Here are a few troubling figures: In just the first quarter of 2014, France alone has marked a 55 percent rise in violent anti-Semitic acts and a 41 percent rise in the number of anti-Semitic threats. I wrote marked because only those incidents in which a complaint was filed with the police have been accounted for. Many go unreported.
And this is without mentioning the anti-Semitic content prevalent on social media, also on a precipitous climb. The situation in Belgium is similar, as it is across the entire European continent.
Was the horrible shooting attack at the Jewish Museum in Brussels different from other anti-Semitic incidents—which usually entail the violence ending before someone is murdered? Possibly. But this anti-Semitism must be placed within a broader historical framework.
Jews have been on European land for over 2,000 years. Relative to our fraction of the population, we have contributed more blood, sweat and intellect to that continent than any other nation. What have we received in return? People talk about the Holocaust. And before that, everything was hunky dory?
The old anti-Semitism was predicated on the conflict over which was the true religion. Replacement theology fanned the flames of this discord, which is to say, when the Jews rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah (and as the Son of God), they severed their covenant with God. In response, God replaced the Jewish people with the church. Murderous anti-Semitism grew stronger as the idea that the Jews were to blame for “killing God” and crucifying Him became more entrenched.
The new anti-Semitism has two aspects: European and Muslim. Muslim anti-Semitism fills the void left by the Christian rabble of the Middle Ages—attacking Jews simply because they are Jews.
The new European anti-Semitism is tied to the disruption of the constitutive European myth, which they became accustomed to seeing everywhere for 2,000 years: a crucified Jew. The establishment of the state of Israel meant the return of Jesus to His nation and land as a Jewish Israeli national. This time, however, He is holding modern weapons and is no longer willing to be crucified.
What remained in Europe was the empty space once occupied by the crucified Jew. It is not for nothing that the decaying European elites so often focus their vitriol on the sovereign Jewish state. It simply does not coincide with their worldview: Jews are living independently in their historical homeland and are managing quite well, thank heavens.
We hear the cries of despair coming from the Jews in France, Belgium, Sweden and Holland, from Germany, England and more—and we cannot believe it. What are you doing over there on that continent, for the love of God? Have we not had enough of being slaughtered and raped and coerced and converted to Christianity and to Islam and humiliated and destroyed by the sword and starvation? And every time we thought we would be harmed no more, were we not attacked yet again and expelled in disgrace?
In the name of what ideal are you continuing to suffer this anti-Semitism? You are ashamed to show “signs of being Jewish,” so as not to arouse the anti-Semitic demon from his slumber.
The following is from Rabbi Yissachar Teichtal, who had vehemently opposed Zionism but changed his views as the Holocaust began, wrote an amazing book titled Eim Habanim Semeichah (The Mother of Children Is Joyful) before he was murdered on a transport train during the closing days of World War II: “All the blows that we have received is to arouse us to return to the Holy Land.”
Teichtal quotes Rabbi Simcha Bunim Bonhart of Peshischa, who died in 1827 and correctly predicted the painful history that was to unfold in Europe: “If, however, we do not strive to return to our Land willingly … we will suffer the agony and pain of the staff of our enemies until they force us to run … to Eretz Yisrael [the Land of Israel].”
Dear Jews, there is nothing left for you in Europe. Europe expelled its Jews and received instead tens of millions of Muslims. Come back home to Zion, before it is too late. This is the fitting response to anti-Semitism. Here you can share your fate with your brothers and sisters, contribute toward a good future for the Jewish people and live a sovereign life in an independent Jewish state. Come home.
Dror Eydar is a senior columnist for Israel Hayom. For the original article, visit israelhayom.com.
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