At 06:25 5-4-02 -0800, John Giorgis wrote: > Some interesting arguments on the latest outburst of >Anti-Semitismin Europe: > http://www.opinionjournal.com/editorial/feature.html?id=105001871
I read the article, and not surprisingly, I disagree with it. I readily accept that you have to be anti-Semitic to attack synagogues, and I most certainly condemn those attacks, but exactly how many people where involved in those attacks? There have been demonstrations against Israel's actions throughout Europe; the total number of protesters is well into six-digit range by now. Most of those people show no signs of being anti-Semitic, they are opposed to the violence. It is only a relatively small group of people who use those demonstrations to vent their hatred of Jews. This is a common tactic of extremist groups, BTW. Using mass demonstrations to commit acts of violence has two advantages for them: it makes it look as if they have much more support than they really have, and it makes it easy for them to disappear into the crowd to avoid being arrested. The article, however, fails to make that distinction. Instead, it is implying that Europe is anti-Semitic, thus implying that all those millions of Europeans hate Jews. This is simply not true. Europeans are deeply concerned by what is going on in the Middle East, but onlike the editors of OpinionJournal, we do not utterly condemn one side and utterly defend everything the other side does. Rather, we see that both sides are at fault here. And why should we not criticise Israel? Much of their violence is unwarranted. They accuse Arafat of doing nothing to stop terrorism, but at the same time do everything they can to *prevent* him from doing anything. They prevented European diplomats from entering Ramallah to get European citizens out. They thwart attemps by international organisations like the Red Cross to reach the wounded. When mr. Zimmi went to talk to mr. Arafat and journalists tried to get near, they were stopped by Israeli troops, fired at by Israeli soldiers and chased away with tear gas. And it is not just Europe who is protesting; pretty much the whole world is growing more and more critical of Israel's actions. Heck, even the US, Israel's long-time friend and ally, is criticising Israel and calling on Sharon to end the violence. The fact that they have turned to *supporting* UN Resolutions instead of vetoing them speaks volumes. So, why should we *not* criticise Israel? Jeroen _________________________________________________________________________ Wonderful World of Brin-L Website: http://www.Brin-L.com Tom's Photo Gallery: http://tom.vanbaardwijk.com
