10 Reasons I Love Being Jewish
6 min read
15 min read
In the shadow of Kristallnacht an organized pogrom was unleashed on the streets of Amsterdam. We should not be surprised.
On Thursday, November 7, hundreds of fans gathered in Amsterdam’s Johan Cruyff Arena to watch the visiting Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer team play against the popular local Dutch team Ajax. Following the game, gangs of men roamed the city, chasing down and beating Israelis and Jews in an orgy of violence that brought to mind the darkest days of the Holocaust.
Amsterdam has seen regular anti-Israel marches over the past year. In fact, anti-Israel rhetoric in the Netherlands had become so extreme in recent years that Israel’s Ministry for Diaspora Affairs and Combating Antisemitism has taken note, warning that the constant drumbeat of anti-Israel incitement was making the country dangerous for Jews and Israelis.
This ceaseless drumbeat of anti-Israel propaganda and antisemitism has made violence against Jews seem like a natural response.
“What was once considered radical rhetoric has become normalized, not just in isolated protests but though widespread activism that permeates Dutch society,” the report noted, as reported in The Jerusalem Post.
This ceaseless drumbeat of anti-Israel propaganda has made violence against Jews seem like a natural - even justified - response to Israel’s supposedly intolerable existence.
Though it hasn’t been widely reported, at least three Israelis reported being set upon by gangs of Arab men and beaten up on Wednesday, November 6, a day before the Ajax-Maccabi Tel Aviv soccer game.
Two Israeli men, who gave their names to Israel’s Channel 12 only as Oren and Or, “said they were targeted and beaten” by “Arab gangs in the city.” Both men said they’d reported the attacks to the police who did nothing.
A third Israeli man named Gal was more seriously injured that same day. He was “forced to the floor by assailants who had demanded to know if he was Israeli.” He described being “beaten up by a gang of 8-10 people - ‘punched in the head; two teeth broken.’ He said he ‘woke up in an ambulance covered in blood’ and was told afterwards that he was found in a pool of blood.”
In this image taken from video, police stand guard as Maccabi Tel Aviv supporters light flares at the Dam square, at Amsterdam, the Netherlands, November. 7, 2024. AP
A group of Israelis was chased by a mob of seemingly Muslim men on Wednesday, and narrowly escaped being beaten up by running inside a casino.
Even though these three attacks indicated a danger to Israeli fans, Dutch police allowed a planned anti-Israel event to take place the next day in Anton de Komplein Square, a short walk from the Johan Cruyff Arena.
Later on Wednesday, groups of Muslim men began planning the following day’s pogrom. Social media messages sent on November 6 include “Tomorrow after the game, at night, part 2 of the Jew Hunt.” Men debated back and forth whether the Jews would “go to the casino tomorrow” for safety, and assured one another that on November 7, after the game, there would be no escape.
Ironically, Ajax has long been known as Europe’s “Jewish” soccer team, with fans calling themselves Yids, the Yiddish word for Jews - and their fans displaying horrific antisemitism in response. In the extreme soccer hooligan culture that flourishes in Europe, some Ajax fans get tattoos of Jewish stars and call themselves “Super Jews.” Fans sing the Jewish song Hava Nagila during games and shout “Jews, Jews, Jews.”
There are several theories about how Ajax became known as a “Jewish” team.
Ajax stadium, April 2019
Ajax’s home stadium is near Jodenbuurt, Amsterdam’s historic Jewish neighborhood, which was a bustling home to about 80,000 Jews before the Holocaust. (75% of Dutch Jews were murdered during World War II.) The team got another Jewish boost when Dutch soccer star Johan Cruyff played for Ajax between 1964 and 1973, then managed the team from 1985 to 1988. Cruyff had several Jewish relatives, including a nephew who became a rabbi in Israel and encouraged Cruyff to visit the Jewish state. In 2013, Cruyff visited Israel. At Yad Vashem, Israel's Holocaust Memorial and Museum, he filled out details of three of his Jewish relatives who were murdered in the Holocaust and his many fans were moved by this gesture. In the 1960s and 1970s, three of Ajax’s club presidents were Jewish, as were some of its players. Before games, the team would eat a kosher salami for good luck.
As Ajax is seen as a “Jewish” team, its opponents cast themselves as extreme antisemites. Rival fans scream “Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas” during games and hiss in order to sound like gas, a reference to the gas chambers of the Holocaust. It’s a vile taunt, and one that normalizes anti-Jewish hatred and threats of violence.
