(National Post-Canada) Father Raymond J. de Souza - The alarming antisemitic outbursts after the Hamas attacks on Israel on Oct. 7 - when one might have expected expressions of solidarity with Israel and the Jewish people - deserve further exploration. Down through the ages, if the Jewish people were weak, they were despised for being weak, or thought to be deserving of whatever insults could be added to injury. But if they became strong or successful, they are resented as such. The horrors of the Holocaust meant that there was a moral imperative to do something to protect Jews from such a calamity again. The key part of that something was the modern State of Israel, where every Jew would have a secure place to live in the world. Israelis still understand themselves as a small nation, fighting for survival in a vast region of hostile powers. If Israel were to become weak, would it then "earn" the sympathy of the Ivy League and the General Assembly? Unlikely. The perniciousness of antisemitism is such that it may be thought that the Jews got what was coming to them.
2023-12-18 00:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive