Posted on 01/28/2004 8:23:21 AM PST by SJackson
The United States is basically the only country in the world that is more or less a firm supporter of Israel. However, the risk is simply too great that for whatever reasons and unpredictable future events, American support will diminish or evaporate. The survival of Israel can not and should not depend on only one country over the long term, however great this country is or might be in the future.
From the civilizational, cultural, and historic standpoint, Europe should have been the second strongest base of support for the Israeli cause; yet, we are witnessing the opposite picture there. While it had been a supporter of Israel for a period of time after World War II, under the strong impression left by the Holocaust, today this is no longer the case. It is now a widely known and rather sad fact that in most European countries, the attitudes of the political elite and the media are against Israel and Zionism, and in favor of Arabs in general and Palestinian Arabs in particular.
No doubt, 2,000 years of European anti-Semitism formed a strong undercurrent in the collective psychology of the population and it is not going to disappear in a historically short period of time. Changes of such magnitude may, and most likely will, take hundreds of years. However, since the Holocaust, these feelings have been subdued and even extinguished in some quarters of European society. Yet, in recent decades, the new tide of anti-Semitism has appeared and is spreading. There are several reasons why this is the case.
Europe has been undergoing dramatic changes since the Second World War and, regrettably, those changes may leave in their wake the ruins of European civilization itself. Demographically, Europe is firmly on a pass to suicide. The proportion of the indigenous European population is shrinking and hordes of Muslim and Arab immigrants are moving in. It follows then, that the huge infusion of non-European immigrants who are predominantly Muslim and/or Arab is the one obvious reason for the surge of anti-Semitism and the change in attitude toward Israel. Combined with alarmingly low birthrates in most European countries and high fertility rates of non-European immigrants, this, if allowed to continue unchecked, will turn Europe into a openly hostile force toward Jews and Israel within several decades.
The other not-so-obvious reason is the spread of socialist, left-wing, and especially multiculturalist agendas that undermine the traditional society based on family values, loyalty to one's country, nationality and ethnic heritage. This type of mentality is inherently hostile to any nationalist ideology such as Zionism. The very notion of a Jewish National Home is an anathema to the left-wing, multiculturalist thinking that strives to turn the whole world into one Socialist Village.
Sure, Islamic forces would be very happy to see the whole world turning into the Islamic Global Village, or Khalifat as they would love to call it. Curiously, the interests of Global Socialism and Global Islamism converge in this regard.
So, is there any hope then that this predicament for both Western Civilization and Israel may turn around? There appear to be some hints in this direction.
The recent series of elections in several European countries has shown the strengthening of political forces calling for firm restrictions on immigration or even a reversal of it. Unfortunately, these political movements tend to be considered by many, including major Jewish organizations, as detrimental to Jewish interests.
This is a good example of political thinking frozen in outmoded and historically outdated guidelines. True, in the past, hostility toward foreigners was normally associated with anti-Semitism. But this is no longer the case today in most countries. Yet, the major Jewish organizations in Europe continue to attack forces that do not have the Jews in their crosshairs.
Take for example the National Front in France. You have to be really paranoid if you want to find any substantial expression of anti-Semitism on the part of Jean-Marie Le Pen in his 2002 interview with Haaretz. (Haaretz, April 22, 2002) Sure, Le Pen is a French patriot whose loyalties lie only with the French people, and I am confident he does not feel any special sympathy toward the Jewish people. Does this alone make him an anti-Semite? Let's assume that he would keep his anti-Semitism to himself in that type of forum. Let's assume that he is an anti-Semite. The question then should be asked what kind of anti-Semite is he? Is he going to send French Jews to concentration camps upon becoming French President? That is not likely.
Are the consequences of his or his successor's rule going to be more detrimental to the interests of the Jewish people than that of Jacques Chirac?
Jewish organizations should, in my opinion, support nationalist political forces in all European countries, instead of attacking them. Nationalism is not a dirty word. In fact, the attempt to suppress legitimate national feelings may lead to extreme manifestations of it.
"Nationalism is fraught with dangers, of course, but so is the blind refusal to recognize that attachment to one's own culture, traditions, and history is a creative, normal, and healthy part of human experience. A democracy that stifles debate on such vital and difficult matters by means of speech codes, explicit or implicit, is asking for a genuinely fascist reaction." (Theodore Dalrymple, City Journal, 04/25/2002) No one could have said it better.
If the Jewish people are entitled to have a Jewish National Home, so are all other peoples so entitled, including the French people in France, the British people in Britain and even the German people in Germany. Support of the healthy, legitimate national aspirations of Europeans by Jewish organizations and individuals may actually help to reduce, if not eliminate, whatever anti-Semitic undercurrents have penetrated those movements.
And, generally speaking, is any non-Jew required to love Jewish people to be considered non-anti-Semitic? Am I, a Jew, required, for example, to love the people of Papua-New Guinea? And if I don't, should I be considered an anti-Papua-New Guinean? (By the way, I do wish the best to the people of Papua-New Guinea.)
It is no secret that predominantly left-wing governments and media in Europe have strong anti-Zionist and anti-Israel positions. The Left controls schools, media and academia, not to mention government bureaucracy. However, since 2001, left-wing governments have been defeated in several European countries. Even in France, where the political establishment is openly hostile to Israel, according to some polls, more French sympathize with the Israeli cause than with that of Palestinian Arabs (see, for instance www.adl.org). Here lies the hope that not everything is lost in Europe.
Strong nationalist movements are normally associated with Nazism in Germany. However, German Nazism was very much different from, for example, even Italian Fascism, and was the product of a particular German historical development. This is not to say that Italian Fascism was in any way attractive, but it is unlikely that a regime similar to Nazi Germany will evolve in Europe. History never repeats itself and if it does, as somebody noticed, it does as farce, not as tragedy.
There is no guarantee that the nationalist forces in some countries will not turn against the Jews and Israel, but there is the guarantee that Islamization and Arabization of Europe will turn it into a very hostile force. The choice is clear. The path with lesser risk should be taken.
It never was the Le Pens or the Pat Buchanans who posed a threat to Israel's existence as a Jewish State, it has always been the multi-cult leftists. The fact that the vast majority of American and European Jews are unable to grasp this concept will ultimately be Israel's undoing. The left will never come to accept the existence of an ethic-religious state like Israel no matter what the Israelis do to try and appease them.
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