Those involved in recent Anti-Semitic protests were either the extremists themselves or those inspired by their propaganda. A relatively small group of people made a lot of noise and got the attention they wanted. Which many interpret as a rise in overall French Antisemitism. While I’m sure that there are pockets of Antisemitism left over from a long history of European Antisemitism – this rally shows me that things really have changed for the better since the Holocaust.
And yet Jews are leaving France in droves since those recent Antisemitic protests. Perhaps their abandoning France is premature. On the other hand, who can blame them? The fact is that Jews in France are witnessing a particularly venomous form of Antisemitism. Which these Jihadists have fomented. Having heard protesters scream, ‘Death to the Jews’ and ‘Jews: to the gas chamber’ as they did last summer… that does not inspire loyalty to France by its Jewish citizens. If the French want to stem that tide, they are going to have to do something to change that atmosphere. Maybe this rally is a first step.
What can we in the civilized world actually do about these Jihadists? Will this rally give the international community the will and determination to go beyond anything they have ever done before?
I’m not sure. My hope is that it will. Now more than ever the world should understand what the real problem is and focus more on it. As I recently indicated, this is about fighting an idea based on service to God that promotes even mass murder as a means of achieving what they believe is His will. Which in their minds is to set up a world in which Islam rules.
I thought that after 9/11 the world would realize that. But I was wrong. After 9/11 the world fought terrorism. Not the motivation behind it. Perhaps now, the world will finally realize that it isn’t terrorism that we should be fighting, but the beliefs that inspire it. And maybe – just maybe – the world will finally recognize what Israel is really up against and there too they will say, ‘Je Suis Juif’!