The End of the Hangover & The Rise of Antisemitism

60,000 marching in Warsaw calling for a “Jew free” Poland, ironic really, when you think that today there are around 8000 Jews living in Poland as opposed to around 3 million before WW2, most of whom died in the Holocaust, along with the Anti-Semitic chants, not to mention racist and jingoistic banners, including one praying for a “Muslim Holocaust”… well it got me thinking.

Europe is finally getting over its hangover.  Its head is clearing.

A little over seventy years ago, hundreds, nay thousands of years of Jew hatred culminated in the industrialised slaughter and murder of millions of innocents in an attempt to finally rid the world of its Jews. The holocaust was an irrational, hate fuelled, drunken frenzy, an anti-Semitic binge which left Europe with a terrible hangover, the mother of all hangovers, not to mention 6 million less Jews.

Perhaps not surprisingly, this hangover was so severe, it led to a change in behaviour, a change in habits.  Jew hatred, not to mention Jew killing, had driven Europe to madness and was no longer acceptable.  Such behaviour would no longer be tolerated, well at least, not openly.  For decades, racked with guilt and a sense of shame, Europe chose to mend its ways and learn to live with its Jews, well those that were left.  It even supported the establishment of an independent state for the Jews, in their historical homeland.

Although on the surface, things appeared to have changed, in reality the oldest hatred, the irrational loathing for and obsession with the Jews never really went away.  Sure, the hangover persisted, where it held back overt Jew baiting, as well as openly anti-Semitic speech and behaviour.

But, the Jews of Britain, for instance, where I was born; had to set up their own golf clubs and even a whole football league, as they were barred from a raft of social and sporting clubs, facilities and institutions on the basis of their religion.  The situation was no better in Europe, with discrimination throughout the continent, albeit latent and whispered, as anti-Semitism simmered under the surface for decades.

Apparently Europe likes its Jews as victims. It bokes at the thought of strong independent Jews with the ability to defend themselves.   Most of Europe never expected Israel to survive its wars. Then came Israel’s overwhelming victory in the 1967 six day war.

Conveniently, for the anti-Semites, newly recovered from their decades long hangover, that “shitty little country ”as Israel was infamously referred to by a European diplomat, at a dinner party for the “great and the good”, succeeded in vanquishing its enemies, firmly establishing its security and ensuring its survival.  How dare they?

As the symptoms of the aftermath of excess faded, Israel became a convenient vehicle through which to voice anti-Semitic opinion in the guise of anti-Zionism, perfectly acceptable in polite society and now particularly encouraged among so called progressives.

Using Israel as its proverbial punch bag and Zionism as a substitute for Judaism, Europe is up for another round, where the simmering has risen to boiling, where, the hatred of Zionism, the new guise of anti-Semitism, has become not only socially acceptable but positively chic.

Today, Europe is off the wagon.  It has forgotten its hangover.  It has shed any pretence or the need to hide its true nature, when it comes to Jews.

Once again Jews are being murdered on the streets of Europe, Jews are being intimidated and victimised in places of learning.  One can see, hear and read anti-Semitic rhetoric and incitement almost anywhere.  The old conspiracy theories are dressed up anew and circulated widely.

Anti-Israel demonstrations throughout Europe, feature flags and symbols, along with chants in support of organisations like Hezbollah and Hamas, both vehemently anti-Semitic and dedicated to the slaughter of Jews, “wherever they may be”.  Some now promote Holocaust denial as legitimate historical debate.  The State of Israel is demonised and delegitimised.  The very existence of the Jewish state is brought into question and the erroneous comparison of Israel/Jews with Nazis is today common place, particularly and ironically on the left of the political map. 

In Holland recently, according to public prosecutors, calling Israeli children “Zionist terrorists in training” and “future child murderers and occupiers” does not constitute incitement to hate.  I wonder if similar comments about Muslim children would be received in a similar vein.

The British Labour Party steadfastly refuses to act decisively in regard to the plethora of anti-Semitism in its ranks.  Its leader is a long-time opponent of the Jewish state, not in and of itself anti-Semitic, I grant you… However, he does see fit to share platforms with Holocaust deniers, terror sympathisers and outright anti Semites. Just saying...

The added dimension of Islamic anti- Semitism in the European mix is creating a powerful and intoxicating cocktail of hatred.   And, like an addict reverting to bad habits, Europe partakes of this toxic mix at its peril.

For as we know anti-Semitism never stops with the Jews.  It’s a barometer and perhaps an inverse indicator of the health of wider society.  Its rise bodes ill indeed.

One can only wonder in dismay at the consequences that await, and indeed the new hangover which will surely come to pass.