We welcome Howard Epstein to Israel Seen.
Howard Epstein – Paris Nov. 2015 A JEWISH/ISRAELI PERSPECTIVE
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
Pastor Martin Niemöller (1892–1984).[1]
A European Perspective
Niemöller made only one mistake: he should have begun with his reference to the Jews. The Europeans have been engaged in a thousand year war against the Jews. Further, according to Bat Yeor, for over 40 years it has been official European policy for Europe to promote Arab/Moslem interests and concomitantly to diminish those of Israel.
Failure to Respond Properly to Arab/Moslem Terrorism
There was never any European:-
- protest at the unacceptability of Arab terrorism – Sunni (Palestinian, as in the case of Munich September 1972) or Shia (as in the Iranian attack on a community centre in Argentina in 1994) – when the victims were only Israeli athletes and Jewish senior citizens – nor indeed after Ma’alot, 1974, when the murdered were Jewish/Israeli schoolchildren; or
- appreciation (despite the hijackings that have changed the face of air-travel forever) of how that Arab terrorism would expand, if left uncondemned and unchecked, to consume the wider western world. (Note: Israel is partly hated as a western entity, thrust like a dagger into the heart of the middle east.)
The failure to support the only democratic state in the middle-east (because it is the Jewish State) sowed the whirlwind.
[1] prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last seven years of Nazi rule in concentration camps.
The American Perspective
In the USA, quite apart from not recognising the bankruptcy of the European lack of response, after 9/11 Palestinian terrorism was distinguished from that of the perpetrators, on the basis that the Palestinians had a cause that justified their outrages.
WWII Timeline of Jewish Extermination
Post-Wansee (start-dates only):-
20 January 1942: Wansee conference.
17 March 1942: Establishment of Belzec extermination camp.
16 May 1942: Establishment of Sobibor extermination camp.
22 July 1942: Establishment of Treblinka extermination camp.
23 August 1942: Battle of Stalingrad.
4 July 1943: Battle of Kursk, followed by relentless German retreat across Europe.
15 May 1944: Deportation of Jews from Budapest to Auschwitz.
6 June 1944: Normandy Landings.
18 July 1944: Deportation of Jews from Rhodes to Auschwitz.
1944 to 1945: All extermination camps (especially, Auschwitz) working at full pelt.
Lesson: at the time when Nazi Germany entered its end-game, fighting US/UK forces from the West and Russian forces from the East, they stepped up their war against the Jews, diverting to it money, men and matériel, thus diluting their effort for German/Nazi survival.
The War against Israel and the Jews – Update
At a time when Europe is being swamped by migrants from Syria wishing to escape from the failed Arab/Moslem civilisation manifest in the Middle East, despite the terrorist attacks in Madrid (11 March 2004), London (7 July 2005), and Paris (7 January 2015), Europe continues to impose its version of the Jüde/yellow star, insisting that that the provenance of goods from Israel be marked out as such, the first step only being to identify those from the West Bank – part of the policy of the comprehensive delegitimisation of Israel.
Lesson: at a time when Europe should be recognizing the continuum from the terrorism (starting with that against the Jews) from Sunni Palestinians down Sunni ISIL in Paris, Friday, 13 November 2015, they are (in lock-step with Nazism) stepping up their war against the Jews. Their ultimate aim is to establish yet another Sunni Arab State (Palestine)
in what is already the most dangerous part of the world – and on the intended graves of those whose democracy has continued through almost seventy years of opprobrium and war.
Somnolent Europe will Sleep On
The whirlwind in Europe is being reaped before our eyes. Europe will not wake up before it is too late.
Post 9/11 USA Similarly Somnolent
The USA is not far behind. Witness its general intolerance (on university campuses, generally in society as to eg abortion) and its remoteness from Israel that enables US Jews to feel embarrassed at Israel’s determination not to roll over.
We thought we saw the face of the twenty-first century on 9/11/2001. The true face presented itself yesterday in Paris.
Israel – The Last Jewish Refuge
The USA will not accept 600,000 French Jews, or a material part of them, or 250,000 UK Jews, or a material part of them. Israel is the last Jewish refuge.
Howard Epstein, LLB, is an English commercial lawyer of some 45 years’ standing. He still practices international commercial litigation on several continents. As such, he is articulate and voluble.
Howard is also a staunch Zionist, having achieved aliyah in September 2005, after a lifetime as “an armchair Zionist”. His parents met at a Habonim function and he was raised with Zionism on a daily basis. He is well-read, knowledgeable and opinionated about Jewish and Israeli history and current affairs.
H D Epstein – December 2015
Howard Epstein – Paris Nov. 2015 A JEWISH/ISRAELI PERSPECTIVE
