It is time to cancel Jews: Are we going back to Nazi era?

The October 7 massacre went beyond the desecration of women, children and men with mutilation, torture, rape and ultimately murder of innocents. This elicited some, mostly transient outrage, but also denial of the event, or false claims that it was done by Israeli themselves, or if it was actually done by Hamas, it was an act of liberation of land stolen from Palestinians by the settler/colonialist state of white supremacists aka Israel and Jews. And because the attack didn’t destroy Israel but led to a powerful counter-attack by the IDF, attempts to defile Jews and Israel continue. The defilement is staying alive with dubious claims of Israel committing genocide in Gaza without mentioning heinous behavior of Hamas responsible for many deaths. Hamas has only one goal – to destroy Israel if not in battle then in the public sphere by demeaning and cancelling everything Jewish. This campaign has been successful by intimidating, debasing and endangering either Jews or their supporters in all spheres of public and civic life. Hamas and its supporters learned from Nazis and Mafias how to use tactics of harassment and threats. Even mere claims of offense and hurt feelings of “victimized’ Palestinians lead many “offenders” to quick retreat and to groveling apologies.

Otherwise why would large corporations fold so fast under this type of pressure if not for fear of being accused of supporting Zionism and the possibility of ensuing sanctions (and losing profits)? For example, Adidas, a big company known for athletic footwear and clothing caved in to complaints and threats of boycott because of a disabled IDF veteran appearing in an Adidas commercial. Almost immediately Adidas excluded the ad from circulation and apologized rather profusely for its sin. And what’s to apologize for? And who complained? Pro-Palestinians and Palestinians, Islamists and like – they have perfected this routine and perform it in a daily kabuki-like theater of horror.

Israel’s (or just an Israeli’s) appearance in commercials is almost immediately spotted by pro-Hamas “activists” who claim deep offence and insensitivity to Palestinian suffering. Their constant vigilance and pushbacks lead to quick retreat and bans and denial of service and presence of Jews. Jewish presence in public became offensive if not outright repulsive. These episodes have become everyday occurrences all over the world, more in the West. The aim is to erase Jews from history, presence and future, from society.

Antisemitism has become widespread in Hollywood and around the world among movie stars, producers and celebrities. Not only Jews are demeaned, they are demonized in comments uttered by actors like Mark Ruffalo who attacked Larry Ellison’s company Oracle for aiding Israel’s genocide in Gaza because he, Ruffalo, disagreed with David Ellison’s Paramount planned merger with Warner Brothers. What is the connection between Oracle and Paramount action? Actually none except Larry Ellison is David’s father and both are Jewish. Does that smell of an antisemitic trope by Ruffalo? Yes, to me and other Jews. Not to many actors and celebrities. You decide…

A frenzy of enthusiasm has erupted at the Venice festival around the so-called Israeli documentary Naza describing alleged targeted mass killing of Gaza civilians by the IDF. The whole project is of dubious validity as it is an Israeli production only in name. Yes, the directors are Israeli (and known for directing another documentary about alleged Israeli crimes a couple of years ago), but it was produced by the Guardian, a well-known antisemitic outlet and JW Films and Placeholders Films, all in the UK and the US, but not in Israel. The movie consists of anonymous, invisible former IDF soldiers giving unverified testimonies. The 25 minute applause was more in appreciation of the supposed discovery of cruelty and bloodthirstiness of Israel rather than of the objectivity of the narrative. Interestingly, atrocities committed by Hamas were not mentioned.

Sadly, such events and episodes have been normalized and accepted not as something discriminatory and vile, but as something virtuous, denying evil Jews right to reside and take their place in “pure and righteous” society. Persons and personalities, not only Hamas and Islamists, deny and obstruct access to Jews to a variety of services and venues. They feel satisfaction, but I am not sure whether this is because of their support for oppressed Palestinians or because they derive pleasure from being able to participate in acts of Jew-hatred and be a part of the antisemitic mob. I call these despicable incidents Jew-hatred as a particularly vile expression of antisemitism vis-a-vis a Jew, something that would bring the perpetrator deep pleasure and satisfaction. Whether the perpetrator thinks at the moment of committing this hate act that it is helping Palestinians is irrelevant, because this is not about Palestinians, it is about antisemites and Jews, the scourge of the Earth. It is about cancellation, banning, elimination of Jews if not by killing them at least by excluding them from society.

Islamists, Hamas and whatever you want to call these terrorists follow the footsteps of their ideological predecessors – Nazis. They found willing collaborators not only among hospitality workers, store owners but also among the so-called elites, calling themselves intellectuals, humanitarians, artists, academicians, you name it. And now even governments of the “free world” find this new way of dealing with Jewish, more precisely Israeli pests inspiring. At the minimum Western leaders serve as enablers. I suspect that some governments enjoy going after Israel, it releases them from their duty to face antisemitism and in general societal disorder inflicted by the recent influx of Islamists among recent Muslim immigrants. It is the old Roman panem et circenses (bread and circus games) approach to satisfy and calm mobs..