After Maccabi Tel Aviv lost to Ajax 5-0, fans streamed out of the Johan Cruyff Arena. They were soon set upon by gangs of scores of Turkish and Arab men. Dutch Jewish reporter Daid de Bruijn records some of the violence:
Footage shows an Israeli soccer fan being struck by a car, cartwheeling across the windshield. More footage shows the scene in downtown Amsterdam, where Israelis are pleading with their assailants, ‘not Jewish, not Jewish.’ And they are beaten mercilessly. In video of other attacks last night, a victim is struck and lies injured on the ground, seemingly unconscious. A father can be seen fleeing with his son. A man jumps into one of Amsterdam’s canals to escape his assailants. In the recording, where he is forced to say ‘Free Palestine,’ his assailants laugh and jeer that he is a ‘cancer Jew’ - a classic slur in Dutch….”
Aaron and Jacob are two young British Jews, fathers of young families from London, who visited Amsterdam for the game and were caught up in the pogrom. Aaron describes:
We left the game early to meet a friend, and as we walked towards the bar area, chaos broke out - mopeds appeared from alleyways, and a crowd surrounded an Israeli man. The man was on the ground, his head pinned between a curb and a metal gate, being viciously kicked.
Aaron and Jacob tried to push the mob away, only to be threatened with violence themselves. “Are you Yehudi? Are you Jewish?” the attackers asked, even demanding to see their passports to ascertain if they were Israeli. A gang member punched Aaron in the face, then was quickly joined by 20 other Muslim men.
Images from the attack
“I told him to leave him alone and the next thing I know, he punched me in the face. It was so unexpected. My glasses were broken, my nose split. Blood everywhere,” Aaron described. A gang member realized that Aaron was Jewish and told the mob to leave him alone. “Yes, but he helped a Jew,” one of his attackers complained. “They knew what they were doing. It wasn’t a random ‘Let’s get an Israeli,” Aaron describes; “It was organized. It was ‘We want Jews. We want Jewish blood.’” Despite the violence, Aaron and Jacob recall, there were no police officers in the area to intervene.”
Attackers coordinated their pogrom using social media. “There is talk of people going on a Jew hunt,” explained Amsterdam Mayor Femke Halsema.
The many social media posts showing Jews and Israelis being beaten up in the streets and canals of Amsterdam were gleeful. “This coward jumped into the canal, afraid of getting beaten,” one typical post showed, along with “crying with laughter” emojis.
Another public post shows an unconscious man lying in the fetal position on a road in Amsterdam, being kicked by his attackers. Yet another post “shows a young Israeli football fan cornered in a narrow alley where he ends up crouching on the floor. He begs for mercy but his assailants knock him out with a punch to the head.” In these and other cases, the perpetrators appeared proud of what they were doing.
For close to an hour, it appears that Dutch police officers did little to stop the violence.
For close to an hour, it appears that Dutch police officers did little to stop the violence which was being carried out in locations throughout the city. One Israeli told Israeli television that “Amsterdam police instructed (fans) not to go by taxis. Police officers told fans that taxi drivers in the city are helping organize the riots and assisting the gangs.” Hundreds of Israelis and Jews huddled in hotel rooms and other locations, fearful of going outside. Many Jews sheltered in Amsterdam’s Chabad center for hours during the pogrom.
By the end of the evening, five Maccabi fans were in hospitals and 62 assailants were arrested. It’s estimated that about two dozen other Jews and Israelis were injured, with some saying they were too fearful to seek medical treatment in the Netherlands and intended to go to urgent care clinics once they were back in Israel.
While the pogrom was unfolding, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced he was sending airplanes to the Netherlands to evacuate Israeli citizens; El Al flew three special emergency flights to evacuate Israelis. But they were terrified to use taxis or ride sharing apps that might have been used to plan the pogrom just hours before.
Instead, Dutch Jews organized to drive Israelis to the airport to leave the country. “A call was put out…saying that there were Israelis staying at hotels and safe houses who needed help getting to the airport,” explained Amsterdam resident Ben Myers, who helped drive. “It was all organized and managed by Dutch Jewish and Israeli women through a volleyball club WhatsApp group.”
In the aftermath of the pogrom, many figures are expressing sorrow for allowing mobs of men to attack Jews on the streets of a major European city with impunity. The day after the pogrom, Dutch King Willen-Alexander stated, “We failed the Jewish community of the Netherlands during World War II, and last night we failed again.”
