The Continuing Emptiness Of “Never Again”
“Never again is now” has become “never again - when it’s convenient."
I can’t be the only one who constantly wonders since October 7 whether the antisemitism we have been witnessing every single day really is a repeat of the 1930s. In the past I was never an advocate of comparisons between modern antisemitism and the 1930s, or labeling people “Nazis” because they engaged in any type of antisemitism. I thought, and still think, that those comparisons were intellectually lazy and devalued the horror of actual Nazism and Nazis.
I have come to increasingly see the events of October 7, and their aftermath, as the first since the Shoah to warrant the comparison. Each month I write this column about the Jewish world and antisemitism, and each month it is beyond clear that what we are witnessing is, if not the same exact thing, dangerously close to what we all promised would “never again” happen. While I remain resolutely positive, what we are seeing should concern us all.
Let’s start with Israel, as I have written previously, we are now more than eight months in - and Israel, for reasons that are more related to politics than will or resources, has not destroyed Hamas. As of this writing, Israel has yet to fully go into Rafah, has announced two “pauses” in the fighting, the most recent, referred to as “humanitarian pauses,” is supposed to get yet more aid into Gaza (because apparently, no amount of aid, which goes straight to Hamas, is ever enough). As a result, Hamas still survives, is still attacking Jews, and is still the source of much the worst vitriolic, and dishonest, anti-Jewish propaganda embraced by antisemites the worldwide.
The latest IDF data shows that, since October 7, 19,000 unguided rockets have been launched into Israel. The same report continues:
“Although the number of rockets fired from Hezbollah in the north has increased, most of the rockets were fired into Southern Israel by Hamas. The IDF is preparing to defend against “swarms” of Hezbollah drones….The recent demonstration of Hezbollah’s capabilities, which have intensified in recent weeks, still represents only a small fraction of the Iran-backed terror group’s aerial arsenal which the IDF believes to include an array of precision munitions supplied mainly by Iran over the past decade, or weapons that have undergone upgrade and modifications based on lessons learned in the conflict.”
In other words, the threat is far from being neutralized. And the length of the war has helped Iran fine-tune the weapons it is providing Hezbollah, while Hamas continues to be an active threat in the south.
At the same time, as whining about “innocent civilians” (including those killed in the IDF’s stunningly successful rescue of four of the hostages) continues to be a major propaganda point for the hordes of pro-Hamas scumbags demonstrators in the West, Hamas is more popular than ever among Palestinians. 75% now choose Hamas as the group that they are the “most satisfied with.” That is a 5% increase since March. Meanwhile, 2/3 of them still claim that they think that the massacres of 10/7 were the “correct” thing to do. While the overwhelming majority, 82%, say that the attacks “revived international attention” to their cause, and will also “lead to increased recognition of Palestinian statehood.” The majority believe also that Hamas should lead that state. In short, nothing has changed since they first elected Hamas as their leaders in 2005. This is the population that the Biden administration continues to put enormous pressure on Israel to negotiate with.
It is dangerous, absurd, and only the most naïve among us believe that peace can truly be made with these people as long as they continue to hold these views. Considering that they have held them closely for decades, it is equally naïve to believe that any significant change is on the horizon.
The poison of that attitude is a current that runs strongly among antisemites in the rest of the world.
On June 8th, thousands of lowlife animals protestors encircled the White House and chanted things like “Hezbollah, Hezbollah, kill another Zionist now!” None of the mainstream press noted the overt antisemitism. A typical example was the New York Times who claimed that these people, also clearly neo-Nazis, “just wanted a cease-fire.” They did not mention antisemitism or Jews.
The Biden campaign (recall that the reason why the current president supposedly ran in the first place was the neo-Nazi rally in Charlotesville) issued a statement yammering that Biden “supports the freedom of speech and the freedom of expression” and therefore the protesters “have a right to speak their mind.”
The hypocrisy is, as always, massive.
