Climate Change
One of the “hottest” topics gaining increasing attention these days is the phenomenon of climate change.
Michael Kuttner
Opinions vary as to whether it is man-made or, instead, a natural climatic cycle that has been repeated over millennia. Without a doubt, weather events have become more unpredictable and extreme. Parts of the globe have faced epic floods of Biblical intensity, while other places have wilted under soaring temperatures and suffered droughts.
Needless to say, the doomsday peddlers are having a field day.
Whether they are proven correct or exposed as false prophets, only time will tell. In the meantime, countries are taking steps to alleviate threats and, if possible, to reduce the dire consequences that follow climate extremes.
Unlike metrological fluctuations and unpredictability, the “climate” challenges that confront Jews worldwide and Israel, in particular, remain regardless of whatever steps may be taken to prevent their ill effects. I am referring, of course, to the political climate facing Israel and the steadily increasing levels of hate flooding an increasing number of Jews in Diaspora communities.
There is nothing cyclical about these events. The virus of anti-Jewish incitement and now the current mutated anti-Zionist variety has been a constant part of Jewish history.
Various strategies have been tried to prevent and counter these outbreaks of delegitimization. Despite innovative measures to combat the negative effects of incitement, nothing seems to have halted or even reduced their frequency and potency.
Climate change sceptics abound, and only time will tell whether their prognostications turn out to be deadly accurate or false theories.
Amazingly, there are also still sceptics who prefer to either ignore the gathering Jew hate storm signals or minimize its potency. Unfortunately, the gathering pace of such destructive events leaves one with very little doubt as to its virulence.
Forewarned is forearmed, and it behoves us to be alert to the lethal consequences. We have suffered too much in the past, and it would be criminal to once again repeat the same mistakes.
Predicting the weather is a far more inaccurate exercise than anticipating acts of verbal and physical mayhem.
Take Iran for example.
The latest news concerning its nuclear progress should be sounding loud alarm bells. Instead, there seem to be yawns and more fiddling while the Mullahs race to the finishing line.
The same avalanche of apathetic rhetoric issues forth every time another Iranian (and North Korean) move is made, which clearly violates every previous guarantee.
Thus, the US Defence Department disclosed this week that Iran now has the capacity to produce enough fissile material for a nuclear device in less than TWO weeks.
In addition, the US “quietly” admitted that the recent Iranian satellite launch was a success. This means that Iran’s development of rockets and missiles, which it openly boasts can reach Israel, only needs to have a nuclear device fitted in order to activate the “final solution.”
If all this sounds eerily familiar, you would be correct. The same scenario that enabled North Korea to achieve nuclear capability is now being implemented with Iran. Unbelievably, there are still far too many who dismiss any notion of an impending disaster.
At the UN General Assembly meeting, the Iranian President made his country’s agenda crystal clear. He issued a warning against normalization with Israel and declared that the “liberation of the holy city of Jerusalem is at the core of the belief of all Muslims.” These statements are only the latest in a long line of threats against Israel.
Taken together with the nuclear and missile developments, it is impossible to dismiss the looming threats.
Yet, that is exactly what the appeasers are doing. Whether it is Biden paying billions in ransom money or other countries subverting the few remaining sanctions, the farcical play acting continues. The UN rolls out the red carpet to the leader of a country that persecutes and executes women and members of the Baha’i faith and sponsors terror in Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and Yemen.
The US representative at the UN and her colleagues in the State Department prefer to obsess over Jews living in Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria. They continue to throw millions of dollars to UNRWA and to the corrupt PA/PLO which rewards murderers of Israelis.
The same blinkered approach to the gathering storm can be discerned by the feeble responses to the increasing hate faced by Jews in many countries.
A recent survey in Germany showed a continuing and worrisome rise in those with anti-Jewish attitudes. What caught my attention was an increase in the number of those surveyed who expressed support and longed for a strong leader. If this is not another example of history repeating itself, I do not know what is. Given how strong leaders have been embraced in the past in Germany, it shouldn’t be too difficult to work out what might lay ahead in the near future. Despite clear evidence of fatal squalls eventuating, those who have made Germany their new fatherland remain deliberately oblivious. What holds true in Germany is also true in other parts of Europe and elsewhere.
In South Africa, an increasingly dire economic and political situation will inevitably rebound on the Jews.
History should have taught that when society unravels, the first victims to get the blame are inevitably the Jews. Anti-Israel & Zionist targeting is already the policy of the South African Government. Not so long ago a politician called for the Jewish school in Cape Town to be deregistered for supporting Israel. According to an MP, the “school enforces Zionism on Jewish students and encourages them to participate in apartheid activities and inhumane practices. It also encourages the students to join the IDF after completing grade 12.”
In case those concocted lies were not enough, the leader of a left-wing party called for the South African police to arrest Zionist bodies in Cape Town because they were advocating for racism and apartheid Israel.
So far, these conspiracy theories remain the mantra of a minority, but as we should all know by now, it does not take much for it to become holy writ with all the subsequent dire consequences.
As in Germany, the warning signals are being ignored. The “good life” beckons, and any thought that there is a threat that will cause a catastrophe is swept under the carpet.
Jewish students in high schools and universities in the Diaspora are facing unprecedented verbal and physical threats. It has become a pandemic of hate which is almost impossible to eliminate. Even in New Zealand, where Jews are an insignificant blip on the population census, this is a feature. A recent report by an ex-student revealed that anti-Jewish attitudes are on the rise in NZ classrooms. Holocaust education is still not a compulsory part of the curriculum but even in countries where it is, Shaoh denial, revisionism and hate are rife.
People living in places where climatic events cause frequent death and destruction have the option of either taking their chances or shifting to safer places.
Past experience has shown that Jews who take a chance on some benevolent authority saving them usually end up the worse for wear.
Reading the writing on the wall in time is an option many fail to do.
Critics maintain that making aliya is questionable because Israel is also faced with lethal threats.
At least here, we have the ability to defend ourselves and hit back.
Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel and is J-Wire’s correspondent in the region.
