When Avinatan Meets Sam
With luck, perseverance and good fortune the Gaza War may be over. The scars of course remain, along with the repulsive and massive increase of antisemitism worldwide, to the point where it is now chic to hate Jews, and especially Israelis.
Long term, there is great concern that the negative residue from the war will overwhelm Israel’s achievements. Always lacking in the public relations area, Israel has seen its international image trashed to a point where it is commonplace for Israeli teams to be banned from international competitions and Israeli companies and people to be boycotted. This week the municipality of Birmingham, England banned Macabi Tel Aviv fans from even coming to a soccer match against local team Aston Villa.
The next few years promise to be difficult for Israelis, but one advantage they will have is the young generation, already being referred to as Israel’s “Greatest Generation”. In a world dominated by social media and post-modern attitudes toward national pride and patriotism, this generation of young Israelis served in the IDF, fought and persevered for two years against seven different enemies. They saved their country and devastated their enemies to a point few thought possible at the outset of the war, and they did it at great personal sacrifice to their education, careers and personal relationships.
Take for example Avinatan Or, who was released last week after two years of captivity. Kidnapped from the Nova music festival along with his famous girlfriend, Noa Argamani, Avinatan was kept for two years mostly in solitary confinement in a putrid Hamas dungeon that was so small he couldn’t even stand up straight. Nonetheless, Mr. Or survived and returned home. Even before he was kidnapped, he was an accomplished employee of Nvidia, perhaps now one of the world’s foremost technology companies.
At the same time as Avinatan was being shown returning from Hamas hell, Great Britain was showing off the cream of modern British society in the person of Sam Williams, the Oxford racist student who led the cheer of “Gaza, Gaza make us proud, put the Zios in the ground.” Adorned in the obligatory kaffiyah that seems to be required dress at formerly elite schools like Oxford, Mr. Williams apparently has been trying out those chants so he could lead other Oxford gems as they proudly proclaimed their race hate.
Were Sam Williams an aberration in elite colleges it would just be embarrassing. However, given the events over the last two years at many of the world’s top colleges and universities, that does not seem to be the case. Instead of learning how to survive and prosper in a high technology environment, many of today’s seem more interested in spending time in tent cities called “encampments” demanding the destruction of Israel.
What exactly is the future of Great Britain and much of the West when the Sam Williamses of the world must compete in a global environment against the Avinatan Or’s? Already Israel has pushed aside Great Britain and most of the West in start-up companies and the development of high tech and AI technology. Countries like Denmark have found out that it may politically play well to publicly proclaim that they are severing military and trade ties with Israel, but as Israel provides technology Denmark needs for its military equipment, it is Denmark that has to return, hat in hand to Israel. While students at Western universities may spend their time trying to decide how many genders there are, students in Israel have no time or patience for such frivolity. When all of your neighbors demand your destruction that fact concentrates the mind. Israeli students simply have little time for trivial subjects and are more inclined to study science or mathematics.
As the current Israeli generation grows into positions of influence, they literally already have put their lives on the line for the defense of their country. Too many western youngsters have spent their lives engaging in performance art for the purpose of showing their peer group how ideologically committed they are. That will be of limited value in the real world of the future.
Enjoy your fifteen minutes of fame Sam Williams. Unlike that of Avinatan Or, Noa Argamani and so much of the young Israeli generation, the future of Mr. Williams and his Oxford compatriots looks very dim indeed.
