Poisoning the wells 2025 version

When poisoning the wells in the middle ages turned into shooting civilians queuing for aid.

In the Middle Ages the Jews were accused of various heinous acts, such as, inter alia, poisoning the wells and using the blood of babies to make matzo. These days those blood libels have morphed into, variously, “14,000 babies will die within 48 hours” ; “a famine in Gaza”; “Israeli shooting civilians in Gaza waiting for aid”. “9 out of 10 children killed by Israeli air strikes”.

The ongoing cries to “globalize the Intifada” and the usual “river to the sea” entreaties, coupled with these blood libels have created a crucible of Jew hatred that hasn’t been seen since the thirties.

Just in the past week alone, there has been an onslaught (and I use that word advisedly) of attacks on Jews. Let’s spell them out: the horrifying murder of the two staffers at the Israeli embassy in Washington; the Boulder attack where Jews rallying for the release of the hostages had Molotov cocktails thrown at them; four attacks in Paris in one night, including at a Shoah memorial, a kosher restaurant and two  synagogues and a swastika daubed on a school in Lyon; an Israeli flag pulled down from a synagogue in the Paris suburbs and closer to home, in Brisbane, Jews who gathered to celebrate Shavuot, a Jewish festival, were the subject of the baying mob. Then a Jewish Israeli was pulled from participating at a wellness conference, one dedicated to all things good, because, well, being Jewish she just wasn’t good enough. And it’s only Wednesday.

What do these attacks have in common? “Free Palestine”. “I’m doing it for Gaza”. Jews celebrating Shavuot demonized because, and only because, they are Jewish. Jews rallying for the hostages, no political slogans, but attacked, nevertheless. It must take a special kind of hatred to throw Molotov cocktails into a crowd of people raising awareness against the barbaric taking of hostages by the murderous Hamas. It must take a special kind of Jew hatred to demonstrate against Jews gathered to celebrate a religious festival.

For those who argue that the pro-Palestinian mob are peace loving I would say, either stop the drugs you are taking or try something new. The relentless baying for Jewish blood- and make no mistake this is not about the Palestinians but about the Jews-has risen to feverish levels in the wake of aid going into Gaza facilitated by Israel and the new organization set up to bypass Hamas. One might wonder why. Is it because, as Douglas Murray has said, the Jews are never allowed to win? And therefore, the sidelining of Hamas which, in any moral world would be celebrated, is instead seen as a negative by the morally vacuous west and thus Israel must be castigated at every opportunity and criticized for the very thing that the West has been calling for. Or is it that the hatred of Jews is so prevalent and has so invaded the cortex of so many that they just make stuff up and the media who are complicit in this swallow it and disseminate it? Bad luck for the Jews who are the victims of this negligent and reckless reporting. Too bad. Too bad that the ongoing propaganda has real life consequences, or should that be really deadly consequences. To all those who inhale like mother’s milk the incessant criticism of Israel the media coverage is like a secret code to attack the Jew.

The 14,000 baby lie, for example. That was so blatant an impossibility that it takes a real-life stuff up to print it without the modicum of fact checking. By the time the lie was exposed, it had gone around the world who knows how many times with no one bothering to check. Journalistic standards be damned. It was revealed to be a lie, and was retracted, but by then it was too late. Poison the wells 2025 version 1.

Then came the famine in Gaza. For 19 months we have been told there is an imminent famine in Gaza. The real famine is in Sudan but no one seems to care much about that or them. Perhaps because Israel isn’t involved. Whilst no one can doubt there is suffering in Gaza and food shortages in certain places, there are also pictures-in real time- of bustling markets and ice cream shops and influencers making lots of yummy foods. From Gaza.

Blood libel number….? The allegations about a mother whose 9 children were killed. The mother who is all of 36 and whose very same children were killed- allegedly- in March. Odd that the children all appeared to be the same age. It was also unclear how she managed to become a pediatrician and have 10 children by the age of 36. But I suppose blood libels have their own narratives.

Blood libel number…? Israel killed Gazans waiting for aid. Never mind that there are pictures of masked men, presumably Hamas, shooting at civilians. Never mind that Israel wasn’t near the aid site. Never mind that it can’t be verified. None of that matters. All that does matter is to propagate the thesis that Israel and Jews are bloodthirsty morally bankrupt wanton murderers who kill for the fun of it.

Amongst this is the news that Spain has decided to cancel an arms deal with Israel. It perhaps hasn’t occurred to the Spanish that when you variously expelled or tortured us 500 years ago that we remember. We remember too that the Inquisition wasn’t officially disbanded until the 19th century. This might not have been an issue the Spaniards wanted to pursue, but hey, 500 years of Jew hating is clearly still alive and well in el Andalus.

Mr Macron who is dealing with Islamic terrorists at home and perhaps a domestic terrorist in his husband -slapping wife, has decided to ally himself with the Palestinian cause. Well, it isn’t that long since Petain collaborated, so anything goes there, I suppose. The idea to elevate the luckless Alfred Dreyfus to a higher rank doesn’t really make up for this.

Canada has decided to open some kind of war crimes investigation into dual Israeli- Canadian citizens. A country where Jews are no longer welcome.

As for Australia, no doubt our Palestinian loving Israel hating government will join the Canadian and French party soon. Our prime minister has been invited to visit Israel. Will he go? As we say, yeah nah.

And so, in the wake of Shavout we are left to ponder. This past weekend was the time of the giving of the Torah, the moral compass by which we live. At a time when we are being once more hunted for being Jews, when it’s open season on expressing virulently anti semitic views with no consequences, when blood libels are running faster than Superman ever could,it is time to acknowledge that the oldest hatred in the world never died but just went into hibernation. In the words of Kohelet there is nothing new under the sun. I wish there were.