The new Prime Minister of UK Andy Burnham took over from his predecessor Keir Starmer on July 20 of this year. His inheritance of Great Britain from Starmer is saddled with many problems stemming from weak economy and strong immigration as the most prominent issues.

Rising antisemitism coming from recent immigrants from the Middle East incited to action by the October 7 massacre and followed by the war in Gaza has become a bothersome problem not only for Burnham, but already for his predecessor. The Prime Minister has decided that the best solution for all these problems, even if it is only a short-lived diversion, is to impose sanctions and boycott on Israeli settlements, their mostly agricultural products and on support companies providing services, such as banking and construction. He claims that this will lead to the implementation of the two state solution. I wonder who else besides him and his cabinet are in favor of the two state solution? Burnham’s spokesman denied the charge of antisemitism (no surprise here) and as a proof pointed to spending £318 million by the government on protecting Jews from antisemitic attacks.

Too bad that the spokesman forgot to mention that British negligence to disarm and suppress antisemitism in the UK led to anti-Jewish attacks in the first place. Antisemites and Islamists will correctly interpret the boycott of Israel as a permission to attack Jews as pointed out by Sir Ephraim Mirvish, the Chief Rabbi of Great Britain. This is not to mention that one of the basic duties of any government is to provide protection for all its citizens, Jews and non-Jews. And Burnham’s sanctions were trumped by the UK Green Party that took it one more, logical step further. Why only isolate, segregate Jews, why not just eliminate them, starting with Israel. Yes, elimination of Israel and denouncement of Zionism as racism tops the party’s priority goal list. Apparently, Israel should be replaced by a single free democratic Palestine. And in my mind this is just a cover up for another genocide of Jews, not just cancelation

Several EU countries and Canada are joining the UK in denouncing Israeli settlements and some are planning to impose similar boycotts. Putting this into practice will not lead to disappearance or dismantling of settlements by Israel – after all that was done by Israel in Gaza in 2005, and all it did it led the path to the October 7 massacre. It will not decrease rampant antisemitism in any of these countries. British people will realize pretty soon that these novel measures will not lead to a better economy and will not solve immigration problems either. It will be time for a new Prime Minister.

The governments in Europe and Canada justify implementation of these discriminatory measures by two arguments that on the surface appear plausible. One is that settlements are the greatest obstacle to the two state solution, otherwise both Israel and Palestine (recognised as a state by many European countries and Canada) would live side by side in peace and democracy. If the Europeans do not realize that it is a fantasy that Israel is the only obstacle preventing Palestinians from living in democracy then they are delusional. And they themselves nurture this delusion by pumping large financial support into Palestine without any accountability by Palestinians who in 78 years since 1948 have not even attempted creation of any democratic, civic or cultural institutions, a conditio sine qua non in any democracy and in a more limited form in less democratic countries but not involved in domestic suppression and terrorist attacks on its neighbors. The Palestinian Authority does not indicate any interest in the two state solution or implementation of democracy.

The second argument, perhaps primary, is that the West Bank and East Jerusalem are occupied territories, and that this makes the settlements built there illegal at least in the eyes of international law. This is open for debate because not everybody, mostly Israel (and the US to some degree) agrees with this assessment. Disputed territories might be a better term. EU foreign policy chief Kaja Kallas compared the status of the West Bank to Crimea that Russia seized and annexed from Ukraine in 2014. Sorry, Ms Kallas, but you are misinterpreting history. Israel acquired control over the West Bank as a result of victory in a purely defensive Six Day War in 1967 over Jordan (Egypt and Syria), as there was no state of Palestine in existence or making .

We shouldn’t be surprised by these developments. Many EU countries have been waiting for favorable conditions for a frontal attack on Israel. The constellation of their disapproval of the war in Gaza, dislike of Benjamin Netanyahu, violence by a group of settlers, announcement of British Andy Burnham to impose sanctions on Israel, a need to pacify restless Islamists in their countries calling for Jewish blood, and, to great degree, lust for revenge for Trump’s misbehavior on the European scene created ideal time to pounce. And one shouldn’t be too surprised if European antisemitism does not play a role in this shebang. After all, the plague is back and normalized all over the world. That this wide and complex range of these sanctions would cover not only the settlements but also Israeli (and I presume foreign) companies having business contact with the settlements is unusually wide, and as mentioned above would affect only business with Jews, but not with Arabs, both Muslims and Christians, brings back bad memories and premonitions of things to come.

And what about the Palestinians? I am sure that it gives them sadistic pleasure that it is Jews’ turn to suffer, but it does not do anything for them but for one thing – persistent Naqba, the “catastrophe'”, perpetrated by Jews ad infinitum since 1948. It does not improve their lives, they have been living their miserable existence for 78 years now. But so what – it brings them pleasure, sadomasochistic satisfaction. Sadistic – because they feel entitled to kill Jews, in terrorist attacks, suicide bombings, massacres of October 7 type, and masochistic – at some level they enjoy martyrdom, perpetual victimhood. If nothing else it brings them sympathy from many sides, and punishment to Jews. And financial and material support will start flowing from Europe and the UN. And another cycle of terror can begin.