In 1979, a disco song was released titled, “There but for the Grace of God.” It contained the controversial line, “somewhere far away/with no blacks, no Jews and no gays.” An alternate cut was released. The replacement lyric became “somewhere far away/where only upper class people play.”
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The percentage of the American population that is Jewish is 2.4%. In 1933, the Jewish population in Germany was less than 1%.
I’m watching what is currently unfolding in the Middle East and subsequently the rash of violence against Jews throughout the world. A lot of which is being instigated by young adults. I feel an uncomfortable relief that my parents are no longer alive. Though they were “safe” in the United States, they lived during the time that 6 million European Jews were murdered during Hitler’s Holocaust. Something not taught in history courses in the United States, unless, if offered, you take an elective on “20th Century European History.”
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In 7th grade, I joined an after school club offered by a Junior High teacher, Mr. Henderson. It was called The World War II Club. I was 12 years old. Mr. Henderson, who also happened to be my homeroom teacher, spent a good deal of time focusing on the atrocities performed by the Nazis against France as well as the Jews. I don’t think I knew the extent of that history until I learned it from a non-Jewish teacher.
It’s also “interesting” to me that in school I was never taught anything about the Tulsa, Oklahoma massacre of black Americans in 1921, nor the sadistic murders of the Armenian population in Turkey, an attempt to wipe them off the face of the earth between 1915 and 1918.
Stepping outside of myself emotionally, I’m also fascinated that the Arab world is, right now and for the most part, staying out of the war between Israel and Hamas, giving no humanitarian assistance to the Palestinian population, with the exception of neighboring Egypt, who has finally opened her doors to allow “certain” people to leave Gaza Strip’s southern border. Iran’s part in financing the Hamas terrorists is a big part of this and unfortunately, not really a surprise.
I have come to believe that the majority of people in the world have short attention spans and even shorter memories. I can remember not so very long ago, that the Arab countries were in no way allied with the Palestinians and their plight. It was a Greek American friend of mine who educated me to that fact. And clearly, many if not all of the surrounding Arab countries hate Israel. When Arafat was leading the Palestinians, Israel offered their population the land that she gained after winning the 7 day war in 1967, when without provocation, Egypt invaded Israel. Arafat refused to accept the land for his people, before he took off on his private jumbo Jet.
Most of the Arab nations would be perfectly happy to have the Jews and Hamas annihilate each other, simultaneously eliminating the innocent Palestinian people in Gaza. In the current news reports, no one is making that accusation. No Arab nation offered the Palestinians land on which to settle. Only Israel. I loudly take issue with certain Israeli politics, as I do with many policies that take place in the United States. I acknowledge that it’s all very complicated and divisive. I personally believe in a two country solution for Israel and Palestine, accepting that Jerusalem continues to be an emotional subject that may never be agreed upon. Where certain Arab countries dislike other Arab nations, there is a somewhat shared consensus in that region that Israel has no right to exist.
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Israel is a mighty force and the sole “Western” country in the Middle East. We may have put air fields in Iraq and have troops throughout the region, but western sensibilities are not welcomed in these lands where the cultures are generally very different from ours. And I’m sure it created fuel for the fire after the Ottoman Empire came to an end and the British (with assistance from the French) had the power and audacity to create and enforce new country borders throughout the Middle East in 1919. Even now, with tentative American allies like Saudi Arabia, I believe that the peaceful politeness is based on monetary assistance — meaning oil trade.
I know that in the 1930s, there were large pro-Nazi gatherings throughout America. There were well documented events held in large venues like Madison Square Garden in NYC, where thousands gathered in anger. Hate, organized or individual, is nothing new and never going away. I’m Jewish and gay. I don’t generally lose sleep thinking about being in personal danger, living in multi ethnic New York City. But who would have believed modern civilizations that are not so sociologically foreign to this way of life could have murdered millions of citizens? I’ve heard white people in particular talk disparagingly about third world countries being barbaric. Match that with Stalin in the former Soviet Union and of course, Mao Zedong’s China. And some of the worst systematic atrocities perpetrated on this planet occurred in the highly cultured, white European countries during the 20th Century.
So, Israel. She will survive. And hate will continue. For as long as humans roam our planet, there will never be a lasting peace. Not as long as people who do not think beyond their way of seeing things believe that others who live (and worship) differently don’t have the right to exist.