I wrote this for a speech contest following my first trip to Israel and 7 years of studying about it.
In 1144 at the height of a brutal and bloody civil war between the grandchildren of William the Conqueror over who held the right to the throne, the body of a young boy was found in Norwich England. The boy had been brutally murdered with strange wounds to his head, arms, and torso. Finding such horrible scenes was not uncommon due to the raging war that happened all around. The boy was discovered to be William of Norwich. His uncle, a priest, upon finding his dead nephew could assume one of two things.
The first, to assume that William died as a casualty of war.
The second, to assume that a local group of Jews had murdered him as part of a religious sacrifice of a Christian child for Passover.
He assumed the second.
And though the story seemed far-fetched and hard to believe, it eventually became the basis for one of the most heinous and lasting accusations against the Jews. That they conspired to kill children and use their blood for religious rites. The explanation for William’s death that emerged, though slow to take hold in medieval England, became the mainstay of anti-Semitic thought and justification for atrocious crimes against Jews in the Middle Ages and continues Unto. This. Day.
Anti-Semitism has existed for thousands of years. It seems that every couple of decades there’s a new rumor, a new myth, and a new narrative that explains why it’s justified to actively persecute and murder the Jews. The Bible predicts much of this persecution. The Second Book of Kings tells us that Israel shall be, “a proverb and a byword among all people.” The Bible gives a reason for this curse stating that “Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods and have worshipped them and served them.” The children of Israel often never corrected this behavior leading to the scripture that states, “So these nations feared the Lord and served their graven images, both their children and their children’s children: as did their fathers, so they do unto this day.” The Jews are a unique and peculiar people. Unlike any other race, they are bound by covenants that stretch as far back as time. Not only the people but the places they lived are all connected to these powerful words. If they forget God then they will be enslaved and persecuted. The Bible is full of these prophecies and history confirms them. In contrast, the bible also addresses the role of the Gentiles–or in other words, anyone who is not a Jew. The book of Isaiah prophesies saying, “Behold, I will lift up mine hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people: and they shall bring thy sons in their arms, and thy daughters shall be carried upon their shoulders. And kings shall be thy nursing fathers, and their queens thy nursing mothers:” Us non-Jews have a responsibility to care for the chosen people of God, the Jews. Whether or not you believe in the bible, this issue is still critical to know about because the plight of the Jews comes down to one basic question – a question that should trigger everyone’s conscience regardless of religion. Do the Jewish people have a right to live and have a home?
Many do not think so.
On January 27, 1945, the tragic consequences of the Final Solution were discovered across Europe. Millions across the globe were horrified to learn the truth about the supposed “work camps” the Jews had been sent to. The world learned that day how wicked and evil people could really be when it was discovered that 6 million of the Jewish people had been murdered and burned in concentration camps.
In the aftermath, Holocaust museums were constructed across the world to memorialize the millions of people who had lost their lives. A slogan was established.
Never Again.
When you go to museums today you see these bold letters that impress a powerful statement.
NEVER. AGAIN.
But what could this possibly mean!?!?!? Never again burn 6 million people like animals in ovens?!? Never again try to obliterate an entire race of people off the face of the map?!? These are easy promises to make! You don’t meet an Adolph Hitler every day!
People should know what never again really means. It certainly includes prohibiting genocide, but if we dig deeper we find it means that you, and me, and we, will never again allow the Jews to be openly condemned, persecuted with acts of violence, driven out of business, and thrown out of countries where they had made their livelihoods. Never Again meant that we would never turn away so many suffering people who had no home except the concentration camps that were designed to kill them.
Apparently, these promises are alot more difficult to make.
Many feel that we have accomplished this feat of never again persecuting the Jews. When we look only at the numbers nothing has happened on the same scale as the Holocaust. It’s as if the holocaust was a one-time random bizarre event that started and ended the persecution of Jewish people. These things didn’t start and end with the Holocaust. They started with the Children of Israel being enslaved by the Egyptians and continue to this day. What people don’t seem to realize is that these kinds of things, the things that happened in the Bible, and in Middle Ages England, and in Communist Russia, and in Nazi Germany, and even in college campuses across America happen to the Jews as the bible says, Unto. This. Day.
Following the events of World War II and the Holocaust, the Jews found their own solution to the Jewish Problem. They decided to claim the land of their fathers, the land of Israel as their home. Ever since the creation of Israel, they have been actively persecuted by all of their neighbors on a daily basis. They are forced to be neighbors with the terrorist group Hamas who includes this in their covenant, “The Day of Judgment will not come about until Moslems fight Jews and kill them.” and “Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it.” Hamas lives up to this promise. They launch rockets into Israel every day. Many in Israel who are close to the border sleep in bomb shelters because of the likelihood of being bombed in the night. Hamas digs tunnels under walls, starts wars, and blames Israel for persecution, colonialism, and hate. Israel’s other neighbors refuse to acknowledge their country as legitimate. The United Nations has condemned Israel more than any other nation. The count at the end of 2020 was 17 times. Israel is persecuted, condemned, and terrorized.
