Gaslighting, a term far from being my favourite. But I've noticed a lot of it lately. We keep witnessing blatant Jew-hatred and being told to look the other way.
The UNWRA is an excellent example. An organisation wholly infested with terrorists and terror sympathisers and still defended to the hilt. It's almost like some people's careers depend on it. Hamas built an actual reconnaissance base directly underneath an essential UN headquarters. Yet their president had the gall to insist he knew absolutely nothing about anything. He hadn't the foggiest clue about the very obvious and literally underlying shenanigans transpiring in plain sight. "Hey Jeff, what's with all the super loud construction noises coming from the basement?" "Oh, don't mind that, Jim; the lads are probably busy doing some routine maintenance down there."
"Pipe down and chill out", we keep being told. "It's just a few bad apples." How many times have we heard that one? Remember, this rebuke comes from the same people who, until now, consistently derided the use of dodgy fruit analogies to deflect from fundamental shortcomings. Police brutality, corruption, discrimination, 'it's systemic,' they cry! UN personnel killing Jews? No biggie, nothing more than some rotten apples. Anything but admit the poisoned tree.
It only gets worse. I'd never imagined anyone struggling to identify Hamas as anti-semitic. I naively assumed we could agree that those who massacred, mutilated and incinerated over a thousand Jews might reasonably be said to harbour prejudice towards Jewish people. The logic seemed so airtight to me that I'd summed up my thesis as follows: If you relish killing Jews, you're probably anti-Semitic.
Nevertheless, the UN's Special Rapporteur for Palestinians, Francesca Albanese, begs to differ. Rather than attributing Hamas' heinous October 7th onslaught to anti-semitism, she insists it was merely a reaction to broader Israeli oppression. For this morally twisted pretzel masquerading in UN attire, just because you're into exterminating Jews doesn't mean you dislike them. You could execute Jews at breakfast and eat bagels with lox for lunch. Haven't you heard? Some of Yahya Sinwar's best friends are Jewish.
Of course, Albanese conveniently overlooks how Hamas' charter essentially relies on Mein Kampf as a 'how-to guide'. Moreover, she'd rather not confront the uncomfortable reality that Jewish communities endured pogroms for millennia before Modern Israel stepped on any toes.
I can only imagine what kind of whitewashing we will hear after she becomes acquainted with the horrific history of antisemitic brutality:
Crusaders annihilating Jewish communities: Probably a schedule miscommunication.
Jews blamed for spreading Black Death: Unlucky test subjects of early social distancing.
Spanish Inquisition: Tomás de Torquemada was freaked out by Marano's cultural appropriation.
Mobs burning shtetls in tsarist Russia: Group therapy for disadvantaged serfs.
Now look, I'm not about to persuade the world's Jew haters to abandon their prejudices. You'd have an easier time convincing Bruce Wayne to trade in his Batmobile for a bicycle. It simply won't happen. Still, I think that by understanding this woman's motivations, we can hold a mirror up for ourselves. To take a step back and evaluate our perception of the Jewish experience.
So what exactly was Albanese gunning for in rejecting anti-Semitism as a driver of Hamas' maniacal, murderous zeal? Was it a justification? Almost certainly. But I think there's a darker subtext lurking here as well. In reframing the October 7th atrocity, people have attempted to expunge it from the grand narrative of Jewish history. In truth, this tragedy is just the latest example amidst an endless chain of horrors committed against our people. Admitting this, however, would be unpleasant for those who, looking in the mirror, might have to face something ugly. For it exposes the lingering stench of good old-fashioned Jew-hatred permeating our 'sophisticated' society. It is far easier, far more soothing for the soul, to interpret the latest slaughter as a reaction to imperialist oppression. This time, it's the Jews' fault.
Whilst our motivations will be entirely different, we too can make a similar misjudgment to those who try and separate this current crisis from our shared history. What do I mean by this? Let me explain.
In the wake of the Holocaust, western Jews have enjoyed previously unimaginable peace and protection. For the first time since Roman expulsion, we need not worry about pogroms, blood libels or auto-da-fé's. We owe tremendous gratitude for these sanctuaries we've found, to the decency and tolerance that define all societies in which Jews now thrive. Even so, when trying to get beyond our tortured past, we tend to overlook antisemitic episodes - characterising them as isolated "incidents" or "freak events" disconnected from our troubled, turbulent background. It's not that we outright ignore the facts but rather rationalise their implications. We talk about them using tidy terms, like 'one lone nut' or 'single bad actor', to quiet our fears.
When we recharacterize modern antisemitism as disconnected one-offs, we are superficially numbing the ache of exile. We tell ourselves that there was once a time when Jews suffered as a result of our expulsion from our homeland, but what occurs now is not part of that story. In effect, we subconsciously divorce modern anti-Semitism from its root cause, exile.
The destruction of the Temple plunged us into a diaspora from which we are yet to be redeemed. Our Sages teach that: 'From the time the temple was destroyed, there is no day without its curse'. Put simply, every moment of painful persecution endured over the past two thousand years is directly tied to that national spiritual trauma. Where others see numerous isolated happenings, we must sense an unfolding of a single catastrophe and its indefinite consequences. Each oppressor, from Rome to Russia, Spain to Germany, perpetuated that dreadful ruin. They are all continuations of one original tragedy.
It was for this reason that several prominent Orthodox leaders were against designating a specific day for Holocaust remembrance. They felt deeply that Tisha Ba Av, the anniversary of the Temple's destruction, should be understood as all-encompassing when it came to commemorating national suffering. Whatever your position within that debate, its core message resounds for us all. The Jewish people are called to confront our fractured world through the prism of God's shattered house.
This nation has walked through a valley of shadows more times than we care to recall. And yet our spirit stands unwavering, our destination ever beckoning. Today, the Temple may lie in ruins. Yet the promise of its rebuilding remains. Ours is a past that lives, a future worth crying out for. While our trials endure, so too does the indomitable spirit of an eternal people.
Keep Pondering, and Have A Wonderful Week!
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People love dead Jews--Dara Horn.
This was absolutely brilliant!!! I'm going to post it everywhere!