urban guerrilla warfare, some call it street protest and some –like I did last week– even call it a global Intifada. I think we are well beyond that and that at the very least, we are witnessing the birth of a new Kristallnacht, no longer localized but soon to be global because with the help of the social networks and the media, the “global Jews” is responsible for everything in Israel, Gaza and anywhere else they look for a scapegoat. People are not attacked because they are vocal Zionists showing bold support for Israel. All Jews are at risk even as they go about their day saying nothing.

I think that the very fact that many of the perpetrators show some signs of being better organized is very ominous. Jews are scared to go outside now. Forget going outside wearing a Star of David necklace or a yarmulke, they are just afraid to go out. Applications for Aliyah are multiplying.

The attacks are coming from all fronts: Schools, streets, social networks, publications, radio, Internet and to an extent also some levels of government).

So really, Can Kristallnacht 2.0 Be Averted? I am not certain that it can, especially if the current French government continues to watch as if their hands were tied–maybe they are tied by fear of reprisals and terrorism on their own soil. But anytime in history that abuse, destruction of property and killings were minimized if not stopped, was when people who cared for people did something.

Albert Einstein already knew that in the 19490s when he said: The world is a dangerous place to live, not because of the people who are evil but because of the people who don’t do anything about it.”

The sad part about France that might also be a reflection on the vast majority of the Western world is that many are thinking that they are not anti-Semites, yet they are happy to see the “Jews” leave. “Good riddance” they probably think, “let them move to Israel”. They are missing an important aspect of this crisis, and that is the fact that those going after my people have a much larger agenda. For the most part, the animosity is between Muslims and the Jewish community for now, and the Muslim perpetrators (yet it is important to note that not all perpetrators are Muslim) are not fearful of the authorities. They are defiant, appearing as if they were in a judeophobic trance. But their jihad is anti-West not just anti-Jew.

Kristallnacht was the spark that started the Holocaust. Excuses were made, momentum was picked-up and blood… a lot of blood, was shed. So is there no hope for the Jews of France and the rest of Europe? What will happen if we allow Kristallnacht 2.0 to take place in Europe?

Call me naive or mistaken but I think that I have the solution to this mess. I found my answer 31 years ago in the person of Sar Shalom (Isaiah 9:6-7), Maschiah ben David (2 Samuel 7:12-13). Some will agree with me and some will fight me for my beliefs in a Mashiach who came to die as a kippur for His people (Isaiah 52:13-53:12, Psalm 22). I also believe that this Mashiach who first cams as Maschiah ben Yoseph is about to return on the Mount of Olives soon as Maschiah ben David.

If you disagree with me, and before you accuse me of “not being Jewish anymore” I would ask you to consider that even if I am wrong–and I don’t believe I am– in siding with those that follow Yeshua the Messiah, I am making every effort to let them know that THEY have NO CHOICE BUT TO LOVE ISRAEL AND THE JEWSIH PEOPLE (Psalm 83:5).

Israel and the Diaspora Jews have the assurance that true disciples of Yeshua have their back. It doesn’t matter if you embrace me or reject me, Israel. I have your back as well. Kristallnacht 2.0 might not be fully averted but you will not fight alone!




1. Dawidowicz, Lucy S.: The War Against the Jews: 1933-1935″ (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, New York, NY, 1975) page 196.