“WHAT HAS HAPPENED TO BRITAIN?”
Israelis are astonished at the hatred paraded in our cities
In recent weeks, thousands have demonstrated on the streets of London and other European capitals. London saw an estimated 300,000 anti-Israel protesters on Remembrance Sunday, whereas a peaceful solidarity march organised by Christians Against Antisemitism was first moved from central London to Golders Green and then cancelled as the Metropolitan Police said it could not protect them.
The Home Secretary has even lost her job for failing to amend an article that claimed the police treated some groups, such as the pro-Palestine protesters, more leniently.
Huge crowds of protesters waved black, red, white and green Palestinian flags and held aloft placards proclaiming “Resist and fight Zionism the disease” and “Welcome to Gaza twinned with Auschwitz,” just over a month since the Hamas massacre that saw more than 1,200 butchered and some 240 people taken hostage.
The crowds chanted “From London to Palestine, occupation is a crime” and “in our thousands, in our millions, we are all Palestinians.”
Israelis are asking, “What has happened to Britain?”, according to author Douglas Murray. Writing in The Telegraph (17 November 2023), he reported: “[London] rallies were held within hours of the massacres. To most Israelis this is nearly unfeasible. What other country would see 1,200 of its citizens slaughtered, 240 kidnapped and countless more wounded for life, and not be allowed even a day to mourn?”
FROM ENTEBBE TO GAZA CITY
Decades after he lost his hero brother in the raid to free the Entebbe hostages, Benjamin Netanyahu is facing his own hostage crisis. But will the world be as understanding of Israel’s plight now?
By Jonathan Feldstein
On 27 June 1976, Captain Michel Bacos was piloting Air France Flight 139 with 246 passengers from Athens to Paris.
Minutes into the flight, two Palestinian and two German terrorists hijacked the flight. Bacos was forced at gunpoint to re-route the flight to Entebbe, Uganda. There the terrorists forced all Jewish passengers into a separate room. Eventually they released the 148 non-Jewish passengers.
Remarkably, Captain Bacos and his crew remained with the Jewish hostages. On 4 July, the hostages were freed following an Israeli covert raid.
Today, the 240 hostages are much closer in harder to reach underground bunkers and likely not altogether. Ironically, the hero of the 1976 rescue was Lt Col Yonatan Netanyahu, older brother of current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Now Yonatan’s younger brother is dealing with his own hostage crisis.
The current French President, Emmanuel Macron, immediately flew to Israel after Hamas’ massacre to show solidarity. Since then Macron has changed his tune, clearly playing to the vast terror base in his own backyard because France has seen a huge increase in antisemitic attacks. In a BBC interview, Macron claimed there was “no justification” for Israel’s bombing of Hamas terror targets, and that a ceasefire would benefit Israel.
The US has also increased its rhetoric. Secretary of State Blinken told reporters in India, “Far too many Palestinians have been killed; far too many have suffered these past weeks.”
If criticism by Blinken and Macron is not first directed at Hamas, for their massacre and for using civilians as shields, they are not credible.
In 2019, Israel’s national anthem was played at Michel Bacos’ funeral where the mayor of Nice said, “Michel, bravely refusing to give in to antisemitism and barbarism, did honour to France. The love of France and the defence of liberties have marked his destiny.”
Today is the world’s Bacos moment. Will you stand with Israel or appease the terrorists?
Jonathan Feldstein is president of the Genesis 123 Foundation. He works with Christian supporters of Israel, sharing experiences of living as an Orthodox Jew in Israel, including his podcast, Inspiration from Zion. He can be reached at firstpersonisrael@gmail.com
To sign a petition to help Israel resist growing pressure for a ceasefire until ALL the hostages are released, see https://genesis123.co/freethehostages
THE YOUNGER GENERATION IS LOST
Karen Harradine wrote a telling article on the youth of the pro-Palestine demonstrators in The Conservative Woman (11 November 2023) Here is one memorable quote:
“Thanks to years of dumbed-down, woke education, of which antisemitism is a part, many young Westerners have lost their critical thinking skills. Identity politics, not the Holocaust of more than 80 years ago, is the lens through which they frame their alignments. Jews who were reviled as Semites in Europe, in Israel have become ‘the acme of white privilege’. Identity conforming youth are easily swayed into delusional tropes such as that Israel oppresses the subjugated, progressive movement of Hamas.”
To read the full article, click here
“YOUR PROBLEM, NOT OURS”
After tens of thousands took to the streets in Europe and the US to show solidarity for Gaza, the editor of Israel Today has issued a warning: “This is your problem, not Israel’s.”
He points out that since the 2011 Arab Spring, European governments have welcomed millions of Muslim refugees and asks, “Why did no other resourceful Arab country or the oil-rich Persian Gulf states accept Arab refugees? …For years, radical Muslims in Europe have talked about liberating Europe from the hands of Christians.”
The full version of this article can be read at: www.israeltoday.co.il
UNION PAYS TEACHERS TO PROTEST
By Melanie Symonds
When GB News and The Times gasped that the young woman holding up a racist placard on a pro-Palestine march was a teacher, I was not surprised.
Two weeks earlier I had emailed GB News to tell them that the largest teaching union, the NEU (National Education Union), was going to pay its members’ travel and lunch expenses if they abandoned their weekend lesson prep and headed to London to join the pro-Palestine rally.
This is because the NEU gives £1.79 of each member’s subs to the Palestine Solidarity Campaign. With around 450,000 members, that gives the PSC around £750,000 pa.
What version of history will these teachers be giving their pupils?
“NEVER AGAIN IS NOW”
This is the new call at pro-Israel rallies
After their first attempt was cancelled for safety concerns, Christians from across Britain gathered in Central London on 19 November for a ‘Never again is now’ prayer event.
Representatives from various Christian denominations, members of the Jewish community, and public figures joined to sing hymns and offer prayers to bring comfort to the Jewish community mourning the recent atrocities and to support Israel in its defence against an unprovoked war. The event was organised by Christians Against Antisemitism with other Christian groups joining.
The organisers said it was “A peaceful prayer stand to show our love and solidarity for our Jewish community, who are facing intense and unprecedented rises in antisemitism”.