The outpouring of hate in the West is a continuation of a long tradition of blaming the Jews for everything—including their own misfortunes.
Reich Marshal Hermann Goering was the Minister of Economy in the Third Reich. There are records of a meeting he held with top insurance executives shortly after the Kristllnacht attacks of November, 1938. The large-scale destruction of homes and businesses led to enormous losses for the Jews. It was said that three years of Belgian glass production would be required to replace all of the windows shattered by the Brown Shirts and their civilian partners. During this meeting, the insurance representatives pointed out that the Jews had active policies, and as things stood, Germany’s insurance companies were on the hook for an enormous amount of money. Goering made a joke about his very large size when he told the worried executives that he would be a fairy angel and with the wave of his wand, he would charge the German Jewish community 1 billion reichsmarks to cover the damage “that they had created”. Jewish leaders protested vociferously about the new tax, but to no avail. The Jews were forced to cough up the billion marks and were left as the cause of their own suffering and destruction.
This national-level story fits well with that which my late father told me. Before his father and other Jewish World War I veterans of Forchheim were taken off to Dachau on 10 November, 1938, they were given brooms and wheelbarrows to clean up “the mess they had made” with the dynamited synagogue. The active bombing of the local synagogue by clearly identifiable SA Brown Shirts had now been converted into the destruction of a Jewish house of worship at the hands of the Jews themselves. After they cleaned up the area, the Jewish men were taken to Dachau, where my grandfather stayed until his release on 30 December, 1938 for the Iron Cross he possessed.
When one sees the massive protests in favor of Hamas and against Israel in London (100,000 people), Brooklyn (7,000 people), and in other big cities and on campuses throughout the US, he realizes that the age-old “blame the Jew for his problems” is alive and well. If one engages these terror supporters, they will tell you that the Israelis (=Jews) got exactly what they deserved. They are occupiers! But the pogrom took place in 1948 Israel and not in any disputed occupied territory. But in their eyes, all of Israel is an occupation, and thus anything done to any Israeli anywhere in the country is “resistance” in their demented parlance. Raping young girls? Cutting off baby heads? Tying up parents and setting them on fire in front of their children? As far as our modern social justice warrior and her Muslim boyfriend are concerned, it’s all fair. The Jews brought this upon themselves and they deserve it. There are no signs of mercy for over 200 people in Hamas captivity, some of them westerners. There is no inkling of pain in seeing young men and women mowed down in a music festival. Jew-hatred is all-immersive. And when they say “intifada from London to Gaza”, they are not looking just at the Jews. All non-Jews need to be dealt with, though they want to harm the Jews first.
The Jews being blamed for the evil brought upon them by others is not a new theme. The infamous blood libel of using the blood of non-Jewish children for making matzahs was passed down in Europe from generation to generation for hundreds of years. Jews were blamed for going meekly to the concentration camps at a time when no one had imagined such mass killing was possible. After the fact, everyone was suddenly a genius. Somehow the Jews were supposed to fight without knowledge of what was waiting for them, without weapons, and without support from other countries that did not want Jews to emigrate in their direction. Ever see the Ukrainians killing Jews alongside Wehrmacht soldiers? Obviously it was the Jews’ fault for being loyal Ukrainian citizens.
The fact that those on the left blame the Jews and Israel for the fighting in Gaza, for the necessary attacks against Hamas in civilian areas means that Israel cannot get a break. I am at a loss for the IDF spokesman going into detail about Hamas control centers under the main Gaza hospital. Some of the information came from Hamas 10/7 terrorists and their interrogation videos are publicly available. If the IDF put out the information to justify attacking the hospital, then I could understand. Hamas made a war crime of using the public hospital as its base, and Israel has no choice but to attack it. But rather, Israel simply announced how evil Hamas is and at least until this moment has done nothing to get rid of a glowing red military target. There are no bonus points in war for being right. Either you attack your enemy or you go home. If your enemy is under a hospital, then blow him up, hospital and all. If you can’t blow him up, then remove your soldiers and await the next massive attack on your citizens. Either fight to win or go home.
The reason why Israel is so petrified of attacking a clear military target is that they are still shellshocked from the International Criminal Court (ICC) at the Hague. Some warned at the time of the Nuremberg Trials that setting up a new “international law” was sketchy and would cause problems in the future. Fast-forward to today where the US, Israel and other Western countries are the ones usually hauled before the ICC for prosecuting wars normally. Somehow there is some expectation of perfect warfare and anything less is subject to prosecution. A stray tank shell? An airstrike that took out the target and a nearby school? Better get a lawyer. About ten years ago, Israeli politicians and top commanders were scared to go to England or Belgium, for fear of arrest and extradition to the Hague. One politician barely escaped being arrested in England. IDF officers also like to take vacations and are not interested in being stopped at European airports for doing their jobs.
While the left in the West is blaming Israel for the barbaric actions of Hamas, the latter is trying to run away from what it did. A Saudi journalist attacked a Hamas leader about the brutality of the murders and rapes; he claimed that it was non-Hamas people who did it, though videos show otherwise. Another Hamas spokesman was asked about the brutal murders, and he simply removed his microphone and walked out of the BBC studio. Somehow they thought that the filmed barbarity would win them new friends; instead, it got them thrown in with the Nazis and ISIS. So what does one do when he has behaved with such intense evil? He simply blames the Jews for what was done to them.