Resist or roll over

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This is the dilemma faced by Jews since time immemorial when faced by threats whether physical or verbal.

Michael Kuttner

Resisting hateful acts can take several forms. Depending on the situation, verbal confrontation and rebuttal of untruths can many times prove very effective. There is nothing more effective in demolishing slanderous canards than exposing them to the strong light of ridicule and reality.

Unfortunately we find these days that there is a scarcity of individuals ready, willing and able to step forward and expose their thoughts to public scrutiny. Often the responses are ineffective, given today’s preference in many circles for political correctness and an aversion to exposing political duplicities.

The tendency by some establishment organizations to suppress more robust responses discourages those who possibly could bring a clearer message of resistance.

Unsurprisingly, the mainstream media is complicit in censoring and banning vigorous responses to anti-Israel and anti-Jew items. This is where social media is a help although the downside is that it is also infested with the vilest followers.

When is it preferable to resist or roll over and hope that the problem will disappear?

This is a question which has plagued Jews over the millennia.

This conundrum faced the New Zealand Jewish communities,

I recall, some fifty-four years ago. At that time, there was no Israeli Embassy, and a gap existed in presenting any meaningful response to anti-Israel activity. Thankfully the communities were blessed with dedicated individuals who were not only very active in Zionist outreach but also very willing to stand up and be counted.

Thus, despite the absence of an Israeli diplomatic presence the establishment of an embryonic group enabled some sort of effective counter responses to emerging disinformation. There was no question of “rolling over.” On the contrary each and every lie was challenged.

I was asked to fly to Christchurch in order to attend a public meeting which was being addressed by an academic from Canterbury University. This gentleman’s theme song after the 6-Day War was similar to the current slanders being thrown around, namely that the wicked Israelis (i.e. the Jews) were guilty of every conceivable sin known to humanity. My task was to ask him some awkward questions.

Fortunately in those days there were no brainwashed students and therefore the assembled audience consisted mainly of locals and a couple of newspaper reporters. The chairman announced that limited questions would be allowed at the end of the presentation.

The speech accompanied by slides followed a predictable course. It was laden with untruths, half-truths, and, needless to say, a skewed and tendentious version of the Zionist movement. It was obvious that the audience was lapping up this distorted historical exercise because they were so mesmerized by the speaker’s eloquence that, at the end, they enthusiastically applauded. Nobody other than myself stood up to ask any questions.

I knew that I had a very limited time to make my points before the axe would fall. Therefore I launched into my rebuttal by exposing patently false accusations and questions as to the veracity of his conclusions.

As expected, the chairman intervened and declared me out of order, thus excusing the speaker from answering any of my challenges. However, it was obvious that some members of the audience had second thoughts, and this was confirmed when I met some of them over tea and biscuits and managed to enlighten them.

A subsequent short newspaper report was buried on an inside page and of course failed to mention question time. There was no social media, whatsapp or mobile phones to record proceedings in those days.

Was the whole exercise worth it?

I believe so because we thought that each and every lie needed to be confronted. Those propagating anti-Israel libels had to know that their efforts would always be exposed and that there never would be an occasion when the Jews “rolled over” and gave up.

Today’s runaway tsunami of hate requires counteraction without compromises.

Surveying the current scene it is obvious that this is still not occurring.

In far too many situations a reluctance to tackle outrageous rhetoric leaves an impression of weakness and surrender to the forces of ignorance and deliberate deception.

For far too many years, Abbas, the lifetime President of the corrupt PA, has been allowed to get away with incitement to murder and patently false assertions. This has resulted in him being crowned by the UN as a saint of peace and deserving of hymns of praise. A lack of will by Israeli political leaders and Diaspora spokespersons to divorce themselves from the fatal illusion of an Arab terror State has meant that Abbas and his colleagues can continue to peddle it.

Recently, Abbas repeated what has become standard fare for all Israel haters. He said that “Israel is a colonial project of the USA.” What was the reaction of the Biden Administration and the EU? Sending him and his corrupt outfit more money seems to be their default reaction. I discerned no outrage from any democratic member of the UN nor did I hear condemnatory retaliation from the usual Jewish groups.

Quite often, we manage to score spectacular “own goals.”

Take the recent visit to the Vatican by some returned hostages and their families as an example of an exercise in futility. I understand that desperate families need to do whatever they can to bring the plight of their loved ones to the attention of an indifferent world. However, as soon as a photo of the Pope blessing them was published I sensed that this could turn out to be a public relations debacle. Some may believe that Jews receiving a pontifical benediction is inspirational but anyone with knowledge of the Vatican’s dubious relationships with Jews and Israel would be wary.

My forebodings were immediately vindicated because soon after this meeting it was revealed that in a book written by the Pope he states that an investigation must be undertaken to see if Israel’s actions in Gaza meet the criteria for genocide. No condemnation of Hamas and demand for an unconditional return of the hostages.

I waited in vain for outraged responses and demands for retraction of this latest blood libel. The lack of meaningful denunciations by Israel, Diaspora Jewish groups and rabbinical representatives conveys a message. It says that you can defame us as much as you want and we will obligingly “roll over.”

At the Irish Remembrance Day Sunday service attended by the Irish President, the Anglican Canon, in his sermon, accused Israel of “deploying master race theories.”  No protest from the President or other attendees was forthcoming. This should come as no surprise because Irish school history textbooks describe Auschwitz as a “prisoner of war camp” and claim that “Jesus was a Palestinian.”

Israel had already withdrawn its ambassador from Dublin over previous such incidents. This latest outrage has caused nary a ripple, thus confirming to the propagators that they can slander Israel and Jews without any dire consequences.

President Macron issued another one of his “pearls of wisdom” when he declared that “Israel was sowing barbarism.” He then expressed surprise when sectors of French society target Jews on the streets of cities and towns. Once again this piece of Gallic chutzpah and hypocrisy attracted only muted outrage.

A Fatah/PLO spokesperson told the media that “what happened in the Netherlands is the best proof that the world is sick of the Jews.” This was reported by PMW (Palestine Media Watch) but ignored by most everyone else. Not a peep has been heard from Washington, London, Canberra or Wellington. Amsterdam’s mayor, in fact, denies that a pogrom took place, thus downgrading the violence against Jews as merely an act of civil hooliganism by unknown persons.

There are countless other examples of how taking the line of least resistance has become the default position these days.

Hushing up, rolling over and not making waves are failed strategies.

It’s time to get serious and fight 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.