Understanding Globalization...or not

Denver, Nov. 30, 2023.
Photo by Carin M. Smilk.

When I first started hearing chants for GLOBALIZE THE INTIFADA, I thought it was some kind of weird cult thing that would stop after a people would figure out what it meant. Clearly, I missed the boat on that one. It became one of those catch phrases supposedly serious people used without having a clue about the meaning of the word intifada itself, much less what globalization of that action would mean. But use it they did, and in recent weeks, globalization of terrorism is not only happening, it's becoming increasingly mainstream. So much so, that attacks on Jews are becoming increasingly not simply tolerated, but blamed on Jews attending events. 

In England, Maccabi Tel Aviv was to play Aston Villa in Birmingham. Israeli fans were banned from attending the game due to protests about Gaza. UK Prime Minister, Keir Starmer, castigated Birmingham for their actions, but it had little impact. The decision to ban Israeli fans was made by a "safety advisory council" and supported by police authorities who labeled the game as a "high risk" event. According to CBS News: 

The decision was made in line with "current intelligence and previous incidents, including violent clashes and hate crime offenses that occurred during the 2024 UEFA Europa League match between Ajax and Maccabi Tel-Aviv in Amsterdam," said a statement Thursday from the West Midlands Police force, which covers Birmingham.The decision to block Israeli visiting supporters also came just weeks after a deadly terror attack on a synagogue in the northeast England city of Manchester. Two Jewish men were killed and three others seriously injured during the attack, which happened on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish religious calendar. 

So, it's not the protesters advocating violence that is the problem, it's the attendees. Hmmmm.

Equally bizarre was Australian PM Anthony Albanese's initial press release following the Bondi Beach massacre. Albanese forgets to mention the target of the attack, completely omitting the fish shot up in this particular barrel were Jews gathered to celebrate the first night of Hanukkah.

It's also worth noting that Jews in Amsterdam gathered to celebrate Hanukkah were also targeted. A public family concert drew a few protesters, but two private, invitation-only events where Cantor Shai Abramson performed was more aggressively attacked because the cantor sings at IDF events in Israel. The Jerusalem Post reported red and green smoke bombs was set off near the venue. 

Ayaan Hirsi Ali

Ayaan Hirsi Ali wrote a blistering piece in The Free Press on the Bondi Beach massacre. She called the attack "an atrocity tolerated into being." She is spot on about that.  Weeks before he was gunned down at Bondi Beach, Rabbi Eli Schlanger had written to Albanese directly appealing to the Prime Minister not to abandon the Jewish people to recognize an unformed Palestinian state. Hirsi Ali writes about that plea, then goes on to recognize: 

This attack was not random. It wasn’t an eruption of private madness. It was deliberate. Jews were targeted on a Jewish holiday, in broad daylight, in a public place. This matters. When we blur that fact, we betray the dead.

The method chosen by the murderers should also trouble us deeply. Families were gathered in joy when men with guns got out of a car and began firing. The violence arrived with speed and cruelty, and though the scale differs, the pattern is unmistakable; it mirrors October 7 in Israel. A holiday. A crowd. Daylight. Attackers who targeted the most vulnerable, and knew precisely what they were doing.

I don't doubt that in the least. Nor do I doubt that the mouthpieces that spout all the Free-Gaza bull-oney are okay with shooting Jewish fish in a barrel. I repeat...have you heard from any of these shining stars since the ceasefire went into effect....or the videos of Hamas executions emerged...or the clips of terrorists coming out of the tunnels ready to cross into Israel again? 

Not bloody likely. 

The chanters, if you ask them, really don't know what an intifada mean or is, for that matter. The word actually means shaking off. It was used to describe the Palestinian protests against Israel from 1987 thru 1990, and again from 2000-2005. The Second Intifada was the more violent of the two, with over 1000 Israeli civilians murdered in terrorist attacks, many as the result of suicide and bus bombings. In recent use, it means global Jew hunting. All Jews, not just soldiers or policemen. As October 7th and Bondi Beach have demonstrated, it's all Jews are targets. Young, old, men, women, children. It's indiscriminate. 

You can take that to mean that those who support the globalization of intifada support the indiscriminate killing of Jews on sight. For the record, LGBTQ+ people are not safe either. 

There's a sobering thought. 

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, I tripped across Colin Firth (sigh) in a brilliant film called A SINGLE MAN. Firth plays a gay professor dealing with the death of his partner. It's a hard movie to watch, but he delivers a powerful lecture about fear. Please do yourself a favor and watch the clip. It very well may be the most important thing you watch this week.

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

When your grandchild asks 

"Why do people read your blog?"

It's best to answer as honestly as you can.

I replied, "I have no idea."

Doesn't get more honest than that.