On Account of the Patriarchs
No.182: October 27 2023
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Dear Friends,
A German Emperor once wrote in a handwritten letter:
Let no German ever forget this, nor rest until these parasites have been destroyed and exterminated from German soil! This poisonous mushroom on the German oak-tree! Jews and mosquitos are a nuisance that humanity must get rid of in some way or manner […] I believe the best would be gas!
If you guessed Adolf Hitler, of course you did. But it was actually Kaiser Wilhelm II, the last German Emperor and King of Prussia, and he wrote it in 1919, shortly after his abdication of the throne at the conclusion of the First World War. It was Wilhelm who cast the vision; it was Hitler who sought to execute it, right down to his forebear’s suggested method.
“Never Again!” emerged the well-meaning slogan in the wake of that unspeakable atrocity in which 6 million Jews—men, women, and children—were gassed with Zyklon B in a network of concentration camps. In a footnote in a book chapter I contributed in 2011 I called it “one of the most foolish slogans of the present day.”
Little did I know. 2011? Those were halcyon days by comparison. It strikes me as a supreme irony that antisemitism always portrays Jews as a multi-headed “hydra” that infiltrates every nook and cranny of the world and is impossible to eradicate. In reality, antisemitism is a multi-headed hydra that seems impossible to eradicate. And the nooks and crannies? You find it on the right and you find it on the left. You find it in the fever-swamps of the online conspiracy world and you find it in the faculty lounges of Ivy League universities. You find it on the sleepy residential streets of Washington, D.C. You find it on college quads and in the halls of the United Nations.
At Cornell University a professor spoke at a “Pro-Palestine” rally shortly after Hamas murdered 1,400 Israeli civilians. He said the attack was “exhilarating” and “energizing,” and that “you would not be human” if you didn’t feel the same. He’s now apologized and taken a leave of absence, saying that his language “did not reflect my values.” [Narrator: it perfectly reflected his values.]
Across many other Ivy campuses students are tearing down posters of captive Israeli loved ones of the Jewish students. Alternatively, over the word “Missing” on the posters they are now putting stickers that read, “Occupier.” Even over the photos of Jewish … children. Yes, “Occupiers.” The kids had it coming.
The other day at Cooper Union College in New York City Jewish students were forced into the library and to lock the doors while pro-Hamas protestors hammered their fists on the doors and windows. Here’s a quick report on X (formerly Twitter) from one reporter:
Date Log: United States of America, Year Anno Domini 2023. Jews hiding in attics.
Never again? Many, many observers of these events are shocked at the ubiquitous and lightning-fast emergence of Jew hatred right here in our own communities. I am one of them. This is a dark and foreboding turn of events, and it only reveals something that has been festering for some time.
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