Yet some are blaming the Jews and Israelis who were attacked for the violence that was directed against them. “Hundreds of supporters of Maccabi Tel Aviv came to Amsterdam, held a very vocal rally in the main square before the incident, waving Israeli flags, and also took down a Palestinian flag,” is how Al Jazeera, the popular Qatari-based news organization with 430 million viewers, reported the pogrom. There’s already a Wikipedia page about the November 7 pogrom, and it is shaping an alternative, false narrative in which it was Jews and Israelis who instigated the attacks. The Wikipedia page creates a false equivalence between the Jews who were attacked and their Muslim attackers, states that Israeli fans began the violence and that pro-Palestinians merely responded in kind, and minimizes the violence perpetrated against Jews.
As days go by, more and more press reports about the Amsterdam pogrom are obfuscating basic facts and excusing violence against Jews. A recent Reuters report about the Amsterdam pogrom, for example, quoted a “Senior Hamas official” asserting that “mass killing” by Israelis in Gaza “is likely to lead to such spontaneous repercussions.”
The recent pogrom in Amsterdam raged while city officials were commemorating Kristallnacht, the spasm of violence which saw massive pogroms across Germany, Austria, and parts of Czechoslovakia during November 9 and 10, 1938. Mobs killed hundreds of Jews, looted over 7,000 Jewish owned businesses, burned and looted hundreds of synagogues, and desecrated Jewish graveyards. As with the November 7 Amsterdam pogrom, police officials during Kristallnacht stood by and did nothing. (A crucial difference, of course, is that after nearly an hour of inaction, Dutch police did eventually intervene and bring an end to the Amsterdam pogrom.)
Today, 86 years after Kristallnacht, it’s shocking that once again mobs have hunted down and beaten Jews in the streets of a major European city.
The very color of the Maccabi Tel Aviv team’s jerseys recalls this history. Founded in the 1920s, Maccabi Tel Aviv players originally competed in blue and white jerseys. That changed during the Holocaust, when team members realized that their relatives in Europe were being rounded up and murdered by the Nazis. In 1942, Maccabi changed the white color in their uniforms to yellow in solidarity with their Jewish brethren in Europe who were forced to wear yellow Stars of David on their clothes.
Amsterdam, a city which celebrates its famous resident Anne Frank, who wore a yellow star and hid from Nazis for over two years, once again saw Jews - many with the yellow of Maccabi Tel Aviv on their clothes - hiding once again from anti-Jewish mobs. The many coincidences are too much to ignore. Surely, we ought to learn something from this recent spasm of anti-Jewish hate.
It’s not only Amsterdam where Jews are being chased, shot at, and beaten in the streets. In my own home city of Chicago, the day before the Amsterdam pogrom, two Jewish DePaul students who were “visibly showing their support for Israel” were punched and attacked by masked assailants who shouted antisemitic slurs. One of the people attacked was sitting near a sign saying that he was an Israeli veteran and was happy to speak with people who were curious to learn more Israel.
Two weeks earlier, an Orthodox Jewish man was shot while he walked from his home to synagogue on Shabbat morning. Chicago police later charged the perpetrator with hate crime and attempted murder, noting that he targeted his victim because he wanted to harm Jews.
In his award-winning, darkly comic novel about antisemitism, The Finkler Question, author Howard Jacobson creates a character who’s a complacent Jew who turns a blind eye to antisemitism. His answer to anyone who dares suggest that extreme anti-Israel and anti-Jewish rhetoric might result in real life danger for Jews is a yawn. Let me know when Jews are being beaten up in the streets, the character says.
I’ve thought of that novel a lot lately. Jews are literally being beaten up in the streets now. And shot. And how am I changing in response? The shift in public attitudes about Israel, the virulence of hatred against the Jewish state, has been building for so long that many of us have excused each new stage as somehow normal. As anti-Israel rhetoric pushes more and more boundaries, it’s easy to get used to this new normal. That would be a huge mistake.
When I heard about the pogrom in Amsterdam, I was in Boston visiting my son. I stayed near a bus stop emblazoned with a huge ad asserting that “In 100 years, people will still ask why you did nothing to stop Israel killing 186,000 people in Gaza today.” In the past I might not have thought too much about this outrageous ad, which is inaccurate both in its inflated death count and in its omission of any mention of Hamas, and seems clearly designed to inflame passions against Israel and Zionists. The ad now terrifies me.
