The Fear is Real

By Keith Newman

These are strange times, indeed.  If someone had gone to sleep just 6 months ago and suddenly woke up today, they would be looking at a world they probably wouldn’t recognize.  That is how quickly events transform the way we think, how we express ourselves, and the way we define trust.  For some of us, we feel as if history is about to repeat itself and we fear what may be yet to come.

I speak of this often because I think it’s important to keep the conversation going.  I can be difficult to be with now and I understand that.  I find it hard to talk about anything else and even when I’m alone, my thoughts don’t stray far.  Perhaps I think too much, but I also know there is a place in this world for people like me.  There is a place for all of us.

In my previous piece for the Dispatch, I wrote briefly about the fears running through every Jewish community in America.  In the days since I wrote that, and there haven’t been many, the situation has worsened.  Each day brings more and more Jewish hate and it’s on full display on the social media platform of your choice.  Almost all of it is propaganda but as we found out in 2016, facts can sometimes get in the way of a good story.

Regardless of where you get your news, you will hear stories of Israeli aggression and a Palestinian slaughter.  That is how the story of this war has been framed, resulting in a torrent of Jewish hate that had been simmering under the surface of this country for many years.  If you knew nothing of the history of this conflict, it would be impossible for you to know that what you are being told is not the truth.

Let’s examine some facts before going any further.  Most people know that the UN recognized Israel as a sovereign state in 1948, after the end of the British Mandate.  What you may not know is that the self-proclaimed Palestinian people were also offered part of that land.  There was also to be a third section, Jerusalem, which would be an international zone.  While the Jewish people rejoiced, Palestinians rejected the idea.  With the entire world listening, they forcefully stated that nothing less than all the land from the River Jordan to the Mediterranean Sea would be acceptable to them.

Instead, they called for the complete destruction of Israel and the annihilation of its people.  As a result, it became quite challenging to pursue peace.  Since then, there hasn’t been much of a change in that attitude.  It wasn’t until 2005 that both Israel and Egypt felt the need to simultaneously close their borders with Gaza.  This blockade was meant to be temporary, only imposed because of increased rocket fire into Israel.

The Egyptians had worries of their own.  They were well aware of the influence Iran had in Gaza and they were anxious to prevent terrorists from coming in and using their country as a staging ground for further violence.  At the same time, Egypt was working with the Palestinian Authority to overthrow Hamas, in order to help them take back control of Gaza.  Also, tunnels that had been found leading from Gaza into Egypt were being intentionally flooded to prevent Hamas from entering illegally.  Both countries have continued to keep the border closed to this day and it is precisely why Egypt expressed a hesitancy to open theirs, even for humanitarian purposes.  They are very aware of the risks involved.

In 2005, Israel pulled out of Gaza unconditionally and removed all Israeli settlements.  This was an act of good faith that Israel hoped would finally lead to a permanent peace in the region. Instead, Hamas took control of the Gaza from the Palestinian Authority and the terrorist attacks on Israel grew.  In 2008,  Israel began to negotiate another treaty, the fourth since 1993.  It’s important to note that during that entire period of time, no treaty was ever offered to Israel from the Palestinian side.  Signing this treaty would have established a separate Palestinian state and a promise from Israel to help Gaza become a major trading hub.  Israel had everything to gain and nothing to lose by helping to build a vibrant Palestinian state.  

Hamas, of course, felt quite differently.  To them, peace is never a viable option.  Their entire existence revolves around the idea that Israel should have never existed in the first place.  Therefore, it must be destroyed.  That is their one and only objective and the innocent people on both sides are the ones who have suffered the most.  Terrorist organizations do not govern, they only incite terror.  Hamas does not care about the lives of the people they are now responsible for.  To them, the residents of Gaza are useful tools in their quest to destroy Israel.

In another time, all of this would be clearly understood by examining the facts.  But we are living in a new world where people are using social media platforms as an educational tool.  I have written about this in the past and most readers of this paper are aware of my concerns.  Young people in this country, convinced they are fighting for a righteous cause, have allied themselves with one of the world’s most violent terrorist organizations.  What they don’t know, of course, is that they are next on Hamas’ hit list.

The amount of misinformation being disseminated on sites such as TikTok, Facebook, X, and others has been able to, in a very short period of time, placed an entire group of people in harm’s way.  How is something like that possible in 2023?  Part of the answer is in the need for people to feel as if they belong to something important.  Another reason is an education system in this country that has failed our children.  In a survey taken in 2020, 63% of respondents under the age of 40 did not know that 6 million Jews had been murdered in the Holocaust.  Additionally, 10% had never heard the word “Holocaust” before.

Those numbers are absolutely staggering and a huge reason that Jews now find themselves living in fear.  College campuses across the country are seeing daily acts of violence among students, many of whom have no idea what or who they are fighting for.  When I see signs like, “LGBTQ for Palestine,” I know that they are unaware of the facts.  There is not one of them who would survive very long if they were to place one foot on Hamas soil.  

Daily, there are new cries for the annihilation of Jews and people are listening.  Tens of thousands have been gathering in cities across America to protest our very existence.  The level of anti-Semitism has grown exponentially in just one week and it is easy to imagine that there is much more to come in the days ahead.  The anti-Israel propaganda machine is hard at work and the fear is real.  Graphic videos of suffering Palestinians are flooding the internet and each one is supposedly proof that Israeli troops are murdering innocent people.

It is a terrible thing that is happening right now but, in this case, the victims are on both sides of the border.  Unlike any other country in the world, Israel must always appear before the UN to “ask permission” to defend itself from terrorists who have vowed to eliminate them.  And each time, Israel is perceived as the aggressor.  Unlike any other country, Israel warns their enemy of an impending incursion by dropping leaflets, asking them to leave the area.  As the displaced masses marched toward the Egyptian border, Hamas blew up the access roads until they were no longer usable.  

Many blamed Israel for causing the damage but there was no proof of that, nor was there a motive for the Israelis to do it.  The world was watching, and limiting the number of civilian casualties was a priority for the IDF.  Then came the bombing of the hospital in Gaza where up to 500 people may have lost their lives.  Within one minute of the blast, every major news outlet and social media platform in the world was reporting that it was Israel who had fired the missile.  To this day, many of them have not apologized and there are some that have not even removed that story from their website.

Again, the idea that Israel would launch a missile attack on a hospital filled with innocent victims is almost preposterous.  With the world watching, it made no sense.  Days later, it was finally confirmed that the missile was launched from a location within Northern Gaza and that it failed to reach its target.  The engine fell to the ground, causing a massive fire to ignite, resulting in hundreds of needless deaths.  Unfortunately, the damage had already been done and the world still believes it was Israel that launched the missle.  That is the power of social media and the deadly reality of a failed educational system.

Prior to this conflict, Jewish people in the United States were already feeling a sense of uneasiness that reminded them of a time that was never supposed to happen again.  The rising tide of anti-Semitism attributed to far-Right neo-Nazi organizations was enough to keep us awake at night, but now the situation is far worse.  People I considered allies in the fight for democracy have left many of us feeling betrayed and alone.  Hate does not care about political parties.  Hate is born out of ignorance of the facts and both parties have extreme elements that threaten all of us.

The son of a Holocaust survivor, I was born in 1959, only 14 years removed from the end of the worst atrocity in world history.  The wounds were still new, and they were very raw.  We are now 78 years removed and sadly, much of that history has been forgotten.  It is frightening how quickly something like this can happen, but it can no longer be ignored.  Israel has a right to defend itself and we have an obligation to educate our children with facts, not blind emotion.  If we do not, they will eventually be coming for all of us.