In the West, where everyone wants a soapbox to show they have a useful life, some things persist and endure through time. In particular, there are those whose lives were always incompatible with the Jewish religion and its roots, yet seek to assert that they have set aside their old Marxist-Leninist ideology. Naturally, we cannot expect anything from such people other than criticism of Israel and the entire Jewish tradition, proclaimed before an ignorant audience.
As if it were not enough for our societies to be riddled with haters of the Jews, we now see what every antisemite loves: Jews who have turned against Israel. And allegedly, they are important Jews who proclaim themselves scholars of Jewish subjects.
One of the traditional criticisms employed by these scholars is that Israeli haredim are exempt from compulsory military service. But they are exempt because they study Torah and Talmud. Note: They study. Whether or not you agree with this, they are the real scholars of Jewish matters, not people who have embraced the far left and have never read a single page of Talmud.
Furthermore, it is not just a question of the haredim. Let us also mention others who refuse to serve: the conscientious objectors, the “refuseniks,” the sarbanim. From 2002 to 2004, for example, the nephew of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Jonathan Ben Artzi, preferred to go to jail for 18 months than to serve his country.
Everyone has the right to oppose Netanyahu’s policies. Yet it is in Gaza that there have been no elections since 2009. Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian Authority chief elected two decades ago, does not go to Gaza because he does not want to end up in the cemetery. The terrorist headquarters of Gaza has no political freedoms, only poverty and bomb experts.
Moreover, to slam Israel for having attacked and harmed Muslims during Ramadan is to take the side of those who would have us in two places: Far away or in the morgue. Since the beginning of 2023, 19 people have been murdered in Israel. And this, apparently, is the victims’ fault.
Non-constructive criticism of Israel is a tool used by self-promoting creatures who want to curry favor with the powers that be, to the detriment of the Jewish community as a whole.
Without the IDF, Israel would long ago have fallen, to the delight of the world’s far-left and its lackeys. The soldiers and security services that defend Israel also defend the Jews in the Diaspora, even those who hate Israel and its defenders.
Miriam Assor is the director of “The Portuguese Jewish News.”
Originally published by “The Portuguese Jewish News.”