I’m petrified that the pervasive anti-Israel sentiment and antisemitism that we’ve seen in Amsterdam is spreading around the world. I’m scared that anti-Israel rhetoric is putting me and those I love in harm's way. I feel that we Jews are truly in danger.
Reading about the three El Al flights that made emergency journeys to Amsterdam to bring Israelis home, I longed to be on one of those planes. Now is time for all Jews to ask ourselves three hard questions.
As we read about Jews being attacked by mobs in Amsterdam, or shot in Chicago, or threatened anywhere else in the world, is our first reaction to feel that we’re connected? That a threat against a Jew anywhere is a personal attack on us as well?
A key Jewish principle is that Kol Yisrael arevim zeh bazeh: All Jews are responsible for one another (Talmud Shevuot 39a). Do we truly feel connected to our fellow Jews when they live elsewhere and might dress differently from us or speak a different language? It’s time for all of us to find ways to strengthen our connections with our fellow Jews.
When antisemites attack us, that’s our signal to double down on our Jewish life. The best answer to those who seek to intimidate us and harm the Jewish community is to increase our Jewish commitment. For every attack on Jews, let’s resolve to strengthen our own Jewish lives in response.
At what point is it time to leave our Diaspora communities? I vividly remember my grandmother telling me how she knew it was time to leave Vienna in 1937 when antisemitism seemed out of control. Over and over again, I’ve started asking myself: what would she say right now? When is it time? When we read about emergency flights taking Jews home to Israel, is it time for us to be on those planes as well?
Share your perspectives in the comments section below.
This is a very important matter, but the article is too long before we get to the 3 questions
It's time to show the Arab thugs that Jews are not Quakers. Young Jews living abroad must first be taught the skills of hand-to-hand combat. When Jews are attacked by Arab thugs out comes the nunchucks and throwing stars as well as a long razor-sharp double-edged fighting knife. Jews must stand up like the true warriors we are and fight back.
Is it time to leave? I am hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.
We now have antisemites on the right and the left here in the US. Once Trump disbands the FBI and takes over the DOJ no one will be left to protect civil and human rights, let alone us jews.
If people think for a second that the holocaust can't happen here in the USA think again. People have already forgotten or do not believe it happened.
I am keeping my eyes wide open and will most definitely leave when indicated and before it becomes a crisis.
Yes, it’s time to leave
It’s urgent that we have the facts of the matter and not wildly make unfounded accusations. The fact remains that none of the credible international news outlets covered the story from the outset. Confusion continues to reign over factuality. Who were these “gangs of Turks and Arabs,” so freely bantered around as the instigators? Even the usual media and cable suspects only offered a pittance of what sounded like mass confusion. Is it possible that the Amsterdam Police were also confused about who the instigators were? What about the contention that before and during the soccer match, gangs of hoodlums were running up and down residential streets tearing down Palestinian flags hanging from uninvolved homes? The assumption, of course, were that the hoodlums were Jews. This was BEFORE
You're buying right into the nasty lies that accuse Jewish victims of being the criminals!
While it's surely possible that sports fans' enthusiasm in rooting for their team may occasionally spin out of control, say what you will but the rowdiest Jews would never cause a mere fraction of what their hatefully vicious enemies do without blinking.
If you're unconvinced, research global crime statistics to find out the very great disparity between convicted prisoners who are Arab / Muslim and those who are Jewish (not to mention the types of crimes they were convicted of).
Kudos to the Maccabi fans for fighting back!
Every Jewish man must know krav magav!
Fight! fight! fight!
In my view it is pretty errie that the progrom happened on November 8 2024, and Kristallnacht was on November 9 and 10 1938, so Kristallnacht happened 86 years ago, after Kristallnacht it was the offical start of the Holocaust, what I see going on in the world today I see more and more, Rabbi Meir Kahane( obm) was right about what he( obm) said about exile and Israel, if in exile learn self defense and carry legal weapons to defend yourself, and in Israel wrote a book " They Must Go", Kahane( obm) created the organaztion JDL, Jews have to defend themselves from these progroms with Hashem's help during the Holocaust Jews fought back any way they could if not with weapons with spiritually, when Jews fight back and the Muslims end up in hospitals in intestive care then it will stop
Question # 4. DO I HAVE ENOUGH WEAPONS AND AMMO.
