I just returned from Hamburg Germany after attending ISC24. Hamburg is a beautiful city. The people are wonderful, and they even tolerated my rather terrible Deutsch Sprache. When I visited Vienna about 17 years ago, the people would immediately switch to English once they heard me speak. Go figure.
ISC24 was held in a nice conference facility, and there was air conditioning (take that Frankfurt!) in the building. To get from our hotel Elysee to the conference center CCH, we had a number of possible paths. Seeing that I want to maximize the number of steps I take per day (part of my self therapy for the spinal surgery last year, doc advised me that the best thing for me was walking post surgery), I chose the slightly longer route through Dammtor train station.
The first time I followed that route, I came across a sculpture. This one in particular.
There is a sign on the statue
For those who don't know what the kindertransport was, have a look at the wikipedia article. The short version is that it was an attempt to rescue jewish children from the (then) presumed (prescient) horrors of what was to come in Europe.
This was around the same time (roughly) as the Evian Conference, in which the nations of the world decided that no quarter was to be given to jewish refugees anywhere in the world. Anywhere.
Again, the horrors to come would completely validate the work that Theodor Herzl started to push for a state for jewish people in the jewish homeland within the region known as Palestine. Judea and Samaria (literally the original homelands of the jews), continuously if sparsely populated for thousands of years by the jewish people, conquered by many empires that have come and gone, was the focus of founding a modern progressive country. Where jewish people could be safe from predatory governments. And they could defend themselves. That is literally what zionism is BTW. It is not an epithet, it is self-determination within our historical homeland, with millennia of continuous existence within its bounds.
So, why I am telling you this.
There has been an explosion of antisemitism across the world, on the same day that the hamas terror group, funded by a terror regime, attempted and in part, achieved the start of yet another genocide of jewish people living in the modern state of Israel. They did this by invading, capturing, raping, killing in the most gruesome ways possible, completely innocent people. In fact those that they kidnapped, raped, and killed were, by all accounts mostly pushing for peace with the subjects of the terror group's government. Elected. Once. By the residents of that enclave.
This explosion of antisemitism seems to have been a simple unmasking of existing hatred of jews. That it occurred BEFORE any response to the war that the terror group launched, with professionally printed signage, many flags, etc. seems to suggest it was coordinated and funded long before. Evidence continues to percolate to the surface, though ignored by "news" organizations seeking to support a narrative rather than, I dunno, actually report?
That is an aside. I am getting to my points.
Since the 7th of October 2023, we have seen an explosion of protests, marches, violence and aggression towards jews, jewish institutions, jewish owned businesses. We have seen member of the US government do their level best to accuse jews of being "pro-genocide", or accuse the single jewish state of "genocide" or "apartheid". We've seen members of one party in particular either make terrible claims not backed up by any evidence, and explicitly countered by all observable evidence, do their level best to use antisemitic tropes without restriction or consequence in their public statements. We've seen this party as a whole not immediately expel these idiots, as they would lose power they currently hold.
Towards these ends, we see massive, synchronized rallies at "elite" universities
all with the same tents, printed signs, same MO, all demanding a "cease fire", or disinvestment, claiming jewish control of government, media, banks, etc.
That is, their arguments are literally well known antisemitic tropes. They are relying upon their antisemitism to make an argument for their ... antisemitism.
They run through the streets attacking visibly jewish people, for who they are. They destroy and deface jewish owned or associated property, because, you know, this will somehow impact a war that Israel didn't start, but will finish.
There is a term for all the people caught up in this. I'll talk about that later.
There are encampments. There are protests through the streets. There is violence at these protests.
The situation reminds many jews of the situation in europe in the late 1930s, when Kristallnacht happened. It reminds us that we live where we do by the forbearance of others. Who really, really don't like us. And never have. And never will.
We know what happens next. The difference is we now have somewhere to go, a place to escape to if we need. For jews in Europe, maybe its getting close to time to do so. For jews in the US, I am thankful for the second amendment.
Back to Hamburg.
During the walk to the train station, just outside the hotel is an encampment in a park. A large set of signs, and people gathered.
Its a democracy, they have every right to gather. To protest. To express their opinion.
They are a mere 300 meters away from that statue. That statue that shows the endpoint of the hateful journey they have embarked upon.
In the 1930s, there were about 16-18M jewish people globally. In 2024, there are about 15.4M. In the 1948s, there were about 0.6M (+/- some as census data doesn't really exist for that time as far as I know) arabic people in the newly founded state of Israel. In 2024, there are about 2M. One of these is the result of a genocide. One of these is a result of a democratic state.
The people pushing the lies of genocide and apartheid are, simply, useful idiots of those who seek to delegitimize and dehumanize Israel and jewish people. They brand a response to a hostile irrational actor, the terror group funded by the terrorist regime, as terror. They brand regrettable civilian deaths as "genocide". They demand a "cease fire", which, they sometimes specifically state that they want Israel to cease firing, as all "resistance" is "legitimate".
There are some, otherwise, very smart people in this useful idiot category. People whom I used to respect. Who I no longer do. People who do not have sufficient common sense to understand that the missiles on the right hand side represent a war crime of specifically targeting civilians, children in particular, while the defensive launches on the left are specifically to defend children and civilians.
https://ichef.bbci.co.uk/news/976/cpsprodpb/B64F/production/_118517664_gettyimages-1232873479.jpg
If you don't have the moral clarity to understand the difference between defense against a war imposed upon you, and the side that started it (currently losing badly, nearing complete destruction), I really don't want you in my life.
War is hell. I feel terrible for innocent people caught up in this in gaza. That noted, the videos from 7-October-2023 talk to the "innocence". I still do not wish destruction on them, though the denazification program needed to repair that society may be beyond anyone's capabilities.
The response to a declared war is to push back upon the enemy so hard that they eventually capitulate and give up their demands, or are utterly destroyed. Attacking coreligionists of one side of the conflict globally, intending to induce fear, is doing the exact opposite.
Should we attack people of Russian extraction for what Russia is doing in Ukraine? No.
Similarly for other conflicts.
Yet it is ok to attack jews.
And bring us back to the precipice of 1938 Europe.
Should we protest the real genocides going on in the world, or just the fabricated one in gaza?
Passing that statue evoked some very strong feelings in me.
So did the protest I saw walking down the street with drums, keffiyah clad protestors conflating Israel and Zionism with Naziism. The politzei were out in force, blocking streets, keeping peace. No counter protestors. Just shaking of heads.
Germans I spoke with were wonderful. Warm people. The protestors did not seem to be German.
The protests proximity to the kindertransport statue disrespected the memory of that terrible time, and evokes thoughts of real horrors to come.
George Santayana and Winston Churchill wrote words about not understanding the past dooms you to repeat it. The Evian conference, the kindertransport, etc. should never be repeated.
Never again.
The protests, the chants demanding jews lay down arms and accept total destruction ... when they respond to the horrors that others attempt to wage against us, globally ... yeah, that's not gonna happen.
Am Yisrael Chai.