And I thought we were friends

By Eric George Tauber

SAN DIEGO — I’ve known Sylvia for so long that I don’t remember how we met. We’ve done a few shows together and always greeted each other warmly whenever our paths crossed. So I was shocked and rather hurt by the following exchange.

I had posted an article on Facebook about the recent attack outside a synagogue in Buenos Aires. The attackers shouted, “Jews have to die!” as they beat a man to a pulp.
https://unitedwithisrael.org/jews-have-to-die-vicious-anti-semitic-assault-in-buenos-aires/

Sylvia doesn’t often reply to my posts, but she replied to this one with the following:
“This is horrible. I stand against this awful movement wholeheartedly… but I am also against the zionist movement and Israeli policies.”

It should be noted that the attack did not take place in Israel, but Argentina. The victim was not a soldier at a checkpoint but just an innocent man minding his own business. His only “crime” was being Judio (a Jew) at a synagogue. Israel is not mentioned even once in the article.

So why did Sylvia bring it up? Are all Jewish people culpable in the perceived injustices going on half a world away?

If we are truly appalled by something, we cannot say, “I condemn this, but…”

This would be like my saying:

I deplore the family separations of refugees seeking asylum, but I don’t want MS-13 in my country.

What have I done here? I have implied my consent to their awful treatment by equating those fleeing from violent criminals with violent criminals. And why not? The two sides look the same, sound the same and probably pray in the same church; so they’re the same, aren’t they?

Of course not. But every form of bigotry feels like righteous anger to the one wielding it.

Sylvia doesn’t hate our whole religion, just our ancestral homeland. You know, the one that has provided a safe haven for millions of our people when we were -more than once- turned into starving, traumatized refugees.

And she probably also condemns -just as “whole heartedly”- the calls for our complete annihilation made daily by Hamas, Hizbullah and Iran. At least, I assume that she does. She didn’t say.

Or maybe there’s a small part of her that feels like we have it coming.

(Sigh.)

And I thought we were friends.

*

Tauber is a freelance writer specializing in coverage of the arts. He may be contacted via eric.tauber@sdjewishworld.com