Is it time to leave? I've been asking myself the same question ever since Trump has been elected as president of the US. I saw some of the pogrom on TV news (I24, the Israeli news) and I noticed among the pogromists someone waving a Trump maga flag. I've seen this movie before and it doesn't have a happy ending.
Nonsense.
Trump is the greatest friend that Israel has ever had.
It is not his fault if some degenerate flies his flag.
@Andrea Schonberger
Do you fail to notice all the Israeli flags that fly at Trump rallies or all the Trump flags that fly at pro-Israel rallies?
Nonsense
Time to come home!!!
רמ"ך היה צודק
I would love to, but how will I pay for it???
You will get a free flight for you and your entire family to move here and there is financial and other aid to start you off in getting settled. Money is no excuse...
Bravo to Dr. Miller for an excellent article! Especially Question #3. Living here in Israel during this war I feel safer than I would anywhere else in the world.
Ditto; moreover, when American relatives fret about our safety in Israel, I tell them there's no place else I'd rather be because then I'd be missing out on witnessing the miracles!
Dear brethren overseas, the tide has turned so that now we're more worried about your safety then you apparently need to be about ours!
May Hashem protect us all against the evil perpetrated against us and the vicious lies being spread about us.
But why wait for Moshiach to bring you in PJs? True, until we merit the ultimate Geulah, we in Eretz Hakodesh are also in diaspora -- but after all, those of us who are already here are in the courtyard of the King, b"H!
I agree with much of this article, and the three questions asked at the end, but I’d like to ask a fourth. At what point is it time for us Jews to come together and learn to defend ourselves when in the midst of such evil? I think if everyone being attacked in Amsterdam had fought back, well obviously it would be twisted to make us out as the bad guys as usual, but it may have stopped some of the violence against us. I think it is time to raise arms against these vile beings and put a stop to living in fear constantly once and for all.
Yes, yes, yes! It's far to long overdue we must stand up and defend ourselves!
Defend themselves with what? If they had had knives or sticks or any arms at all, they would not have been allowed into the Netherlands. How can one or two unarmed Jews defend themselves against 10 or more Arab thugs? Only in Israel are Jewish civilians usually armed.
Yes. However, in the US, all citizens and resident aliens, including our religious and secular Jews, can also choose to keep and bear arms for their personal and community defense. Only prohibited persons such as violent felons and the mentally compromised cannot have arms. Many violent attacks are stopped without a shot being fired when assailants are confronted by armed resistance. The US is home to more than 40% of the world's Jewish population where Jews are free to be both 100% American and 100% Jewish.
Try getting a pistol license for CARRY in NYC or Westchester
The odds aren’t good but there are technics for fighting a mob and everyone should learn some self-defense skills.
You make a very good point in favor of self-defense. Many people would fold and turn tails if the other side was dishing it out just as bad or even worse.
I agree, i was always a fan of Rabbi Meir Kahane( obm), he( obm) said Jews should learn to defend themselves in exile and get legal weapons, and he( obm) was right about what is going on in Israel, he( obm) founded the JDL a Jewish orgazation of young people to fight anti semites, Jews must fight back and not be afraid of our enemies, Hashem is in charge not anti semites, when Jews leave Europe then the anti semites in these countries will be the minority and be the new Jews, then the Muslims will get them, in France there is already Sharia Law( Muslim Laws) not the law of the land, I read someplace when Europe murdered/ killed the Jews the Muslims are the curse, instead of chasing out Jews the Eurpopeans should be nice to Jews or else they will be stuck with a Muslim majority
These losers were looking for an excuse to beat up Israelis/Jews, if not the Nakhba, then Kristalnacht. Of course Arabs in Holland don't have the same wherewithal and means to perpetuate what the Nazis did, but the message is the same. B.t.w. any city, state or country run by a far-left govt today is overrun by anti-Western anti-Semitic elements.
One should plan to move to Israel because Jews are needed here and Hashem gave us this land. Antisemitism is a motivation if needed. As I understand it 70 percent of non Orthodox Jews marry outside the faith if they marry so If one is ok with their kids assimilating away then staying in galut is an option. Haredi world puts up walls and for now antisemitism seems manageable. In truth it's physically dangerous in Israel as well as Oct 7 and its aftermath has shown but here we fight back against our foes ourselves. Wouldn't want to raise kids anywhere else.
Not meaning to be funny could you please explain how antisemitism can be managed.
