The shameful politics of Paris

I SPENT the summer holidays with my family in Israel. Coincidentally the last time we were there two years ago the country was also gearing up for an election.

So the first couple of weeks I spent immersed in the finer details of Israeli politics, who was joining and departing from various parties, how high up one was on the ticket and whether Avigdor Lieberman really was the saviour of the Jewish people.

And then Paris happened. We hadn’t turned on the television before that; now we couldn’t turn away. At the Paris rally following the murders by Islamic terrorists, the Israeli Prime Minister stood along with the rest of the world leaders –we won’t talk about the glaring omission of the USA now – against terrorism.

We wait to see whether the world stands with Israel when terror inevitably rears its ugly head in the future either in Israel or in a Jewish community elsewhere.

To do otherwise would confirm yet again the double standard and hypocrisy of the treatment of the Jewish State and the Jews.

Incongruously (to my mind at least) Netanyahu was criticised for attending the rally as it was reported that he wasn’t invited. It was said to be too political for him to attend.

By attending he was accused of not being mindful of diplomatic relations with France. He was using the rally as a photo opportunity for the upcoming elections.

While maintaining diplomatic relations between countries is of course important, facing up to the reality of the circumstances of the Jews of France is essential.

Does anyone recall condemnation followed by real action when there have been riots in central parts of France spouting death to Jews and to the Jewish State? How about when imams have preached hatefully about the Jewish people?

Where were the marchers in solidarity following the murders in Toulouse? Or does the hatred and terror that targeted solely Jews lessen their culpability?

The fact that thousands of police and even the army are being deployed to protect Jewish schools and institutions speaks volumes about the little that has been done to effectively curtail anti-Semitism and terror against the Jews of France. So I don’t criticise Netanyahu when he offers an open door to French Jews.

I don’t criticise Netanyahu when he allegedly elbowed his way to the front at the Paris rally. The criticism ought to be levelled at those who preferred not to invite him or at least acknowledge his rightful place among the mourners and marchers given the Jewish targets and deaths.\

Masada reminds us of a time 2000 years ago when the Jews had no choice. As little as 70 years ago, choice again eluded the Jews. But 1948 brought choice and the Prime Minister of the only Jewish state reminded us of that.

That he wants a front row seat doesn’t offend me at all. On the contrary, what offends me is the convergence of the march to honour the victims with the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Netanyahu was there to honour the Jewish victims. This was not the time for politics and requirement for equal footing for President Mahmoud Abbas.

What offends me is that, when all is said and done, many journalists, politicians and even a former US president still believe much of the violence of radical Islamists stems from the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – that somehow if a peace agreement was reached the civil war in Syria would abate, that ISIS would pack its bags and say its work is done, that Al Qaeda and Boko Haram would lay down their arms and peace and harmony would ensue.

Radical Islamist terrorism is a world issue not an Israeli or Jewish one. The sooner those who are offended by the presence of Israelis or Israel itself recognise their prejudice the sooner we can come to terms with this global issue.

The novelist Robert Louis Stevenson once wrote that sooner or later we all sit down to a banquet of consequences. France is feasting right now for their inaction. Last Friday, the Jewish students of Brussels and Antwerp could not attend school for fear it was too dangerous. The feasting goes on. We can only hope and pray for famine.

Liora Miller is a board member of the Zionist Council of Victoria.