It’s Finally Official. The World Hates Us.

So can we announce that it’s finally official?

The world hates the Jews and you’re allowed to show it! It has taken 78 years, but once again, it is not only acceptable, but fashionable to admit one’s deep-seated antisemitism-PUBLICLY. It is a la mode. Protests, marches, demonstrations, random acts of public disturbance-the louder and more violent, the better. And it doesn’t even have to be connected to anything Jewish or Israel. Just today, Thanksgiving Day in the US, pro-Palestinian (read: antisemitic) protesters apparently “glued” themselves to the street where the annual Macy’s Parade in Manhattan was going by, causing a huge disruption. Why the parade? Well, why not? Now that it is “o.k.” to be a public antisemite, these Jew-haters want the entire world to know how they feel. The more publicity, the better. Oh, and lots of curse words and swearing, too. And vulgar hand gestures. And Nazi comparisons. Yes! Let’s compare Jews to….Nazis! Makes a lot of sense, doesn’t it?

Sadly, I could go on and on. Every day since that “Black Saturday” of October 7th (a date which will be forever etched in our hearts and souls) brings more and more exposed Jew hatred. At first it was shocking, but not anymore. While we here in Israel are fighting a war like no other,  it’s as if citizens around the world – especially in North America – are finally showing their true colors. Politicians, celebrities, and random people on the street who you would never have paid attention to previously. Has it ever been this bad before? Not that I can remember in my 50+ years. It seems that within only a few short days after the Simchat Torah Massacre, the world turned against the Jews.

How did this happen under our noses?

It didn’t. It’s been simmering right under the surface for years now. For years we have been subjected to: “Palestine Apartheid Week” on college campuses; the UN’s pathetic “racism” conferences (which are blatantly racist against Jews) and their yearly anti-Israel “resolutions”; by a sharp rise in antisemitic violence- some “random acts” and others more horrendous and tragic, such as the massacre at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh in 2018 and the Chanukah attack in Monsey, NY in 2019. Unfortunately there are so many more to mention. It culminated in the worst one right here in Israel on that fateful day in October, at the very end of our month of joyful Jewish holidays, when we never imagined something like this could happen. It took us by surprise and happened right under our noses.

The reactions of the rest of the world have been nothing short of brutal. Isn’t it bad enough that we are mourning, and will be for a very, very long time, the brutal torture, rape and murder of 1,200 of our loved ones? And that we are still, as of this writing, desperately pleading for Hamas and Islamic Jihad to release the 240 hostages they kidnapped? Isn’t it hard enough for us here in Israel, still under attack from rockets daily, traumatized, with many thousands displaced from their homes in the south and the north of Israel? Does the rest of the world care that we, our soldiers- our sons, daughters, brothers and sisters, fathers, and husbands- are fighting for our lives so that the REST of the world can live in peace? Why don’t they see this?

The world has gone completely mad. I am convinced. To ruthlessly and callously rip off posters of missing children…who could be so cruel? How can you tear down pictures of innocent children being held by terrorists? I remember as a child, seeing  “Missing Children” posters hung up on walls and billboards. And remember the milk carton pictures? This was frightening to see, of course, as many of these children were my age. This was long before Amber alerts and the internet. Back then, it would have been unheard of to rip off a Missing Person flyer. Everyone was worried about that child and terribly sad for the family. It was hard to look at, but no one would ever take it down or deface one of those pictures.

This is why it’s so confusing to me how in 2023, people can be so heartless. The Hamas barbarians are holding babies, children, teens, and elderly people, whom they tortured and dragged away at gunpoint. These are purely innocent victims being held hostage by the most brutal terrorists the world has seen. But the nations of the world don’t see this. They march for Gaza, for Hamas, screaming for Israel’s destruction and to burn the Jews. We have all seen the videos of the protesters.  They tell those filming them to go to hell. They swear at them with language straight out of the sewer. They say that they don’t care, and that the Jews deserve it.

So they only care about Arabs in the Gaza Strip and not about Jews. But do they really care? Most of them in the US have never been to Israel, or Gaza, or any Arab country actually. Do they know that there is no Arab country in the world that would let them protest like that? That they wouldn’t have ANY of the rights that they have now in America to say and do what they want and live their lives as they wish? They have no idea what they are protesting for or against. They only thing they know is that they hate the Jews and have always hated the Jews.

But the antisemitism doesn’t stop there. For all those who shout loudly for “freedom for Palestine”, there are so many others…who are just quiet. And their silence says a lot.  Why isn’t anyone outside of Israel speaking out against the brutal violence that Hamas perpetrated against women on October 7? Where is the outrage against the gang-rapes and the torturing and the mutilation? The terrorists have admitted to these crimes and are even proud of them. As has been reported recently here in The Times of Israel as well as in an opinion piece a few days ago in Newsweek by Michal Herzog, our president’s wife, the #MeToo movement and other organizations which normally stand up against violence against women have been eerily quiet these days. Which, of course, speaks volumes. It makes me wonder, do they even actually care about women? They seem to only care about themselves. When it involves Jewish and Israeli women being savagely violated and butchered to death, there is only silence. What’s worse, they hate Jews so much that they feel that that we Israelis “deserve” all that has happened to us.

Yes, this is the sorry state of affairs these days. While  Israel bravely fight the world’s most vicious terrorists, we as Jews stand here, united, but alone.

Am Yisrael Chai. Long live the Jewish nation. B’yachad Nenatzeach- Together will be victorious!

Ra’anana, posters of the kidnap victims. These pictures will never be torn down by antisemites. (courtesy of author)