Facebook justice warriors, my colleagues and acquaintances from the past, put up rainbow signs following Trump’s reelection and write that they worry about those they love. I feel like a low grade entity that is no longer in the radar of sympathy as a Jew. But I delete my response of why so much consideration for one type of people and none for Jews because I know the answer. Morality is not shaped by ethics or virtue, it is formed by majority.
I grew up learning to shoot rifles at a Jewish summer camp. Nearly 50 years later I own many guns and teach Jews how to use guns and encourage them to take advantage of the right to own guns to defend themselves. I do not understand how Jews say ‘never again’ but have no means whatsoever to defend themselves. Jews have been the victims of pogroms for millennia throughout the world and yet Jews in the U.S. do not avail themselves of the means to prevent attacks. Have we learned nothing as a people.
Such a pertinent point. I've been thinking about owning a firearm for self-defense, but never got around to it and the training involved. Even in my 60's, I owe it to my self and those I care about to feel safe.
We need more of this.
If the Israelis in Amsterdam happened to have guns on them, would they have been allowed to shoot the attackers? Just curious.
Imagine if all the Israelis had guns on Oct 7th.........
Do you think if they had guns they would have wondered if they were allowed to shoot?
I am a Jew.. I own guns... I am a member of a gun club, I am NOT ALONE... one of the newer members is a Lubavitcher Rabbi and we talked both yidishkite and guns.. We practice using our guns... . I HIT - exactly what I aim at, every single time... I take other Jews with me to the gun club including my Rabbi and his Son's... A gun is never very far from my hand. We stand for our community, for our families and for ourselves.. The clear message to others considering doing us harm is is please do NOT give us a reason to act but know that if we have no choice we shall act. My Mother experienced Kristalnacht as a young girl..My Grandfather was arrested not long there after by them for the crime of being a Jew, . We will NOT allow this to happen again.
How many guns do you need to defend from a mob? I have many Israeli friends who got guns and go to shooting range on regular basis. I just don’t understand how it is not obvious that if we reach for guns, we loose the whole premise of being better, and violence begets violence, and how does it work where we are a meagre minority, and our actions get amplified on the world stage resulting in amplified violence against us. I agree that we shouldn’t put our heads down and accept, but guns should not be the first choice for defence, it should be last.
Agreed. I think we need to have the knowledge and capability but I think something as lethal should be a last resort… but I think self defense is a way around the stooping to their animal behavior.
Ask Kyle Rittenhouse.
We are not the Amish. Judaism believes in self defense.
That is loser talk.
Jewish boys and men must know krav magav.
Jewish girls and women must know how and where to hide.
Really? I don't plan to hide from anyone. I've never owned or used a gun but my fury would probably be unleashed if some low life even breathed in my direction!
We all know what the anti-semites do to Jewish women.
Do I even have to say?
It's best for women to hide than be dishonoured.
Don't make me laugh! There are plenty of self-defense courses designed ESPECIALLY for women, and there is Krav Maga, as mentioned before. Your comments are an insult to women everywhere!
Kudos to you for learning krav maga!
But if a Jewish woman is captured, you know what they will do to her.
Excuse me, but that is really sexist! Girls and women can and do learn Krav Maga, and should! Not only because we are Jews but because we are women, with all that that implies!
How does it work? Now for you, you're free to be unarmed or not use a weapon so that you don't 'lose the whole premise of being better.' Me - if I'm attacked, and I have the opportunity to draw a gun . . . I'm gonna empty that gun and terminate the attack. I'll leave people like you to worry about ''violence begetting violence.' IMHO, WEAKNESS INVITES ATTACK. AND STRENGTH INHIBITS ATTACKS!
We ARE better, but the reason for that has nothing to do with guns. Please be clear, pacifism is NOT a Jewish or Torah concept.
Jewish law requires you to save your life and those of other Jews. There are even some wars that are called "milchemet mitzva", meaning that we are commanded to go to war in those cases.
The idea of "turn the other cheek" was created by a different religion, one whose adherents first disarmed the Jews and then slaughtered more than 6 million of us.
Notwithstanding - and in full agreement - with the gist of the above, another question needs to be addressed: When Israeli soccer fans loudly chant "Death to the Arabs" in the streets of Amsterdam, and brazenly shout obscenities while spectators and players alike at the stadium stand in silence in remembrance of the victims of the catastrophic floods in Spain - are we justified in shunning any responsibilty whatsoever for the drama that unfolded?
