There appears to be a lot of consternation about the Jewish treatment by some in America given the Hamas episode and the ongoing Israeli sweep in Gaza. Some of the reaction against Jews is being amplified by the Trump administration and some is very genuine and speaks to the safety of that community especially on college campuses.
Harvard University in particular has been punished by President Trump for what the administration call antisemitism on campus. As a consequence, billions of federal dollars have been taken away from its research agenda.
I have my doubts about the Trump administration’s Jewish partisanship on the matter since the President went on record during his first term in some way defending the Neo-Nazi, Neo-Fascists, Klansman, Neo-Confederates and far-right militias that attacked Jews in the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia on August 11-12, 2017.
It seems that the reason for the government leaders defending Jews this time has more to do with the fact that the demonstrations have more of a pro-Palestinian slant.
It is true that the Palestinians have lived 78 years of bitter discontent and failure. Their stateless condition makes them the intruders and villains in the Holy Land as well as the wards of their brethren that are the Arab communities and nations nearby.
My question is can Israel and the Jewish community be both perpetrators and victims at the same time? The question comes because there are elements in Israel’s behavior that tends toward committing violence and dispossessing others in the same way that it was done to them.
The Jewish community in the United States has been portrayed as victims of discrimination because they are Jews. This historical fact is also supported by documentation regarding other parts of the world including the rise to genocidal inhumanity under the Nazi regime in Germany.
Jewish victimization continued after its independence as the Palestinians and surrounding Arab states tried several times to eliminate it from the map.
With the help, especially of the United States and other European States, Israel has won every one of those confrontations. Peace through strength has worked and will continue to be the case as long as Israel is recognized by its neighbors as an important Middle Eastern power.
However, the 21st Century has seen Israel move to take Palestinian territory for its own. It has incrementally built Jewish settlements in West bank lands belonging to others and enforced the takeover through violence.
Also, while the Gazans deserve to reap destruction for following Hamas, there is something more sinister that appears to be going on. Instead of just taking the strip, occupying it and establishing law and order, the Israelis seem content to use Gaza as a shooting gallery.
This is exactly what happened to the Jewish Warsaw Ghetto toward the end of World War II. Thinking the Russians were coming and freedom was at hand, the Jewish ghetto militants rose up in arms and began to fight.
Although the Russian Army was nearby, their political leadership decided not to send in the troops. It was convenient for them to have the Germans destroy the Ghetto for a variety of reason.
Like Gaza today, it was a carnival of death that reduced a community to a pile of bodies. That is what I am beginning to see.
So, the question is, if the State of Israel is a perpetrator, can the Jews elsewhere claim victimhood? Is there a difference between Israel and the Jewish homeland and its people around the world?
The views expressed by David Conde are not necessarily the views of LaVozColorado. Comments and responses may be directed to News@lavozcolorado.com.
