Most are familiar with the slogan Je Suis Charlie of a few months ago regarding the cartoonists who were murdered in France because they disrespected the prophet Mohammed. That was a terrible thing, and nearly incomprehensible to us here in the United States, where Jesus and God are mocked and blasphemed on a regular basis, yet it doesn't result in violent murder. It's a different way of thinking, and I don't believe non-Muslims will ever truly be able to comprehend it. It's hard to understand such a revenge-based religion, at least for me.
I recently read an article on The Atlantic Monthly by Jeffery Goldberg, a Jewish journalist who has spent the last year travelling around the world,. It's a disturbing read, particularly when the Anne Frank House in the Netherlands does not nor do they plan to, employ Jews, the reason given that Otto Frank stated that his daughter's diary was not about being Jewish, and so the emphasis of the museum is based on more general themes, such as inclusion and tolerance. Having some Jewish tendencies in your background is fine. I have to admit that kind of took me aback. I mean, Anne Frank and her family were hiding because they were Jewish. They were found and sent to Bergen-Belsen because they were Jewish, and her diary is not about being Jewish? Okay, Mr. Frank, whatever you say. I'm not sure how you can separate the two things, but again, whatever you say.
I also found Mr. Goldberg's findings about the anti-Semitism in Europe, particularly in France, disturbing as well. Despite the Holocaust, or Shoah, being a mere 70 years ago, apparently that's long enough for it not to matter any longer. How else to explain the week-long 'celebration' of anti-Semitism in South Africa; the resurgence of the Heil Hitler salute, inverted, called the quenelle, courtesy Dieudonné M’bala M’bala, a comedian of French Cameroonian descent who specializes in Holocaust revisionism and gas-chamber humor, because we all know those things are hilarious; and the anti-Semitism disguised as anti-Zionism.
Even more disturbing is the violence against the Jews, which is pretty much ignored, because after all, it's only the Jews, and their to blame for everything wrong in the world, right?
"Everyone is saying 'Je suis Charlie' today, but this has been happening to the Jews for years and no one cares." Another student commented, "It would be nice is someone would say, 'Je suis Juif.'"
I certainly didn't see any such support when those Jews were killed in the supermarket, or when Jews were attacked while worshipping in their synagogue. Why not? What is it about the Jews that incites such hatred? Is it because they are God's chosen people? Maybe so. I don't claim to understand all of that in light of Jesus Christ and the salvation offered, but I don't have to understand it or explain it. All I have to do is love the Jewish people because God loves them.
So I will say, Je suis Juif.
