On Jew-Hatred in Europe

(This is a translation of the full version of an article previously posted in a shorter form.)

Originally published in Corriere della Sera. Translation by Chris and Paola Newman.

I find it shameful that in Italy there should be a procession of individuals dressed as suicide bombers who spew vile abuse at Israel, hold up photographs of Israeli leaders on whose foreheads they have drawn the swastika, incite people to hate the Jews. And who, in order to see Jews once again in the extermination camps, in the gas chambers, in the ovens of Dachau and Mauthausen and Buchenwald and Bergen-Belsen et cetera, would sell their own mother to a harem.

I find it shameful that the Catholic Church should permit a bishop, one with lodgings in the Vatican no less, a saintly man who was found in Jerusalem with an arsenal of arms and explosives hidden in the secret compartments of his sacred Mercedes, to participate in that procession and plant himself in front of a microphone to thank in the name of God the suicide bombers who massacre the Jews in pizzerias and supermarkets. To call them “martyrs who go to their deaths as to a party.”

I find it shameful that in France, the France of Liberty-Equality-Fraternity, they burn synagogues, terrorize Jews, profane their cemeteries. I find it shameful that the youth of Holland and Germany and Denmark flaunt the kaffiah just as Mussolini’s avant garde used to flaunt the club and the fascist badge. I find it shameful that in nearly all the universities of Europe Palestinian students sponsor and nurture anti-semitism. That in Sweden they asked that the Nobel Peace Prize given to Shimon Peres in 1994 be taken back and conferred on the dove with the olive branch in his mouth, that is on Arafat. I find it shameful that the distinguished members of the Committee, a Committee that (it would appear) rewards political color rather than merit, should take this request into consideration and even respond to it. In hell the Nobel Prize honors he who does not receive it.

I find it shameful (we’re back in Italy) that state-run television stations contribute to the resurgent antisemitism, crying only over Palestinian deaths while playing down Israeli deaths, glossing over them in unwilling tones. I find it shameful that in their debates they host with much deference the scoundrels with turban or kaffiah who yesterday sang hymns to the slaughter at New York and today sing hymns to the slaughters at Jerusalem, at Haifa, at Netanya, at Tel Aviv. I find it shameful that the press does the same, that it is indignant because Israeli tanks surround the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, that it is not indignant because inside that same church two hundred Palestinian terrorists well armed with machine guns and munitions and explosives (among them are various leaders of Hamas and Al-Aqsa) are not unwelcome guests of the monks (who then accept bottles of mineral water and jars of honey from the soldiers of those tanks). I find it shameful that, in giving the number of Israelis killed since the beginning of the Second Intifada (four hundred twelve), a noted daily newspaper found it appropriate to underline in capital letters that more people are killed in their traffic accidents. (Six hundred a year).

I find it shameful that the Roman Observer, the newspaper of the Pope--a Pope who not long ago left in the Wailing Wall a letter of apology for the Jews--accuses of extermination a people who were exterminated in the millions by Christians. By Europeans. I find it shameful that this newspaper denies to the survivors of that people (survivors who still have numbers tattooed on their arms) the right to react, to defend themselves, to not be exterminated again. I find it shameful that in the name of Jesus Christ (a Jew without whom they would all be unemployed), the priests of our parishes or Social Centers or whatever they are flirt with the assassins of those in Jerusalem who cannot go to eat a pizza or buy some eggs without being blown up. I find it shameful that they are on the side of the very ones who inaugurated terrorism, killing us on airplanes, in airports, at the Olympics, and who today entertain themselves by killing western journalists. By shooting them, abducting them, cutting their throats, decapitating them. (There’s someone in Italy who, since the appearance of Anger and Pride, would like to do the same to me. Citing verses of the Koran he exorts his “brothers” in the mosques and the Islamic Community to chastise me in the name of Allah. To kill me. Or rather to die with me. Since he’s someone who speaks English well, I’ll respond to him in English: “F*** you.”)

I find it shameful that almost all of the left, the left that twenty years ago permitted one of its union processionals to deposit a coffin (as a mafioso warning) in front of the synagogue of Rome, forgets the contribution made by the Jews to the fight against fascism. Made by Carlo and Nello Rossini, for example, by Leone Ginzburg, by Umberto Terracini, by Leo Valiani, by Emilio Sereni, by women like my friend Anna Maria Enriques Agnoletti who was shot at Florence on June 12, 1944, by seventy-five of the three-hundred-thirty-five people killed at the Fosse Ardeatine, by the infinite others killed under torture or in combat or before firing squads. (The companions, the teachers, of my infancy and my youth.) I find it shameful that in part through the fault of the left--or rather, primarily through the fault of the left (think of the left that inaugurates its congresses applauding the representative of the PLO, leader in Italy of the Palestinians who want the destruction of Israel)--Jews in Italian cities are once again afraid. And in French cities and Dutch cities and Danish cities and German cities, it is the same. I find it shameful that Jews tremble at the passage of the scoundrels dressed like suicide bombers just as they trembled during Krystallnacht, the night in which Hitler gave free rein to the Hunt of the Jews.

