The glass is breaking again ...

Earlier I wrote that a friend, every time she posts a story about the anti-Semitism raging in the world, in Europe, Britain and the Middle East, writes it is 1938 again. It is Kristallnacht.

In just the last few months the news stories about attacks on Jews have been overpowering. The bloody slaughter of four Rabbis in a Synagogue in Jerusalem, the pictures are unbearable. In Paris, the home invasion and rape of the wife because they “are Jews.” The stabbing of two Jews in a shop in Mishor Adumim east of Jerusalem. The killing of a baby girl as a terrorist plowed his car into a group of people waiting at a light rail station in East Jerusalem.

The New York Times, in September featured an article, “Europe’s Anti-Semitism Comes Out of the Shadows.” One of the details is about an attempt to burn a synagogue in Wuppertal, Germany, and as one Jewish man quoted in the article stated, “For Jews in Germany, especially for us, this has very, very deep meaning,” and “Synagogues are burning again in Germany in the night.”

This is what Kristallnacht in 1938 was about. The burning of Jewish businesses and synagogues. The killing of Jewish people.

And anti-Semitism is also festering in the United States. Both the far left and the far right are adding to this dark time. The Israel and Palestine conflict is simply an excuse for some to continue with their hate of the Jews.

Recently in Berkeley California the BDS (Boycott, Divestment Sanctions) caucus of UAW 2865 “the union for 13,000 University of California graduate student workers,” met to discuss voting on a resolution for the union to boycott Israel.  The words of the participants are very revealing. The leadership of my denomination, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) should take note because this is what BDS is really about:

Notice several lies told at this meeting. That the Zionists made deals with the Nazis and by doing so sacrificed the lives of all the Jews killed in the Holocaust. And there is the implication that Jews in the United States are controlling what the Palestinians can or cannot do. The references to hate are because a Jewish Latino, a part of the union, stood up and shared their feelings about the aggressive and anti-Semitic language used in the meeting.   

The video of the full meeting can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZMp83syN40