By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO – British journalist Melanie Phillips said the reaction of Jews in Europe to radical Muslims killing Jews in Paris and in Copenhagen is split into two major camps: there are those who are fearful and are considering moving to Israel or to other parts or the world, and those who live in insulated Jewish communities, where “they don’t see a problem, won’t see a problem, and they resent being told there is a problem.”
Phillips, addressing a meeting sponsored by the American Freedom Alliance at Congregation Beth Israel on Tuesday, Feb. 17, said among the group that is fearful, questions are asked such as “is this 1933 all over again?”—1933 being the year that Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany, later to begin the Holocaust. Furthermore, this group asks, “Is this the time for the Jews to leave Europe?”
Phillips, who used to write for The Guardian, a newspaper that represented progressive and leftist viewpoints, now writes for the Daily Mail, and pens guest columns for The Times of London as well as a variety of Israeli newspapers. She said that she had a painful divorce with the progressive community—a divorce, she later related, that was influenced by progressives being such ideologues that, once they accept an idea as being true, they will brook no facts that contradict their “truths”– whether these “truths” be environmentalism, multiculturalism, or blaming Israel for most of the problems besetting the Middle East.
The columnist said that notwithstanding some of the fearful rhetoric among Jews she does not believe this is the start of a new Holocaust, commenting that in 1933 through 1945, it was a government, under Hitler, which killed the Jews, whereas today the acts are committed by Muslim gunmen and are opposed by the government.
She suggested that Europeans had convinced themselves that anti-Semitism and dislike for Israel were two different phenomena, and thus were quite bewildered to learn that Jews were again being murdered in the heart of Europe, instead of “over there.” Perhaps, Phillips said, Europeans may recognize that Israel’s frequent demonization as a sower of evil in the Middle East not only is false, but has helped to precipitate the violence against Jews.
She said that anti-Jewish incidents, both verbal and physical, have reached record levels in the United Kingdom, “with Jewish people being abused in the street at a rate of more than one a day.” Last November, she said, the same day that four Jews worshipping in a Jerusalem synagogue were murdered by two Arab gunmen, there were 11 incidents against Jews in the United Kingdom.
Evidence of anti-Semitism in the United Kingdom is not confined to murder and violence, she said. It is not uncommon for British elitists to sneer that Jews control American foreign policy through their money, something that never would have been said in the first several decades after the Holocaust. It also is an accepted fact today that every single Jewish communal event requires guards to protect attendees from possible attacks, whereas in previous years this would not have been considered necessary. Jewish schools are like fortresses behind barbed wire, she said. Jewish school children are being taught self-defense to protect themselves against attack in the streets.
Phillips said the murderous attacks in Copenhagen and Paris have awakened Britain and other European countries to the fact that there truly is a problem of anti- Semitism in Europe, but as shocking as that is, Europeans do not want to lay the blame on Muslims, lest Europeans be accused of Islamophobia.
Her former newspaper, The Guardian, decrying the violence against Jews, said the Jews must be protected, but also so must the Muslims. However, Phillips said, this continued attempt at moral equivalence denies what is going on in Europe: ‘Jews don’t go murdering Muslims, Muslims murder Jews; let’s be blunt about it.” She hastened to add that she did not mean “all Muslims.”
Phillips laid a lot of the blame on the breakdown of moral values in European society. She suggested that the morality codes handed down from the Bible, which holds people responsible for their actions, has been replaced by one in which everyone is entitled to do what they like. Religion in Britain, she said, is generally looked down upon – whether that religion be Christianity, Judaism, or Islam. Young Muslims growing up in British society are chastised by anti-Western Muslims, and are recruited to volunteer with ISIS to purify their outlooks, she said.
The columnist rejects the argument made by President Barack Obama and others that ISIS, Boko Haram, Al Qaeda, and other groups have nothing to do with Islam, that they are just extremists hiding under the banner of religion. She said politicians go to great lengths to avoid acknowledging what they are up against, which is religious fanaticism. She contended the politicians know better, but take this “politically correct” line because they fear setting off riots either by Muslims or against them.
Nevertheless, she said, in Europe, politicians are coming to realize that left unattended the current situation eventually will lead to Jews leaving Europe, with Muslims replacing them.
Cosponsors of the speech by Phillips included the Zionist Organization of America and T.E.A.M (Training and Education About the Middle East.)
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. Your signed comment may be posted in the space below or sent to donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com