Meanwhile in New York the Jewish homes of the director, and board members, of the Brooklyn museum were vandalized with antisemitic graffiti. It included the upside-down triangle, a symbol used by Hamas to mark victims that it plans to murder. It also included the now ubiquitous, red paint meant to evoke blood, and red handprints derived from the murders of two Jews on October 12, 2000, as well as other incidents of violence against Jews.
Two days before that, at an exhibit in Manhattan to memorialize the Nova Music Festival, throngs of Hamas supporting antisemites showed up and, among many other things, lit flares and chanted “Israel go to hell,” “Hitler was right,” and “long live the intifada” (Which, as I explained in a previous article, is ALWAYS a call to genocide)
At the same time, a group of keffiyeh wearing masked American jihadis got on a New York subway and chanted in unison “Zionists identify yourselves, this is your chance to get out.” When they announced “OK, no Zionists, we’re good,” they reacted with enthusiastic cheers.
On June 5 an opinion poll of young people in Britain (it’s been a VERY LONG TIME since its been “great”) found that 54% of people aged 18-24 agreed with the statement that “the state of Israel should not exist.” Only a PATHETIC 21% disagreed.
France recorded 366 antisemitic incidents during the first quarter of 2024.” That is a 300% increase from the same time period in 2023.
In April, a Jewish woman was kidnapped and raped. The suspect said that it was to “avenge Palestine.”
In May a man in Rouen was killed by police in Normandy while he was attempting to burn down a synagogue. Like America, Britain and Canada, France has seen a surge of pro-Hamas campus protests since October 7.
Melanie Phillips details many of the attacks above, and goes into far more detail than I can here, about who is carrying out these attacks, and why the threat is so dire, in her recent article “The Looming Choice For Diaspora Jews.” But if you want the short version, almost all of the attacks in Europe are being carried out by Muslims who represent a threat to European Jewry unseen since the days of Nazi Germany. She also, correctly places the blame on left-wing parties in Europe, and the leftists who now control the Democratic Party in the United States. That includes the morons well-meaning, but naïve people who claim support for Israel and the Jewish people, but inexplicably still vote for the party of Ilhan Omar, Rashida Tlaib, Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez, et al.
This feels to me like the most famous explanation for how the Holocaust could have happened: good people continue to stand by and do nothing. They seem to take some kind of odd comfort in conducting business as usual, while the problem grows daily – possibly on its way to being uncontrollable.
I thought that we already learned how dangerous that is.
Slightly off topic (but too crucial not to mention here):
Yesterday, July 1st, Israel released 50 Hamas prisoners, including the chief of al-Shifa hospital, Hamas’ one time headquarters for… NOTHING. Israel received no Israeli hostages, or any other concession, in return for the release of these 50 terrorists.
According to the New York Post:
Avi Marciano, whose daughter Noa was kidnapped from Nahal Oz base on Oct. 7 and killed inside the al-Shifa hospital, gave perhaps the strongest condemnation of the prisoners’ release.
“Noa was abandoned before October 7 when they didn’t listen to her. She was abandoned on October 7 when they didn’t come to save her,” he wrote on Facebook. “She was abandoned after that when they didn’t do enough to return her home alive.
“And now, seven months after we buried her, the State of Israel decides to release those who are directly or indirectly responsible for her murder,” he added. “I’m sorry, my girl, that you continue to be neglected.”
Why did they release these prisoners? Because progressives in Israel’s government, the IDF leadership, and the courts, care more about the conditions terrorists are held in, than they care about the safety of the Jewish people. We MUST accept that there are elements of the Israeli government that are absolutely OK with losing this war. That attitude, and an obsequiousness toward the will of the United States, is why the war didn’t end months ago. Israelis MUST demand more, and do so immediately.
Lastly, if “never again is now,” then “now” should have begun immediately on October 7, not at some indeterminate date when it becomes politically advantageous for politicians in Israel and around the world.
Because that will never happen.
Never give in. Never give up.
Am Yisrael chai.
This article originally appeared in Orange County Jewish Life.
Joshua Namm is a longtime Jewish community pro, passionate Israel advocate, and co-founder/co-CEO of Moptu, a unique social platform designed specifically for article sharing, and dedicated to the principle of free speech.