The Jewish future? Only in Israel

Dr. Haim Shine..
Israel Hayom..
19 October '12..

In 1543, Martin Luther wrote in his treatise "On the Jews and Their Lies" that Jewish prayer houses should be set on fire, and any part that doesn't burn should be buried in dirt for eternity. In the early morning hours of Nov. 10, 1938, in the heart of enlightened Europe, an angry mob set fire to more than 1,000 synagogues in Germany – an incident known as Kristallnacht. Hundreds of years of hateful anti-Semitism led to the demise of six million of our fellow Jews.

Now, on Europe's soil, the old anti-Semitism is making a comeback, this time led by extreme Islam and its efforts to launch a global jihad; An insane holy war that is trying to sabotage the world order, and is getting closer to obtaining nuclear weapons and stores of chemical arms. Many of the tens of million Muslims currently living in Europe support the effort to impose Islam on the entire continent, be it privately or vocally. Mosques are filling up Europe's streets and they often serve as greenhouses of radicalization, cultivating intense hate.

It is now becoming ever more apparent that Europe is no longer a safe place for Diaspora Jews, and quite frankly, it never was. France is a tangible and familiar example, but the same is true of Belgium, England, Germany, Denmark and other European countries.

History has proven that every time tensions rise between Christians and Muslims, the Jews are the first to pay the price. The blows being traded these days are between two warring civilizations, a tectonic clash threatening human dignity and even humanity's lifespan.


The State of Israel must make every effort to bring Europe's Jews to Israel. Israel is the only place on Earth where Jews are free to live their lives, under the rule of no one but themselves. I recently met a new immigrant from France. In Paris he owned a thriving toy import business, and he was a very wealthy man. After the 2005 riots in Paris and in other cities he came to the conclusion that France is powerless to protect him in a true crisis. Jews were being persecuted in Toulouse, Lyon and elsewhere, and there, too, the police were powerless to stop these attacks.

The State of Israel was established, among other reasons, to serve as a home to all the Jews of the world. Unfortunately, most of the immigrants who have come to Israel since its establishment have come here due to a crisis or threat. The number of immigrants hailing from developed countries is very slim — no more than several thousand per year. The Jews of Europe and the U.S. have traditionally felt safe and preferred to contribute to the absorption of Ethiopian Jews and Jews from the former Soviet Union in Israel rather than immigrating themselves. But now, times have changed. The government of Israel must prepare to absorb many new immigrants, including some without any means.

The Jews of the world know that the future of the Jewish people is in Israel. Diaspora Jews are living on borrowed time, in the spiritual sense certainly, and unfortunately, I fear, in the physical sense as well.

Link: http://www.israelhayom.com/site/newsletter_opinion.php?id=2716

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