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Down and Out in Paris and London
The Oxford Circus station in London’s Underground metro. Photo: Pixabay
JNS.org – In my previous column, I wrote about the rape of a 12-year-old Jewish girl in Paris at the hands of three boys just one year older than her, who showered her with antisemitic abuse as they carried out an act of violation reminiscent of the worst excesses of the Oct. 7 Hamas pogrom in southern Israel. This week, my peg is another act of violence—one less horrifying and less traumatic, but which similarly suggests that the writing may be on the wall for the Jews in much of Europe.
Last week, a group of young Jewish boys who attend London’s well-regarded Hasmonean School was assaulted by a gang of antisemitic thugs. The attack occurred at Belsize Park tube station on the London Underground, in a neighborhood with a similar demographic and sensibility to New York’s Upper West Side, insofar as it is home to a large, long-established Jewish population with shops, cafes and synagogues serving that community. According to the mother of one of the Jewish boys, an 11-year-old, the gang “ran ahead of my son and kicked one of his friends to the ground. They were trying to push another kid onto the tracks. They got him as far the yellow line.” When the woman’s son bravely tried to intervene to protect his friends, he was chased down and elbowed in the face, dislodging a tooth. “Get out of the city, Jew!” the gang told him.
Since the attack, her son has had trouble sleeping. “My son is very shaken. He couldn’t sleep last night. He said ‘It’s not fair. Why do they do this to us?’” she disclosed. “We love this country,” she added, “and we participate and we contribute, but now we’re being singled out in exactly the same way as Jews were singled out in 1936 in Berlin. And for the first time in my life. I am terrified of using the tube. What’s going on?”
The woman and her family may not be in London long enough to find out. According to The Jewish Chronicle, they are thinking of “fleeing” Britain—not a verb we’d hoped to encounter again in a Jewish context after the mass murder we experienced during the previous century. But here we are.
When I was a schoolboy in London, I had a history teacher who always told us that no two situations are exactly alike. “Comparisons are odious, boys,” he would repeatedly tell the class. That was an insight I took to heart, and I still believe it to be true. There are structural reasons that explain why the 2020s are different from the 1930s in significant ways. For one thing, European societies are more affluent and better equipped to deal with social conflicts and economic strife than they were a century ago. Laws, too, are more explicit in the protections they offer to minorities, and more punishing of hate crimes and hate speech. Perhaps most importantly, there is a Jewish state barely 80 years old which all Jews can make their home if they so desire.
Therein lies the rub, however. Since 1948, Israel has allowed Jews inside and outside the Jewish state to hold their heads high and to feel as though they are a partner in the system of international relations, rather than a vulnerable, subjugated group at the mercy of the states where we lived as an often hated minority. Israel’s existence is the jewel in the crown of Jewish emancipation, sealing what we believed to be our new status, in which we are treated as equals, and where the antisemitism that plagued our grandparents and great-grandparents has become taboo.
If Israel represents the greatest achievement of the Jewish people in at least 100 years, small wonder that it has become the main target of today’s reconstituted antisemites. And if one thing has been clear since the atrocities by Hamas on Oct. 7, it’s that Israel’s existence is not something that Jews—with the exception of that small minority of anti-Zionists who do the bidding of the antisemites and who echo their ignorance and bigotry—are willing to compromise on. What’s changed is that it is increasingly difficult for Jews to remain in the countries where they live and express their Zionist sympathies at the same time. We are being attacked because of these sympathies on social media, at demonstrations and increasingly in the streets by people with no moral compass, who regard our children as legitimate targets. Hence, it’s hard to avoid the conclusion that while the 2020s may not be the 1930s, they certainly feel like the 1930s.
And so the age-old question returns: Should Jews, especially those in Europe, where they confront the pincer movement of burgeoning Muslim populations and a resurgent far-left in thrall to the Palestinian cause, stay where they are, or should they up sticks and move to Israel? Should we be thinking, given the surge in antisemitism of the past few months, of giving up on America as well? I used to have a clear view of all this. Aliyah is the noblest of Zionist goals and should be encouraged, but I always resisted the notion that every Jew should live in Israel—firstly, because a strong Israel needs vocal, confident Diaspora communities that can advocate for it in the corridors of power; and secondly, because moving to Israel should ideally be a positive act motivated by love, not a negative act propelled by fear.
