Are you Running Scared?

Should we be scared? No! Should we be thinking of selling up? No! Should we be rushing to stock up on more Prozac, Lexapro or SSRI’s? No!

The obvious parallel many Jews are making today is with Kristallnacht and Nazi Germany. Not doing so invites the criticism of putting one’s head in the sand, as did hundreds of thousands of German Jews in 1930s, and who perished in the gas chambers. Am I reading your mind correctly?

But consider: In the late 1930’s the vast majority of the German population voted for Nazism (well over 90 per cent). The newspapers were unanimously 100 per cent antisemitic. Israel did not exist. And no world leader was prepared to defend us. Today those factors are very different – at the moment.

In a recent poll respondents thought only about 25 per cent of Australians were favourably disposed to Jews (or did they mean Israel; or does that make a difference?) Another quarter approximately, were unfavourably disposed. But about 50 per cent of Australians opposed religious intolerance. That suggests that half of Australia is tolerant to Jews. Is that a lot? A little? Does it mean they like us? Or are they being merely indifferent? I guess it depends which way the trend is moving, or what is the context of history, or the power of media, or how much Qatar is spending on professional agitation world-wide. Further, polls can be notoriously wrong. And the perceived distinction between Israel and Jew is also quite murky. Further, media drives people’s opinions much more powerfully in our age than before.

Jewish people have needed to be cautious for the near 2000 years of our exile, when we have been spread around the world. And yes, we are the canary in the cage. So, we can’t blind ourselves to dangers that are always around us. Most recently, we have enjoyed 75 years of a “golden age”. But now we are back to the “old normal” – uncertainty. And though my opening paragraphs are more positive than negative, when it comes to antisemitism we are aiming at a “moving target”.