I find it shameful that in obedience to the stupid, vile, dishonest, and for them extremely advantageous fashion of Political Correctness the usual opportunists--or better the usual parasites--exploit the word Peace. That in the name of the word Peace, by now more debauched than the words Love and Humanity, they absolve one side alone of its hate and bestiality. That in the name of a pacifism (read conformism) delegated to the singing crickets and buffoons who used to lick Pol Pot’s feet they incite people who are confused or ingenuous or intimidated. Trick them, corrupt them, carry them back a half century to the time of the yellow star on the coat. These charlatans who care about the Palestinans as much as I care about the charlatans. That is not at all.

I find it shameful that many Italians and many Europeans have chosen as their standard-bearer the gentleman (or so it is polite to say) Arafat. This nonentity who thanks to the money of the Saudi Royal Family plays the Mussolini ad perpetuum and in his megalomania believes he will pass into History as the George Washington of Palestine. This ungrammatical wretch who when I interviewed him was unable even to put together a complete sentence, to make articulate conversation. So that to put it all together, write it, publish it, cost me a tremendous effort and I concluded that compared to him even Ghaddafi sounds like Leonardo da Vinci. This false warrior who always goes around in uniform like Pinochet, never putting on civilian garb, and yet despite this has never participated in a battle. War is something he sends, has always sent, others to do for him. That is, the poor souls who believe in him. This pompous incompetent who playing the part of Head of State caused the failure of the Camp David negotiations, Clinton’s mediation. No-no-I-want-Jerusalem-all-to-myself. This eternal liar who has a flash of sincerity only when (in private) he denies Israel’s right to exist, and who as I say in my book contradicts himself every five minutes. He always plays the double-cross, lies even if you ask him what time it is, so that you can never trust him. Never! With him you will always wind up systematically betrayed. This eternal terrorist who knows only how to be a terrorist (while keeping himself safe) and who during the Seventies, that is when I interviewed him, even trained the terrorists of Baader-Meinhof. With them, children ten years of age. Poor children. (Now he trains them to become suicide bombers. A hundred baby suicide bombers are in the works: a hundred!). This weathercock who keeps his wife at Paris, served and revered like a queen, and keeps his people down in the sh**. He takes them out of the sh** only to send them to die, to kill and to die, like the eighteen year old girls who in order to earn equality with men have to strap on explosives and disintegrate with their victims. And yet many Italians love him, yes. Just like they loved Mussolini. And many other Europeans do the same.

I find it shameful and see in all this the rise of a new fascism, a new nazism. A fascism, a nazism, that much more grim and revolting because it is conducted and nourished by those who hypocritically pose as do-gooders, progressives, communists, pacifists, Catholics or rather Christians, and who have the gall to label a warmonger anyone like me who screams the truth.

I see it, yes, and I say the following. I have never been tender with the tragic and Shakespearean figure Sharon. (“I know you’ve come to add another scalp to your necklace,” he murmured almost with sadness when I went to interview him in 1982.) I have often had disagreements with the Israelis, ugly ones, and in the past I have defended the Palestinians a great deal. Maybe more than they deserved. But I stand with Israel, I stand with the Jews. I stand just as I stood as a young girl during the time when I fought with them, and when the Anna Marias were shot. I defend their right to exist, to defend themselves, to not let themselves be exterminated a second time. And disgusted by the antisemitism of many Italians, of many Europeans, I am ashamed of this shame that dishonors my Country and Europe. At best, it is not a community of States, but a pit of Pontius Pilates. And even if all the inhabitants of this planet were to think otherwise, I would continue to think so.

What great intellectual thinking. How will Larry ever be able to refute such profundity?

Typical. Not even the courtsey of a ping when you mention a freeper.The quote veronica attributed to me I had quoted from another freeper and commented upon.

Yes I will discuss the Jewish left. With the government school teacher and black vote, they make up the troika which runs the Democrat party. Why should they get a pass whn we discuss the NEA and the NAACP everyday? The Jewish left is in the news now because of current events but the other two groups have been examined in depth. If the most popular threads right now were about government schools or the antics of Jesse Jackson, I and others would be tearing them up. I'm an equalitarian kinda guy. I treat Jewish liberals as I treat all other liberals: with the greatest distaste. No more, no less.

BTW...this is a perfect time to go after the Jewish left. They know they made a mistake with Clinton and Gore. They know they need Republicans now. After calling conservatives such as myself fascists and Nazis for decades I am not amiable to giving them a pass simply because we both support Israel.

For years, there was a great campaign in the US to help free Soviet Jews, and have them come either to Israel or the US. There were great tales of oppression... It seems that most of those have been forgotten over the years.

