Ring of fire
This tectonic belt of volcanoes and earthquakes has the potential to cause lethal upheavals at any given moment.
Michael Kuttner
Its destructive possibilities have been known for quite some time. In addition there is no way of knowing when it will activate and very little that can be done to mitigate its malign effects on countries and humans.
Basically, we are powerless in the face of nature’s destructive forces.
The Jewish People are no strangers to facing their own rings of fire, which over the millennia have erupted with devastating consequences in almost every part of the globe.
Unlike the unpredictable tremors generated by the forces of nature, the lethal shocks generated via pogroms, libellous lies and poisonous rhetoric are entirely predictable. While there is very little that can be done to prevent natural disasters, there is plenty that can be undertaken to prevent and thwart the tsunamis of vindictiveness against us.
It is necessary to first of all understand and recognize the root of the threats and then to take steps to deal with them in a timely manner.
Herein lies the dilemma we face these days.
Everyone living in countries bordering the Ring of Fire knows that sooner rather than later, “the big one” will strike.
On the other hand, there are, unfortunately, still far too many Jews who prefer to pretend that they are immune to the aftershocks of any sort of lethal tremors directed against them. It is not as though there are no early warnings of impending destructive forces. They abound everywhere and the message could not be clearer.
Just look at the eruptions currently occurring.
The Hamas kidnapping and horrific rape of Israeli women on 7 October is a perfect case in point. The international feminist movement has been noticeable by its silence despite the fact that there are still hostages in Gaza who are subject to the most indescribable indignities imaginable. When Nigerian Christian girls were abducted in 2014 by Islamic jihadists, the world was in an uproar, and the likes of Michelle Obama carried posters demanding their immediate return. Presumably, Jewish women being abducted do not warrant the same concern because the former First Lady and others have been conspicuously mute.
In fact, the subject of Hamas hostage-taking has sunk beneath the waves and is instead replaced by selective “moral” outrage over Israel’s response to terror. In this campaign to blame Israel we once again witness the usual peripheral Jews being trotted out by the media to bash the country.
Progressives in the USA and elsewhere are enlisting the support of disparate groups in a campaign of delegitimisation. This falls on fertile ground in academia where ignorance about historical facts goes hand in hand with endemic Jew hate. Electoral considerations mandate a sacrificial lamb, and Israel is the perfect candidate. The subsequent byproduct of Jew hate has now risen to a level not seen since the heady days of Germany’s pogroms against Jewish communities.
Israel has produced irrefutable proof of UNRWA staff complicities in aiding and abetting Hamas terror. Well before 7 October, it was known that UNRWA schools were in league with Hamas and that terror tunnels existed under UNRWA facilities. In the face of these facts the only defense was one of denial. UNRWA belatedly promised to investigate in response to what was to become a temporary cut-off in funding by donor countries,
In what one can only describe as the perfect fraud of the millennium, UNRWA now claims that its staff’s confessions of involvement with Hamas and its atrocities were “forced and coerced” by Israeli interrogators. Additionally, UNRWA accuses Israel of the rape of Palestinian Arabs. In other words, the best means of defence is to accuse your accusers of the very crimes that the terror groups employ. As blaming Jews for crimes committed by others is a well-tried and trusted method employed over the past centuries, there is every reason to believe that this time around, the mud will stick. Sure enough, in the morally polluted assemblies of the United Nations, UNRWA can be assured of steadfast support and continued financial beneficence.
Germany has demanded that Israel rescind the building of homes in Judea and Samaria. It has only taken about eighty years for the Germans to once again decide where Jews can live and for others to jump on the same bandwagon. Russia’s Foreign Minister maintained at the Moscow meeting of Islamic terror groups that “Jesus was born in Palestine.” This supreme and moronic fabrication is, of course, par for the course in the long and lamentable revision of historical facts which have become divine revelations of infallibility.
Is it any wonder, therefore, that Saudi Arabia can blatantly assert that “Israel is Judaizing the West Bank” – i.e. Judea and Samaria and Jerusalem? The fact that Jews now living in Israel’s Capital and heartland can be guilty of a heinous crime merely illustrates the absurd situation that prevails. The eruption of condemnations reverberating forth from every quarter proves that historical realities are irrelevant.
Jerusalem, Judea and Samaria were settled by Jews long before Wellington, Canberra, Washington and London were colonized. The irony of Italy refusing to accept the credentials of a designated Israeli ambassador because he lives in “occupied” territory is another example of the prevalent lunacy. Apparently Roman ethnic cleansing of Jews is perfectly acceptable but for today’s successor of the Romans, Jews returning to their ancestral homeland is an anathema.
Meanwhile, it took a former French Foreign Minister to resurrect an ancient yet still surviving libel. He is on record of accusing “settlers” of poisoning Arab wells. In the past, this claim, together with accusations of deicide, was enough to ignite theological and physical terror against European Jewish communities. We all know where that ended. Making the same allegations of well poisoning today is guaranteed to resonate with all those who are looking to cause trouble.
That is why threats of “holy war” during Ramadan are now the daily theme of Islamic incitement. The fact that Biden can quote Hamas produced numbers of casualties in Gaza and Jordan’s Queen can accuse Israel of genocidal actions is a direct result of the torrent of untruths cascading forth on a daily basis.
The continued acquiescence by the international community to the obscene utterances emanating from Ramallah is proof that Israel cannot entrust its security to anyone but itself.
Take, for example, as recorded by MEMRI, a Fatah official stating that “the Holocaust was necessary because Jews planned to take over Germany by destroying its economy and moral values.” This abhorrent slander raised nary a ripple of protest at the UN and has had no adverse effect on all those peddling the notion of “Palestine” as a respected member of the international community.
At the same time, it has been disclosed that the PA is actively working towards having Israel suspended from United Nations membership. No doubt this move would have the overwhelming support of all the despotic and non-democratic regimes represented at the UN. Whether this eventuates or not is immaterial because it merely highlights the prevailing rotten state of affairs.
If the Ukrainians fighting against Russian imperialist ambitions thought that they might at least attract some sort of moral encouragement from the Vatican, they were rudely awakened. The Pope urged them to “have the courage of the white flag.” He told them that “when you see that you are defeated, you have to have the courage to negotiate.” The concordat with Nazi Germany no doubt was an example of waving the white flag and abandoning any pretence of opposing the forces of evil.
These few examples exemplify the destructive seismic forces currently occurring.
The ring of fire arrayed against Israel and Jews worldwide will not subside or disappear. There is no point in lamenting or surrendering.
The only flag we must wave is the blue and white one. The Jewish national home is an eternal inheritance of the Jewish People and is destined to outlast all its oppressors.
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.
