Jack Cohen: During the hundreds of years that the Jewish minority was persecuted throughout Europe by many Christian tribes (the Germans, Czechs, Hungarians, Latvians, French, etc.), the Jews were accused of not being patriotic enough to the particular tribe that they lived amongst. And it was probably true, the Jews were not invested in any particular geographic area of Europe that had been claimed by other tribes (for example the Germans and the Hungarians, who came from the east and decided that they liked that particular area that they then called Germany, Hungary, etc.).
Jack Cohen
In effect the Jews were pan-Europeans before it was fashionable to be. But, a burst of super-nationalism, dated from the Dreyfus case (1894-1906), when most Frenchmen (supposedly secular) were predisposed to assume the guilt of an innocent Jew, led to the founder of political Zionism, Theodor Herzl, to foresee that the only solution to the “Jewish problem,” i.e the physical survival of the Jewish people, was Zionism, a return of the Jews to their ancestral homeland.
But, to some extent this solution has boomeranged (to use an Australian idiom). Although some of the Arab leaders were initially well-disposed to see the Jews return to their homeland (for example Sheikh Feisal), in time most of the Arabs became very hostile to the Zionist endevor. So while Israel continues to grow and develop, both in terms of population and economy, the Arabs have spent the better part of 100 years putting all their energies into fighting Israel. Now when Israel fights back and defends itself, the large minority of Muslims in Europe attack the Jewish minority, as if they were responsible for Israel’s actions. Of course, these rioters are supported by a large minority of liberal-leftists who find all Jewish killing of their enemies as reprehensible (remember that the Gazans voted for Hamas and have supported them). But, to whom do this Muslim minority show loyalty, certainly not to the individual countries in which they live, but rather to the greater Islamic nation, or to be more accurate to the Islamic State, the Caliphate that all Sunni Muslims are required to support.
The Islamic State already proclaimed on the ruins of Syria and Iraq, is growing daily. In capturing towns and regions of former Iraq and Syria, the IS (formerly known as ISIS) are brutal. They decapitated 50 out of ca. 200 Iraqi soldiers that they captured, and stuck their heads on spikes around the town to intimidate opponents. This is medieval and primitive, but it is effective. It is also out of western camera range, so the western media are feeding off the death of a few children in Gaza. The IS are also forcibly converting Chistians to Islam under threat of death and are massacring the Yazidis, 700 yesterday. So remember this, while your best and brightest are rioting about the few children unintentionally killed by Israel’s defensive actions in Gaza, a powerful anti-European Muslim force, that is allied to Hamas, is gathering strength in the heart of the Middle East. It is now not only threatening Syria and Iraq, but also Lebanon and Jordan. As it goes it is gathering steam, it has more converts among the Sunni minority in Iraq, who strongly resent the power of the Shia, and it is expanding and using the money and oil that it has conquered. Hundreds of your Muslim citizens are there being trained for the big war against you. When your country is being devastated by a wave of Islamic terrorism, don’t expect our sympathy, our sympathy will go to the children you might kill in defending yourselves.
Jack Cohen
Jack Cohen, Netanya, Israel
Kerry’s About Turn: Jack Cohen Born in London, UK, lived in suburban Washington DC area for 30 years, moved to Israel in 1996. He has a web site: Comment From Israel
Jack Cohen: During the hundreds of years that the Jewish minority was persecuted throughout Europe by many Christian tribes (the Germans, Czechs, Hungarians, Latvians, French, etc.), the Jews were accused of not being patriotic enough to the particular tribe that they lived amongst. And it was probably true, the Jews were not invested in any particular geographic area of Europe that had been claimed by other tribes (for example the Germans and the Hungarians, who came from the east and decided that they liked that particular area that they then called Germany, Hungary, etc.).
Jack Cohen, Netanya, Israel