What has been forgotten, or never acknowledged by the Jewish left, is that Republican presidents at every summit meeting tied the plight of Jews in the Soviet Union to the talks. The thanks Nixon got was to be called an antisemite. The thanks Reagan got was to have the Jewish and other Democrats holler about how Reagan got US Marines killed in Lebanon.

But what the author of this article does not consider is that the leftist Europeans who side with the Palestinians are not necessarily anti-semitic.

I submit they side with the Palestinians because they are leftist. And leftists will always side with the "downtrodden"...the "indigenous"...the "oppressed"...etc. In short, their view of the Palestinians.

If anything, they are opposed to the Israelis because they consider the Israelis Jews the "white guys"- and these self-hating Euros (and believe me, we have an equal, if not greater, percentage of them here in the US) will always side with the "people of color" over Whitey.

"For the author to claim "Christians" were the ones who exterminated the Jews in WWII is a lie."

That's how they defined themselves. But I'm wondering if anyone else thinks there is a link between the fact that the Protestant church in Germany in the 30's was in the vanguard of "liberal" theology.

Germany was the hothouse of "Higher Criticism." (which presupposes that the Bible is inaccurate and that the miraculous is fiction). With this theology, it is easier to invent your own morality because there is no foundational "truth."

In my opinion, christian anti-semitism comes about because of the combination of 2 things: christians, like everyone else, are sinners, and thus prone to be prejudiced and hateful. Add this to a habit of reading the Bible out of context and you have trouble. People forget that the New Testament was written by Jews and primarily written to Jews. Comprehending this context restores a correct understanding of what was going on---an intra-family argument (a Mediterannean family), rather than a cursing of "those people."

Thanks for posting the full translation. It has been a long time since I have read Fallaci. I have always found her to be an interesting read with an in your face style that even the most hardened New Yorker would envy.

She was always the leftist who interviewed Arafat/ Fidel/ you name them/ for Playboy mag etc. Made love to these communist bums she interviewed I promise you! A different time and place. Go ask the CIA if you doubt me.

She is stepping back into the light now and may Hashem bless her.

"BTW...this is a perfect time to go after the Jewish left..."

"The Jewish Left. Not the Left. The 'Jewish' Left. Pretty naked revelation. And on a thread about Jew-hatred, yet. Go after? How ya' gonna 'go after' the Jewish Left? Did you read this article by the way. Man has she got the Jewhaters pegged."

Being presumptuous I'll try to explain Lied's comments. What I get from Larry Lied's comments is the opposite of anti-Semitism. He's saying "go after the Jewish Left" in terms of converting them. Now's the time to do that, because it ought to be obvious to anyone that "The Left" is viciously anti-Semitic, while "The Right" is backing Israel, supporting the Jews, defending Freedom and Civilization. BTW, Michael Medved has just been signed to the Lansing Catholic Talk Radio. That's why he singled out "The Jewish Left", because they are under assault on their existence by the rest of the Left.

For decades, American Jews have been earning like Episcopalians and voting like Puerto Ricans. The is the chance to free American Jews from their dysfunctional embrace of the left.

Does this make sense to you?

It is true that the Republican Presidents worked to get Jews free from the Soviet Union.

During the years before WWII erupted Jews were being rounded up and sent to concentration camps, along with Gypsies, the mentally ill, homosexuals, and political discenters of Naziism. Reports came to our shores of these atrocious acts and were denied by the press and our government said there was no proof. In 1938 (I think) the red cross visited a "resettlement Camp" in Germany for Jews.The Jews were forced to act happy and grateful and the Red Cross in thier eternal wisdom, found the Jews to be loved by thier captors and evidently "Resettlement" was accepted as good.

It was Hitler's No. One Project to exterminate all the Jews in the world, "The Final Solution". Brave people, who cares what religious faith, assimilated them into thier communities, homes, churches in an effort to protect them. But saving Judism was not the reason the Allies fought Hitler's Third Reich, it was because he attacked them and they had no choice but to crush him, or be crushed.

No place, except the USA,wanted the Jews who were refugees after the war and so thier Zionism was appeased and they were given the Holy Land as scripture foretold. Many were welcomed here and for the first time in History they have been assimilated into our American Culture without the blight of antismeticism hanging over thier heads. Hooray for us!!!

Now we are embroiled in a situation brewing in the middle east since 1948, and made much worse by the Arab attitude toward the Palistinians, which to some extent they brought on themselves, being always a mob and violence driven political force. Arafat is a nonentity, a nobody gone mad with power and hate. He wants the refugee Ramahalla (sp) community kept miserable so that they are willing to die for a cause that is difficult, and should they achieve peace it will not last as they are the malcontents of the world. Islam gives all these fanatics a cause, an evil justification for thier murderous behavior. They have organized thier hatred and spread this cancer throughout the world and what is happening in Europe and elsewhere is the result of a well organized effort to conquer and exterminate Western Culture, of which the Jews are a part.

The Left does not seem to realize they too are the targets and kissing the backsides of the PLO is not going to do a thing to protect them.

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