My view these days isn’t as clear as it was. I still believe that a strong Israel needs a strong Diaspora, and I think it’s far too early to give up on the United States—a country where Jews have flourished as they never did elsewhere in the Diaspora. Yet the situation in Europe increasingly reminds me of the observation of the Russian Zionist Leo Pinsker in “Autoemancipation,” a doom-laden essay he wrote in 1882, during another dark period of Jewish history: “We should not persuade ourselves that humanity and enlightenment will ever be radical remedies for the malady of our people.” The antisemitism we are dealing with now presents itself as “enlightened,” based on boundless sympathy for an Arab nation allegedly dispossessed by Jewish colonists. When our children are victimized by it, this antisemitism ceases to be a merely intellectual challenge, and becomes a matter of life and death. As Jews and as human beings, we are obliged to choose life—which, in the final analysis, when nuance disappears and terror stalks us, means Israel.
The post Down and Out in Paris and London first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Three Israeli Hostages, Including Dual US and French Citizens, Set for Release in Gaza on Saturday
A view of a banner depicting Keith Siegel, who is a dual US citizen seized during the Oct. 7 attack on Israel and taken hostage into Gaza, amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, is seen with other images of hostages in Tel Aviv, Israel, April 28, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton
Hamas said on Friday it would free the father of the youngest hostages seized in its Oct. 7, 2023 attack on Israel and two others including a dual US citizen and a dual French citizen in the next exchange of Gaza hostages for Palestinian prisoners.
Yarden Bibas, Keith Siegel, and Ofer Kalderon will be handed over on Saturday, said Abu Obeida, spokesperson for the armed wing of the Palestinian terrorist group, in a post on his Telegram channel.
The Israeli Prime Minister’s Office confirmed on Friday that Jerusalem has received the names of the three hostages who are set to be released from captivity in Gaza under the Israel-Hamas ceasefire.
“A detailed response will be provided after reviewing the list and updating families,” Netanyahu’s office said.
Yarden Bibas is the father of baby Kfir, only nine months old when he was kidnapped, and Ariel, who was four at the time of the cross-border attack.
There was no word on the fate of Kfir and Ariel, or on their mother Shiri, who was taken at the same time. Hamas said in late 2023 that they had been killed by Israeli bombardment, in the early months of the Gaza war.
Video of their capture began circulating soon after they were seized. It showed a terrified Shiri clutching her small children in a blanket as they were bundled into captivity surrounded by terrorist assailants.
The father, Yarden, 34 at the time of the attack, was also abducted and a clip circulated showing him bleeding from a head injury suffered from hammer blows.
Israeli-American Keith Siegel, who was taken hostage with his wife Aviva, was seen in a video released by Hamas last year. His wife was released in the first hostage-for-prisoner exchange in November 2023.
Ofer Kalderon’s two children Erez and Sahar, abducted alongside him, were also freed in the first exchange. The joint French–Israeli national’s family said they were waiting with “immense joy mixed with paralyzing anguish” for his release.
On Thursday, Hamas freed three Israeli and five Thai hostages in Gaza while Israel freed 110 Palestinian prisoners after delaying the process in anger at the swarming crowds engulfing one of the hostage handover points.
Under the ceasefire deal that halted more than 15 months of fighting, 33 hostages held by Palestinian terrorists in Gaza are to be freed in the first six weeks of the truce in exchange for hundreds of Palestinian prisoners, many of whom have been serving life sentences in Israel for terrorist activities.
Fifteen hostages, including the five Thai workers, and 400 prisoners have so far been exchanged, and Hamas has told Israel that eight of the 33 are now dead. Ninety Palestinian prisoners, including nine serving life sentences and 81 serving long-term sentences, are to be swapped for the three Israelis on Saturday, Hamas’s prisoner information office said.
Netanyahu has drawn criticism in Israel for not having sealed a hostage deal earlier in the war after the security failure that enabled Hamas-led Palestinian terrorists to burst across the border and storm nearby Israeli communities.
But there has also been opposition to the current deal, which some critics in Israel have said leaves the fate of most of the hostages in the balance and Hamas still standing as Gaza‘s dominant entity, despite months of warfare and the death of its Gaza leader Yahya Sinwar.
