Even Al Arabiya, the Arabic satellite broadcaster partially owned by the Saudis, is noticing it - this time in France. There is a wave of antisemitic violence quite literally sweeping the world. There have been incidents and threats in Sydney and Melbourne, in Germany and Switzerland, in Belgium, the UK, Sweden and Denmark. In probably the darkest echo of Europe’s Nazi past, an Italian trade union has called for a boycott of Jewish - yes, Jewish - owned shops.
The demented logic here is that Jewish communities are legitimate targets for those thugs angered by Israel’s operation in Gaza. And I fear that we are becoming acclimatized to these antisemitic responses to events in the Middle East, seeing them as inevitable and, for the time being, manageable.
In other words, antisemitic violence has ceased to shock. Many are the scholars and pundits who argue that it’s Israel’s fault anyway - targetting defenseless Palestinians makes people, particularly “alienated and frustrated” Muslims, angry. They will consequently lash out at the nearest approximate Israeli target.
Like a synagogue or a school or a Jewish kid on a bus.
But transpose that argument into another setting for a moment. On Thursday, nine men in Senegal were were sentenced to eight years in prison under medieval, backward laws that criminalize homosexuality. The sentencing is a disgrace. It should be condemned from the rooftops. Protests outside Senegalese diplomatic missions would be entirely legitimate.
What else is permissible as a response? In New York, where I live, there is a sizable Senegalese community and a huge gay community. Part of 116th Street in Uptown Manhattan has become known as “Little Senegal,” because of the Senegalese stores, bakeries and restaurants which line it.
Now, imagine if gay community leaders in New York were to call for a boycott of these businesses, in protest at the Senegalese government’s homophobic persecution. Imagine if squads of gay rights activists were to descend on 116th Street, smashing windows, shouting anti-Senegalese slogans and burning Senegalese flags.
Not only would such actions rightly be condemned, they would be met with widespread disbelief. That sort of violence? In New York?
Yet exactly that sort of violence is starting to plague Jewish communities in other metropolitan centers. And slowly but surely, it’s becoming normalized. Some people condemn it; most people expect it.
I agree with you that the situation in Europe is a pretty ugly one (especially in Northern E.), however I wish to dismiss the hype you’re giving to a tradeunion call for a boycot of Jewish-owned shops in Rome. It’s a piece of news that’s quite overblown, & that gives a non-representative picture of what’s really happening here. First of all, that’s a union made up of a few hundred far-left-wing members, ignored by our big national unions (both right & left) covering millions of Italians. Second, in Italy there’s no perceivably real hint of an anti-semitic or anti-Israel sentiment: what you notice is the occasional crowd of protesting muslim gastarbeiters joined by a few hundred kefia-wearing Italian far left wingers: the same & usual sight we got accustomed to since years. Third: to my understanding & experience, we Italians are too busy coping with the present economic crisis & have little time & will to bother with foreign troubles; if thare’s a reaction from our man-in-street about what’s happening in Israel & Gaza, it’s a sense of deja-vu accompanied by dismay for the self-evident suffering on both side, and politically a large majority stance going from puzzled neutrality to open approval of Israel. And don’t take too much heed with our largely left-wing press gurus, with their vintage anti-American growlings…
When the pogroms come this time, all the polite liberals will pretend to be as shocked as they were in the 1930’s.