The Nazis Were The Honest Ones

By Howie Silbiger

I believe in giving credit where credit is due. The Bulgarian Nazis, all minors, who surrounded a hotel and harassed Jewish teenagers on a Bnei Akiva trip were the most honest Jew-haters of the weekend. They raised their arms in Nazi salutes and shouted “Sieg Heil.” They did not pretend to be defending human rights, protesting Israeli policy or freeing Palestine. They saw Jewish children, hated them and decided to frighten them.

Elsewhere, the same hatred came dressed in language that has been made acceptable.

In Montreal, Israeli soccer player Dor Turgeman was targeted from the stands during a game against CF Montréal. In Pennsylvania, a restaurant employee responded to an Israeli Jewish family with “Free Palestine” after noticing the father’s Star of David. In Saskatoon, eggs were thrown at a synagogue while Jews were inside praying on Shabbos. Back in Montreal, Nöam, a well-known kosher restaurant, was destroyed in an arson attack.

Five incidents over one weekend. The locations and methods changed, but the target was the same: Jews.

This is where years of excuses and deliberately looking away have brought us. Israel is no longer argued about only at demonstrations, on university campuses or in newspaper columns. Today, “Free Palestine” is shouted at whichever Jew happens to be nearby. It has been dragged into restaurants, soccer stadiums, synagogues and hotels, where it serves as permission to confront people who have nothing to do with the war.

Dor Turgeman was playing professional soccer, the family in Pennsylvania was ordering food, the Jews in Saskatoon were praying, the teenagers in Bulgaria were travelling and Nöam was a kosher restaurant closed for Shabbos. None of them was at war or responsible for anything happening in the Middle East. Their only crime was being identifiably Jewish, and because of that they were all targeted within 48 hours.

For years, we have been lectured about the difference between anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism and warned against linking the two. The people carrying out these attacks have made that distinction meaningless. None of this is intended to change Israeli policy. Screaming at a soccer player will not end a war, egging a synagogue will not establish a Palestinian state, harassing a Jewish family will not save anyone in Gaza and torching a kosher restaurant will definitely not free Palestine.

The purpose is to make Jews understand that there is nowhere they can go without being confronted simply for being Jewish. Palestine has become a cover for Jew-haters, an excuse used to justify attacking Jews wherever they happen to be.

The only real difference between the Nazis in Bulgaria and the people targeting Jews elsewhere is honesty. The Nazis shouted “Sieg Heil.” The others shouted about Palestine.

At least the Nazis had the courage to admit what they were.