The truce has enabled a surge in international humanitarian aid to Gaza civilians amid dire supply shortages.
Hamas-led terrorists started the war with their surprise invasion of and massacre across southern Israel on Oct. 7, 2023. Around 1,200 people were killed and more than 250 hostages were abducted in the attack in Israel, the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust.
Israel responded with a military campaign aimed at freeing the hostages and dismantling Hamas’s military and governing capabilities in neighboring Gaza.
Around half the hostages were released in November 2023 during the only previous truce, and others have been recovered dead or alive during Israel’s military campaign in Gaza.
More talks on the implementation of the second stage of the deal, due to begin by Feb. 4, are meant to open the way to the release of over 60 other hostages, including men of military age, and a full Israeli military withdrawal from Gaza.
If that succeeds, a formal end to the war could follow along with talks on the mammoth challenge of reconstructing Gaza.
The post Three Israeli Hostages, Including Dual US and French Citizens, Set for Release in Gaza on Saturday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Jews in Australia Up Security, Conceal Identity After Spate of Antisemitic Attacks
Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese speaks to the media during a press conference with New Zealand’s Prime Minister Christopher Luxon at the Australian Parliament House in Canberra, Australia, Aug. 16, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Tracey Nearmy
Jewish students in Sydney returned to school on Friday with a heightened security presence, days after police said they foiled a planned antisemitic attack in the city using a trailer filled with explosives.
A spate of attacks in recent months have alarmed the country’s Jews, drawn criticism from Israel, and placed pressure on the government of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who faces re-election in polls that must be held by May.
Antisemitic graffiti was sprayed on three sites including the Mount Sinai College in the city’s east early on Thursday, one of almost a dozen incidents in the city in recent months that police say appeared to be coordinated.
Students there returned on Friday after Australia‘s summer break, with police and private security stationed outside the building.
“We’re really grateful that the police are here and protecting us,” said Gina Ferrer, a mother dropping off her child at the school.
“I love this country, I think it’s the best country in the world, but for the first time in my life I actually feel really let down by Australia.”
Matt Thistlethwaite, the federal lawmaker for the area that has a high Jewish population, said he had been working with local police to increase patrols in the area.
SECURITY HEIGHTENED
Australia has been grappling with a series of antisemitic attacks on synagogues, buildings, and cars since the beginning of the Israel-Gaza war in late 2023.
Police in New South Wales state, which includes Sydney, said on Wednesday they had found explosives in a caravan, or trailer, that could have created a blast wave of 40 meters (130 feet).
There was some indication the explosives might be used in an antisemitic attack that could have caused mass casualties, police said.
The escalating attacks have prompted Jews to hire security guards for private events and remove visible signs of their Jewish identity, according to security companies and community leaders.
Alex Ryvchin, co-CEO of Executive Council of Australian Jewry, the umbrella group for Australia‘s Jews, said some Jews were removing skull caps worn by men as a symbol of faith while outside, and taking down mezuzah, a parchment scroll containing Hebrew verses traditionally attached from the doors of Jewish homes.
“The more of these attacks that we see, and particularly given their gravity and the scale, people will begin to question how they can live in Australia as Jews, and that will then force them into a very difficult choice,” he said.
Stephen Vogel, founder of Sayeret Security, a private security company catering to the Jewish community in Sydney, said he had seen an increase in business in recent weeks.
“People are a little bit more nervous at the moment and want to have security for them for their functions, just to mitigate any potential risk,” he said.
The post Jews in Australia Up Security, Conceal Identity After Spate of Antisemitic Attacks first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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German Official Under Fire for Claim Israel Stokes ‘Disinformation’ Against UNRWA
Security personnel work at the UNRWA headquarters, in Jerusalem, May 10, 2024. Photo: REUTERS/Ammar Awad
i24 News — The German commissioner for humanitarian aid, Ina Heusgen, is facing intense criticism for her claim that Israel is waging a “disinformation” campaign against UNRWA and caused the deaths of 100,000 people in Gaza.
Sources familiar with a closed German parliament (Bundestag) meeting on Wednesday exclusively told i24NEWSthat Heusgen lashed out against the Jewish state and its efforts to root out Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
Heusgen claimed Israel conducts a “policy of disinformation” against The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
According to Israel’s government, dozens of UNRWA employees played a role in Hamas’s slaughter of over 1,200 people on Oct. 7, 2023.
