Together we will prevail

A young man I know and respect who has recently come across antisemitism first hand, reiterated something that seems so clear to me. His views are possibly left of mine in terms of Israel. He certainly doesn’t support Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and doesn’t believe settlers should be on the West Bank or Judea and Samaria.

He made the following analogy about the reality for Jews today. Two Jews walk into a pub, one is far-right in his views, the other far-left. They aren’t friends; in fact they don’t like each other at all. This is understandable because they can’t agree on much. They rarely say anything positive about one another, and mix in very different circles. They both go for a drink, and sit on opposite sides of the bar. The barman tells them both to leave because the pub doesn’t serve Jews.

Yes, this is only a story, but it clarifies the fact that our differences have become irrelevant in the bigger picture, be they political, religious, or otherwise. Whether we’re in South Africa, the United States, or Israel, to the world out there, we’re all Jews.

When Hamas attacked Israel on 7 October 2023, its terrorists didn’t check what those they murdered or raped believed about Palestinians or the Israeli government, they didn’t care. They were destroying Jews, even if those same Jews had been defending Palestinians all their lives.

During the Holocaust, the Nazis didn’t ask how Jews felt about anything. They didn’t check political or religious affiliation. In fact, they didn’t care if you had spent your life supporting the Nazi party. If you were a Jew, you were a Jew. In their minds, that meant that you were vermin and needed to be annihilated.

This is an important leveller for all of us. It’s time we set aside our differences in the face of what is happening in our world. Whether you think Trump is G-d’s gift to humanity or the devil, it doesn’t matter. We can think and say what we like about the Israeli government, but whether we like it or not, the world still sees us as Jews. So, in truth, it’s pointless attacking or destroying each other over this. We’re all on the same side, even if we think we aren’t.

There are those among us, actually they have mostly sidelined themselves, who call themselves “anti-Zionists”. They are born Jewish, and I believe our haters find them most useful in their antisemitic escapades. Our haters use these folk to make themselves feel good, saying, “See, there are Jews who are against the Jewish state, so we aren’t wrong about how disgusting it is.” Those few anti-Zionist Jews are seen as “good Jews”, and the rest of us – by far the vast majority – are all bad.

I’m sure those Jews believe that they are right and we are wrong. So be it. However, when push comes to shove, they are still seen as Jews. And hatred for Jews is conveniently twisted today to be hatred for Zionism or Israel. But the truth is that hatred for the Jewish state and everything it does is antisemitism because it’s about the desire to destroy a country housing Jews. If it weren’t, then there would be far more outcry about other wars or mass murders in other parts of the world. But nobody really seems to care unless Jews are involved.

And our haters, who refer to good and bad Jews, never actually want to know what Jews feel politically. If they did, they would realise that much like in Israel and every country in the world, there are people who have so many varied and different views. In fact, few Jews have the same view.

There are those, like my young friend who I mentioned above, who think Netanyahu is the worst thing for Israel. But when it comes to hating Jews, nobody is asking him or any of us what we think of the prime minister.

No, our haters want to hate us and will anyway. Let them, but let’s not hate each other. Let’s try to recognise that we are in this together and united we will stand, divided we could fall. Let’s not allow our differences to break us apart.

I accept that you may disagree vehemently with my views. That’s your right, but we are brothers and sisters and are united in standing up for ourselves.

We can argue. We can debate, but at the end of the day, we need to agree that politics and religious affiliations aside, we are family. We are one.

The analogy of family is a good one because, in this unit, invariably we can have lots to say about a brother or a sister, uncle, or aunt. But don’t let anyone else from outside the family dare say anything ugly about them.

At the SA Jewish Report, we have had readers challenging us for being too right-wing and others claiming we’re too left-wing. Some say we have too many religious articles, and others say we have too few. The point is that on this newspaper, we aren’t trying to please any specific group of Jewish people. Instead, we’re doing the best we know how to cater to the whole South African Jewish community.

Sometimes, we might get it right and other times, we may get it wrong. Suffice to say, our heart and soul is the local Jewish community, and we go all out to give you what we believe you need to know.

We believe that the community is strongest when it works in unison, and that together, we will always survive.

This community is lauded around the world for its intrinsic bonds. So many visitors and people around the world wish they had a community like ours. They see us as united, and admire what we do as the community for the community. We are all that, but as in any situation, we could be stronger and more united.

We are never not going to argue. We are Jews after all, and debate and discussion is in our nature. Just as long as we all stand united against those who hate us. Helping those who hate us because supporting the Jewish state is unfashionable, that’s not acceptable.

Beyachad nenatzeah (Together we will prevail)!

Shabbat Shalom!

Peta Krost

Editor