About the Jewish People: The True Picture

The Jewish people find themselves under siege worldwide, particularly by a younger generation in universities who brand them as colonialists, Nazis, and fascists. I seek to present a narrative that paints a true picture of who the Jewish people really are.

Israel projects power and bravado, but the truth is it is a country traumatized by ongoing tragedies caused by terror. It is composed of people in fear for their existence.

Globally, only 12 to 18 million Jews exist, approximately fifty percent of them residing in Israel. The rest are scattered around the world, moving from time to time from country to country, earning the name of The Wandering Jew. Why are they moving? Why this lack of permanency? They are moving because they are constantly under the threat of extinction.

Over two millennia, Jews have endured persecution, discrimination, and the constant threat of extinction. During the Second World War, six million of them were gassed, burned alive, murdered, men, women, and children. The Nazis declared as their goal, and acted on it, the elimination of Jewish existence on the face of the earth.

They were not the first who had that as a goal. In the fifteenth century, the Catholic Church through the Inquisition worked on converting the Jewish people to Christianity, or they suffered expulsion or the death sentence. Pogroms in Eastern Europe would wipe out whole Jewish communities, and in the Arab world, continuous murder sprees were common. The latest threat to Jewish existence is Hamas, whose battle cry is “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free,” and what they mean by it, and declare publicly and officially, is that it should be free of the Jewish people. At the October 7 massacre, they counted, and were proud of their achievement, how many, each of them, with his own hands, killed Jews. And the more, the better. It is like killing rats, and many nations do call Jews rats. The Jewish people live in constant fear of who is next that wants them extinct.

In 1948, the United Nations granted the Jewish people a small piece of desert land to settle, Israel, which was supposed to be their safe harbor, where they could feel safe from extinction. Israel was immediately attacked by its neighbors, which created the Palestinian refugee syndrome, the only refugees known not to settle nor get absorbed by their brothers, although Israel absorbed the Jewish refugees from Arab states. Israel needed and still needs to defend that safe harbor, or they have no place to go and feel safe. That might explain why Israel appears to overreact in Gaza. Fear is the driving force. The October 7 atrocities evoked fears that another shoah, holocaust, is not too far from erupting.

There are worldwide demonstrations supporting Hamas. The highly conscious demonstrators probably demonstrate to protect the environment, to protect some endangered flower or bird, but not me, my children, not my people who suffered enough. My grandparents are ashes in Treblinka, and Hamas is committed to finishing what the Nazis started.

Maybe the demonstrators fear that Israel wants to extinct the Palestinians and it is the Palestinians who need to feel safe. There is zero evidence to this claim. In the present war in Gaza, Israel asked the civilians to move to secure zones to avoid being killed in crossfire.  It is the Hamas who use Palestinians as human shields, who kill whoever moves away.

True, in war, Palestinians die, but so do Israelis. All those wars are initiated by the Arabs. Israel is continuously acting in self-defense. Some wars end with Israel earning more land as a result of the war, but it never went to war with the intention to kill max Palestinians or to take their land. True, there were villages where Palestinians were expelled. But it is all in the nature of war. It has never been a policy to expand and kill Palestinians, as it is of Hamas to eliminate Israel and kill max Jews.

Are the Jewish people parasites, rats, that endanger a healthy environment? Are they a liability or an asset?

Despite their modest numbers, Jews have played a critical role in the human ecosystem. Jews boast the highest rate of Nobel Prize winners per capita, leaving an indelible mark on science, art, and medicine. For the sake of humanity, it is imperative to protect this endangered species—the Jewish people. Assure them a safe harbor, Israel, and thus legitimize their right to self-defense. Their potential extinction would not only diminish cultural diversity but also disrupt the intricate web of contributions they make to the world.