Heusgen claimed only 9 UNRWA workers had links to Hamas, and they were immediately kicked out. She added the UNRWA employees were fired even though “the Israeli allegations could not be independently verified.”
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, the associate dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center, told i24NEWSabout Heusgen’s remarks that “casting UNRWA as a victim is just garbage” and he added that “denial is used as a weapon” by Heusgen.
Cooper said her refusal to recognize UNRWA’s role in the massacre and UNRWA’s “pro-war” school curriculum “is a denial of what happened on Oct. 7.”
He termed Heusgen’s denial “the same psychosis regarding if anyone can get away with denying the Shoah, it is playing out right now.”
Cooper, who participated this past week in a German Justice ministry event on combating antisemitism in Berlin, said, “I would love to ask Heusgen in a meeting, ‘Have you given any thought that Hamas built hundreds of kilometers of terror tunnels under UNRWA facilities? Did UNRWA ever go to the Israelis or western journalists to say there is a highway of terrorist tunnels under the Gaza Strip?’”
The German foreign ministry official, Heusgen, added, without evidence, that Israel killed 100,000 people in Gaza. She continued that “you have to ask yourself whether the military response was the right solution.” She noted, “The debate is very difficult here in Germany when it comes to criticism of the Israeli government.”
The Bundestag session became intensely personal for Heusgen, who said, “My husband [Christoph Heusgen] is not an antisemite. Ehud Olmert called him after Wiesenthal’s allegations and told him that he didn’t think he was an antisemite.”
The Simon Wiesenthal Center listed the former German ambassador to the UN, Christoph Heusgen, in its 2019 list of top 10 outbreaks of antisemitism for his remarks equating Israel with the Hamas terrorist organization during a United Nations Security Council session.
On Jan. 6, Israel’s ambassador to Germany, Ron Prosor, blasted Christoph Heusgen for urging Germany to enforce the International Criminal Court (ICC) arrest warrant against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Prosor wrote on X: “It took Heusgen 20 days to whitewash Hamas’s barbaric massacre — an ‘action’ in his terms — claiming it didn’t happen in a vacuum. He cherry picks international law to fit his anti-Israel agenda. For years, he has twisted its principles to put Israel in the dock, constantly demonizing and delegitimizing Israel while justifying war criminals’ repulsive attacks.”
Don’t confuse me with the facts—Heusgen’s version. When there’s an agenda, reality is bent to fit.
It took @MSCheusgen 20 days to whitewash Hamas’ barbaric massacre—an ‘action’ in his terms—claiming it didn’t happen in a vacuum.
He cherry picks international law to fit his… pic.twitter.com/p8Rbs76yDf
— Ambassador Ron Prosor (@Ron_Prosor) January 6, 2025
Prosor did not immediately respond to an i24NEWS press query about Ina Heusgen’s attacks on the Netanyahu administration’s UNRWA policy.
Ina Heusgen was embroiled in a nepotism scandal in 2017. The German media reported that her husband secured her a high-earning job at the UN by using his government contacts. The Heusgens did not respond to i24NEWS press queries.
Rabbi Cooper said, “I applaud Israel’s decision to kick out UNRWA. UNRWA is an advocate for the deadly status for Palestinians and keeping them as refugees.” The Biden and Trump administrations have refused to fund UNRWA.
Germany is one of the major funders of UNRWA. In March 2024, Berlin announced that it is providing EUR 45 million to the agency.
Cooper said, “I am hoping that more serious voices will emerge from German officials. What Germany’s says and does on issues of antisemitism and terrorism are extraordinarily important.”
Germany’s ambassador to Israel, Steffen Seibert, did not immediately respond to i24NEWSpress queries. According to the IDF, since the start of ground operations in the Gaza Strip on Oct. 27, 2023, 405 soldiers have fallen in combat. Hamas officials claim that Israel has killed more than 47,000 people in Gaza. Hamas does not distinguish between terrorists and civilians. The Hamas number of 47,000 plus fatalities cannot be independently verified. It is unclear what the source for Heusgen’s 100,000 dead in Gaza is.
The post German Official Under Fire for Claim Israel Stokes ‘Disinformation’ Against UNRWA first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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