It has been said that "one who fights with monsters should be careful lest he thereby become a monster."
Many of the Israeli soccer fans portayed - and mirrored - a very ugly and shameful image of Israel that severely compromises this article's simplistic attempt to obfuscate the responsibility we also bear for our sad predicament.
PS. When we, as the "people of the Book", suffer so terribly as we do at present - as in countless times in the past - it does us no justice to cast ourselves as mere hapless victims of antisemitic acts of physical and verbal violence. We must also - and principally - look at ourselves. It is not only about "us and them":
"Thus says the Lord God: 'I do not do this for your sake, O House of Israel, but for My Holy Name, which ye have profaned among the nations whither ye came' " (Ezechiel, 36:22).
If that happened they were incredibly stupid bring it on themselves but supposedly this attack was planned in advance
Someone gave the message to the Mossad I heard, and they told the Amerstdam police and not the Israeli soccer team, who is in the Massad the three stooges not a smart person
The links I sent you are tendentious as regards the commentary but the cold facts re: the abysmal behavior of many of "our boys" are undeniable and documented on many outlets.
Yesterday it was Amsterdam. Tomorrow it will be the rest of Europe. Just a little patience... it'll come.
Come join us in Israel, the only country in the world where Jews are really safe.
Jews are not safe in Israel. There is safety from certain types of attacks but clearly we are not ‘safe’ in Israel. But at least those in Israel have a means to defend themselves.
Yes, you are sort of right. I life in the north where we need to make sure, wherever we go, that we can here the sirens letting us know of an incoming rocket or missile. Yet I do feel quite safe. Yes I am armed (and so is my wife). Our guns won't protect us against rockets. We have them to protect ourselves, our neighbors and our fellow citizens in the event of a terrorist attack. Yet I do feel quite safe.
I honestly worry more about my children who live in the States.
It looks like Rabbi Kahane( obm) was right what will happen in exile and in Israel, but unfortunately nobody listened to him( obm) he( obm) foresaw this which is happening in the world today, a while back
Those in Israel have a means to defend themselves? Has anyone made any effort to research what an Israeli citizen must go through just to own a handgun in Israel? And if they are even able to get a permit to purchase a handgun, they are limited to 100 rounds of ammunition (recently raised from 50). Rifles and shotguns? Fuggetaboutit.
They can depend on the IDF to protect them? So how did that work out on October 7?
It may not be time to leave America, but it maybe time for the liberal Jewish community to reconsider their stance on Muslim immigration. Jewish Advocates for Muslims integration are being nieve in equating these Immigrants with their ancestral Jewish families who fled oppression.
Indeed, Jews brought benefit to their host countries despite their refugee status (and with no DEI perks!) because Jews build.
Muslims, on the other hand, bring chaos, crime and bloodshed because Arabs live to destroy.
I agree, they are from Ishmael it says in the Torah how they are like in Hebrew " para adam" wild being
They should go to France for a rude awaking, where there is Sharia Law( Muslim Law) not the law of the land, also no go zones where the police is scared to go there because the neighborhoods are full of Muslims, where there are Muslims like in Germany for example women are not safe that is putting it mildly and the Muslum men don't get arrested, it is not safe for girls and women even not Jewish ones besides Jews, Muslim men are not nice to their own women I read a Jewish lady Phyllis Chesler wrote a book about her experience about it
Any Jew that wants that is nuts, they don't see the reality, liberal Jews love their enemies but not their own Jews that are religious, my mom( obm) would call them self haters some of them are like unfortunately and very sad
In Israel a lot of Eurporean Jews made Aliyah to escape the influx of Muslims, to bad Israel didn't listen to Rabbi Kahane( obm) book" They Must Go"
I made aliyah in 2021 at age 75 from Cleveland, Ohio. In spite of the war, I feel much safer here than in America. 🇮🇱
Either the Nazi Satanic bloodthirsty barbaric savage rabid animals need to be mass deported, or Jews need to stay away, and, more and more, that covers most of Europe.
Right, but don't insult animals, some animals are more civilized than they are
Hear! hear!
The Israeli Army have a k9 units, dogs that are trained to help soldiers, some of dog soldiers gave their lives to save humans, I read a story that the a retired army dog jumped on a terrorist they sadly killed the dog, it slowed down the terrorists to find and kill people, then I think helped came to save the people