One of the most important lessons everyone should have learned from this now 15-month war with Hamas is that when it ends, the rampant antisemitism and Israel-bashing that was presumably unleashed by our defensive war will not end. While the world may choose to believe that this was caused by our conduct of the war, the facts prove otherwise.
The invasion of Israel by Hamas began on Shabbat morning, October 7, 2023, at approximately 6:30 a.m., with the launch of over 5,000 rockets into Israel in a span of 20 minutes. This act and Hamas’s concomitant ground invasion caused the death of over 1,200 innocent Israelis (along with some other nationalities as well), the taking of over 250 hostages, and the devastation of multiple communities on Israel’s southern border with Gaza.
The very next day, while Israel was still trying to eliminate the presence of the remaining Hamas terrorists in the South and well before Israel responded militarily, there were anti-Israel demonstrations in New York and other locations that placed the blame for the attack on Israel and criticized its military actions even before any response had been implemented.
However, these demonstrations were not simply random gatherings of people who wanted to vent their feelings. They were well-organized, preplanned events, waiting for an excuse to “push the button.”
How else to explain the mobilization of tens of thousands of people in less than 24 hours? How else to explain the thousands of preprinted anti-Israel signs made available for the demonstrators to carry, along with blankets and tents for their pop-up encampments?
And how else to explain the cadre of well-trained professional organizers who were reportedly paid thousands of dollars a day to work the crowds into a frenzy using amplification equipment that was also miraculously at the ready?
Like wildfire, the anger spread to college campuses, large companies doing business with Israel, and locations worldwide – in Canada, the UK, France, Australia, and other places. Looking further into these demonstrations, indicators began to appear signifying a wider objective than straightforward antisemitism or virulent Israel-bashing.
At many of these events, calls were heard to “globalize the intifada,” urging people to revolt against the status quo in every (Western?) country. The recent pogrom in Amsterdam, for example, where antisemites went through the streets on a “Jew hunt,” found the demonstrators chanting this intifada refrain.
At Columbia University in New York and at UCLA in Los Angeles, demonstrators were burning American flags and yelling, “Down with Israel, down with America.” Clearly their anger was directed at a wider audience than just Jews or Israel.
Two recent incidents in the United States – the killing of 14 people in New Orleans by a US Army veteran who identified with ISIS and the self-immolation in an exploding Tesla outside the Trump Hotel in Las Vegas, also by a US Army veteran – were found to have no connection to Jews or Israel. They were simply part of an attempt to “take down the West” and create a sense of fear in a country with democratic values.
WE DARE not be blind to the truth. Iran, the biggest supporter of global terrorism, calls Israel the little Satan but calls America the big Satan. Analysts understand that “America” refers to the West and not just the United States.
The welcome acceptance of Iran by other autocracies worldwide – such as Russia, China, North Korea, and Hungary – should be a wakeup call to the Western democratic world that what we have seen over the last 15 months is not simply anger at Israel or overt antisemitism. It is all of that for sure, but it is so much more as well.
The events of the last 15 months have permitted antisemitism and Israel-bashing to become mainstream. We are a long way from 2010 when former French diplomat Daniel Bernard referred to Israel as “that sh**ty little country” and was called on the carpet for it. In the 14 years since he made that comment at a dinner party in London, such remarks have become commonplace. If he were to utter that phrase today, it would not even make the last line in the society column of any newspaper.
The determination to destroy Western culture
The autocracies of the world are determined to destroy Western culture, which they see as threatening their way of life and their power. Sad to say, at the moment they seem to be ascending, while the West seems to be on the downside of the curve.
As always, Jews are just the canary in the coal mine. The saying that what starts with the Jews does not end with the Jews is no less accurate today than it has ever been.
We lost six million of our brethren in World War II, and that was a tragic loss for the Jewish people. But between 50-55 million people died during that war, which was fought to salvage the freedoms associated with democracy. It may have started in 1933 with the passing of anti-Jewish legislation, but when it was all over, we were, as always, just the canary in the coal mine.
Hopefully soon, our war with Hamas will end and the hostages will return (sadly, many of them will be returned as dead bodies), but the antisemitism and Israel-bashing will not stop. It is simply a symptom of a larger battle that the West does not seem to have the gumption to fight.
The West needs to heed the words of Winston Churchill, who said at the height of the Blitz: “Never give in. Never give in. Never, never, never, never – in nothing, great or small, large or petty – never give in, except to convictions of honor and good sense. Never yield to force. Never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy.”
Woe to those Western governments that choose to ignore this maxim.
The writer has lived in Israel for 41 years, is founder and chair of Atid EDI Ltd., an international business development consultancy. He is also the founder and chair of the American State Offices Association, former national president of the Association of Americans and Canadians in Israel, and a past chairperson of the board of the Pardes Institute of Jewish Studies.