Israel is alone.
The Middle East can be a crazy place. But the violent things that happen there have begun to infiltrate the minds of not-so-crazy people in America.
Nearly a decade ago a movement gained ground across many college campuses in America. What is now sometimes referred to as “chickpea politics” was the boycott, divestment, and sanctions movement, hard at work. The BDS movement is an international Palestinian rights campaign. They work to end international support for Israel. Their goal is to heavily pressure as many as possible to boycott any product made in Israel and to demand that your supermarket remove any item made in the country from the shelves. This includes fruits, vegetables, and wines but also extends to any company that supports Israel in any way. They even have the audacity to include Hummus as part of their boycott. As if any American in their right mind would want to live a life without hummus!!!! Their website claims that the movement is about much more than consumer boycotts and “is about isolating Israel academically, culturally, economically and militarily.” This kind of isolation might sound familiar to another time in history that we promised would NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. Their movement can be summed up by saying more hate… less hummus. The movement is upsettingly popular on American college campuses unto. this. day.
College campuses across America have succeeded in normalizing antisemitic disinformation, especially through social media. Many of the people I follow ignorantly share this disinformation because it just doesn’t seem right to support national, militaristic, zionists. News Outlets in America write stories with headlines such as “Supporting Palestinian rights is antisemitic because Israel wants it to be.” On the other hand, pro-Israel Instagram accounts such as @theisraelfiles and @stopantisemitism which focus on exposing terrorism and condemning antisemitism are consistently flagged reported, and blocked for violent and dangerous content, as well as false information. Condemning antisemitism no longer meets the community guidelines of the internet. The media has made it not just impossible, but unattractive to stand with Israel and condemn terrorism.
Perhaps one of the worst forms of Antisemitism in the United States are the harmful things said and done by our own government who operate on American tax dollars. Millions of dollars are sent to the Middle East to “aid” and “help” the Palestinian cause. What many don’t seem to understand is that this money often ends up in the hands of terrorists who are hell-bent on wiping the Jews and Israel off the face of the map. We have members of Congress who go on the news and claim that Israel is one of the largest threats of terror in the world today. Many in positions of power are able to get away with some of the most antisemitic and hateful language towards Israel and the Jews. Howard Lovy, a Jewish journalist tweeted, “Left-wing antisemites have achieved what Neo-Nazis in America only dreamed of: Mainstreaming of Antisemitic rhetoric everywhere from college to congress. All you have to do is exchange the word “Jew” for Zionist or Israel and you can get away with the most vile hate speech.”
If we do not find a way to actively support Israel and condemn antisemitism in our own country then killing Jews isn’t just part of Hitler’s political agenda… it’s a part of yours as well.
We can do better as the Gentiles. We can do better as people who believe in and acknowledge a person’s right to life and to have a home. We can do better at being supportive than buying hummus 2 times a year.
Do we ever ask ourselves where a candidate stands on Israel before voting for them?
Do we ever wonder if this stance is even important?
Do we ever consider if we are supporting organizations that are directly involved in the persecution and murder of Jewish people?
I think we should. I think we must. In America, we have always believed in helping those who are suffering. As Emma Lazarus’ famous poem on the Statue of Liberty states “give me your tired your poor, your huddled masses yearning to be free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shores. Send these the homeless tempest-tost to me.”
The Jews are not victims. They are not docile observers. They are a people of determination, progress, and knowledge. They are a people bound by covenant. As John Adams stated, “I will insist the Hebrews have [contributed] more to civilized men than any other nation. If I was an atheist and believed in blind eternal fate, I should still believe that fate had ordained the Jews to be the most essential instrument for civilizing the nations… They are the most glorious nation that ever inhabited this Earth. The Romans and their empire were but a bubble in comparison to the Jews.”
For a people so determined, they do not need pity…
They. need. you.
Let us be like President Harry Truman, who on May 14, 1948, recognized the country of Israel only 11 minutes after it was created.
Let us be like Corrie Ten Boom, a Gentile, who gave everything she had to protect innocent people she didn’t even know.
Let us be like the country of Denmark who utterly refused to let the Jews in their population suffer. Who, after the Nazis forced the Jews to wear the yellow star of David all Danes wore it together making it impossible to segregate the Jews.
Let us even be like President Donald Trump. Brave enough to acknowledge the capital of the country of Israel and the land they won in wars that remain unrecognized by every other country in the world, even the United Nations.
If we do not support them, if we do not carry them on our shoulders, then chances are high that we are supporting something that funds their death and the destruction of their homeland.
Today if you go to Norwich England where young William lost his life in 1144 you will find messages spray-painted all over the town one of which states “Free Palestine” with a swastika underneath it.
Never Again is about so much more than the Holocaust.
Never Again is Now.