Did you ever get shingles? For your sake, I hope not.
According to the Mayo Clinic, “shingles is caused by the varicella-zoster virus -the same virus that causes chickenpox. After you\’ve had chickenpox, the virus lies inactive in nerve tissue near your spinal cord and brain. Years later, the virus may reactivate as shingles.”
In other words, if you have had chicken pox, you have the potential for a case of shingles. If you\’re lucky, it will never happen. But the possibility is always there.
In that regard, anti-Semitism is a lot like shingles. Once it is in you, it is always lurking under the surface. If you (and the civilized world) are lucky, it will never show itself. But the possibility is always there.
With that in mind, please read the following excerpt from Jon Henley\’s article in London\’s Guardian:
In the space of just one week last month, according to Crif, the umbrella group for France\’s Jewish organisations, eight synagogues were attacked. One, in the Paris suburb of Sarcelles, was firebombed by a 400-strong mob. A kosher supermarket and pharmacy were smashed and looted; the crowd\’s chants and banners included “Death to Jews” and “Slit Jews\’ throats”. That same weekend, in the Barbes neighbourhood of the capital, stone-throwing protesters burned Israeli flags: “Israhell”, read one banner.
In Germany last month, molotov cocktails were lobbed into the Bergische synagogue in Wuppertal – previously destroyed on Kristallnacht – and a Berlin imam, Abu Bilal Ismail, called on Allah to “destroy the Zionist Jews … Count them and kill them, to the very last one.” In several cities, chants at pro-Palestinian protests compared Israel\’s actions to the Holocaust; other notable slogans included: “Jew, coward pig, come out and fight alone,” and “Hamas, Hamas, Jews to the gas.”
Across Europe, the conflict in Gaza is breathing new life into some very old, and very ugly, demons. This is not unusual; police and Jewish civil rights organisations have long observed a noticeable spike in antisemitic incidents each time the Israeli-Palestinian conflict flares. More than simply a reaction to the conflict, they say, the threats, hate speech and violent attacks feel like the expression of a much deeper and more widespread antisemitism, fuelled by a wide range of factors, that has been growing now for more than a decade.
“These are the worst times since the Nazi era,” Dieter Graumann, president of Germany\’s Central Council of Jews, told the Guardian. “On the streets, you hear things like \’the Jews should be gassed\’, \’the Jews should be burned\’ – we haven\’t had that in Germany for decades. Anyone saying those slogans isn\’t criticising Israeli politics, it\’s just pure hatred against Jews: nothing else. And it\’s not just a German phenomenon. It\’s an outbreak of hatred against Jews so intense that it\’s very clear indeed.”
Roger Cukierman, president of France\’s Crif, said French Jews were “anguished” about an anti-Jewish backlash that goes far beyond even strongly felt political and humanitarian opposition to the current fighting: “They are not screaming \’Death to the Israelis\’ on the streets of Paris,” Cukierman said last month. “They are screaming \’Death to Jews\’.” Crif\’s vice-president Yonathan Arfi said he “utterly rejected” the view that the latest increase in antisemitic incidents was down to events in Gaza. “They have laid bare something far more profound,” he said.
See the parallel? It may not be visible for years, but it is always right below the surface, waiting for the opportunity to come out in all its “glory”.
When a mob screams “kill the Israelis”, as odious and misguided as I consider that sentiment to be, it at least ostensibly references only the actions of a specific country.
When a mob screams “kill the Jews” – complete with mentions of the World War II-era attempt to do just that – it is not a reference to Israel\’s actions, it is a call to kill all Jews, wherever they are and whatever stand they take.
It doesn\’t get any more anti-Semitic than that.
If you worry about getting shingles, you can get a shot which minimizes the possibility of an outbreak. And, if the outbreak does occur, you can get a vaccination to lessen the pain and discomfort, maybe shorten its duration. But there is no actual “cure”. If it\’s there, it\’s there.
Just like anti-Semitism.
Maybe someday both conditions can be eradicated. You never know for sure. But, after over 5,000 years, if I\’m betting that if one of the two is, it will be shingles.
