Inevitability

“The future is not inevitable. We can influence it, if we know what we want it to be.”

This piece of wisdom by an Irish philosopher is particularly relevant given current circumstances.

Unrelenting demonization of Israel over a long period of time has inevitably sown the seeds of noxious perniciousness so prevalent in international forums. Failure to tackle the root causes of this malevolent manifestation has resulted in an out-of-control overflow into Jew hate.

Incitement against Jews, of course, existed well before Jewish sovereignty was re-established. Haters always had and still have plenty of reasons to target Jews, but the daily doses of condemnations against the Jewish State have empowered a wider and growing number.

When those engaged in nefarious activities see the weak and pathetic responses of Governments and law enforcement authorities they become ever more emboldened. In regimes where democracy is fiction and anti-Israel policies are official, the continual drip feed of poisonous propaganda endangers Jewish communities. In countries where Jews no longer live the scourge of hate still lingers.

Add in the rising tide of jihadist extremism and you have a perfect toxic brew. Authorities’ reluctance to face up to this spells trouble.

Once upon a time, Judeophobia was the exclusive preserve of Christian Churches and theology. Then, it morphed into extreme right-wing movements combining secular enmity with lingering religious dogma. Concurrently the rise of Islamic militancy resulted in targeting “infidels” which also encompassed Jews and Christians. At one stage, liberal socialists were staunch supporters of the rights of Jews and Zionism. Increasing numbers of them nowadays have been seduced by the virus of Jew, Israel and Zionist hate.

What we face today is a broad coalition of left and right, secular and religious, all united in their campaigns of delegitimization.

True, we do have staunch and devoted supporters who speak up on our behalf and fight for truth and historical justice. Unfortunately, their voices are often drowned out by the raucous rhetoric of the rabble and the double-speak responses of politicians.

At the end of the Second World War, some Nazi war criminals were put on trial. A few were hanged, while others were sentenced to imprisonment. They were gradually released over a period of time. Many of the worst murderers escaped with the help of the Vatican “rat line” to South America, where most lived out their lives unmolested, never having to face justice. Eichmann was an exception, and his capture by Israel unleashed a torrent of anti-Jewish hate.

Meanwhile, large numbers of those complicit in the Shoah genocide were, after the war, granted admission to various countries as “refugees.” Australia was a desired destination where awkward questions about past deeds did not prove an impediment for admission. Renowned Nazi hunter, Efraim Zuroff, spent his entire career exposing these fugitives from justice who had found a safe haven in these countries. A few, only a pitiable few, were extradited or put on trial.

The collective abdication of any sort of moral responsibility by host countries did not go unnoticed. No doubt today’s neo-Nazi arsonists and graffiti daubers feel safe in the knowledge that they can get away with their crimes.

I listened on YouTube to the speeches made by invited guests at the Holocaust Remembrance Day event hosted at the NZ Parliament. A universal theme was the urgent and vital need to educate the next generation about the horrors and lessons of the Shoah. Hearing this being expounded by NZ politicians made me wonder why, after all these years, Holocaust studies are still not a compulsory part of high school history curricula. It is all very well to say the same thing year after year but unless those in charge actually mandate a serious study of the history of those events nothing will change.

As in the past, successive generations of teenagers will inevitably remain clueless and susceptible to believing each and every lie and historical revisionist fable.

In recent years, great strides were made in interfaith activities whereby many of previous generations’ slanders against Jews and Judaism were finally laid to rest. It has not been an easy or untroubled journey and there have been some significant set backs. I think for example of the NZ Anglican Church’s decision in 1988 to expunge the words Zion and Israel from their Book of Psalms. This purging, in effect, conveyed a message to the Anglican masses that henceforth, Jews were written out of their ancient connection to the Promised Land.

The inevitable result has been a significant drift to anti-Israel rhetoric in the mainstream denominations and the World Council of Churches.

The Vatican only reluctantly recognized Israel in 1993. Its belated acceptance of the Jewish State’s legitimate existence has been half-hearted at best. In 2013, it recognized Palestine as a country despite clear evidence that those in charge deny any Jewish historical connection to Israel. Since the horrendous pogrom of 7 October 2023 by Hamas, the current Pope has condemned Israel’s campaign against terror.

Since 7 October, the chorus of condemnation against Israel from non-Evangelical denominations has escalated. Years of interfaith work have been destroyed in many communities because of reluctance to stand up to increased revisionist agendas.

This is the inevitable corollary of tampering with sacred texts, succumbing to woke political policies and surrendering to the rising tide of jihadist violence.

A perfect example of how a refusal to tackle historical revisionism results in ever-increasing outraged narratives was recently demonstrated.

A map downloaded by the Arabic language account of the Israeli Foreign Ministry showed the Biblical boundaries of the Kingdoms of Israel and Judea. The accompanying explanation stated, “Did you know that the Kingdom of Israel was established three thousand years ago?”  It then goes on to portray the Biblical accounts of Kings Saul, David and Solomon as well as the partition of the territory to the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judea. What follows is a description of their respective destruction and exile by the Assyrian and Babylonian empires.

The post concludes: “However the Jewish People in the Diaspora continued to look forward to the revival and rebuilding of their state.”

Every student of history knows that these are verifiable facts and that the events described took place well before the advent of Christianity and Islam.

Nevertheless this Foreign Ministry posting initiated a whirlwind of hysterical hypocrisy from those described by the international community as “peace partners.”

The Jordanians huffed and puffed: “We condemn in the strongest terms the maps of the region claiming that they are historical for Israel, including parts of the occupied Palestinian territories, the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Lebanon and Syria. The Kingdom rejects these policies and provocative statements that aim to deny the Palestinians’ right to establish their independent and sovereign state.”

In case that message was not clear enough, the Speaker of the Jordanian Parliament claimed “the maps express a criminal mentality and malicious ambitions that cannot be ignored or tolerated.”

For good measure, a Palestinian Authority spokesperson added, “we denounce the alleged map fabricating an Israeli history dating back thousands of years in line with the Hebrew allegations. This behaviour constitutes a flagrant violation of all international legitimacy resolutions and international law. These extremist Israeli policies are what ignited the region and led to the wars we are currently witnessing.”

What followed was a stunning silence from all those who aid and abet the delegitimizers of Israel.

Not a peep from the World Council of Churches, interfaith groups and the Vatican about this brazen denial of Biblical historical facts.

Nary, an outraged rebuttal, was forthcoming from the UN and the EU.

One can assume that all those countries who religiously vote to condemn Israel and deny its legitimacy find nothing amiss. After all, their acquiescence to condemnatory resolutions at the UN and its associated bodies endorses the fallacious lies of Abbas and his Islamic colleagues. Their silence is an endorsement that Judea, Samaria and Jerusalem have nothing to do with Jews or Judaism.

This collective silence speaks volumes and explains why the inevitable fallout is becoming so lethal and widespread.