The Rise and Fall of the Haters

“For, behold, the day will come, it burns like a furnace; and all the proud and all those who do evil, shall be stubble; and the day that comes shall set them ablaze, says the Lord of Hosts.” (Malachi 3:12,19.)

This article by Dennis Prager makes it clear that the Arab-Moslem attitude towards us is the same which led to the mass murder of 6 million of our brethren by the Europeans between 1933 and 1945.

It is therefore of interest to remember what happened to all the mighty nations and empires who persecuted and murdered us in the past. I call your attention to these historical facts because I am convinced that the Arab-Moslem haters will come to the same end as did Rome, the Crusaders, Spain, Poland, Germany, the Soviet Union and so many others. Let us look at these examples, one by one, and see the common pattern.

When the emperor Constantine declared Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire in the fourth century, (325 C.E.) that religion owed its growth and ascendancy to the Jews who had scattered about the empire since the Romans destroyed Judea (132-135 C.E. [Common Era]) Numerous Jews had already moved into various cities in the Roman Empire before 132. Many left Judea after the Romans captured Jerusalem in 70 C.E. and came to Greece and and settled as far away as Spain.

These Jews became the first targets of the founder of Christianity, the Jew Saul or Paul, who wrote letters to several of these Jewish communities. These letters are called “Epistles” and are part of the Christian New Testament. Christians call the Torah the “old” Testament. There is no “old” testament in Judaism because there is no “new” testament. Furthermore, the word testament means “hand on the testes” because the ancient people, knowing nothing about reproduction, swore by their fathers' testes in court. This oath consisted of literally placing one’s hand on the testes of the father. Lest this be viewed as disgusting, it needs to be understood that people ignorant of science feel compelled to swear by whatever is most important. Evidently, reproduction guarantees the continuity of life and therefore such an oath is understandable. The Biblical Israelis did this also. Please look at Berayshit, Genesis 24:2 and Genesis 41:29 and learn about that ancient custom.

In any event, the Roman Empire is no more. Israel exists again, but not Rome.

The Jews were among the first to settle in Colonia Argrippina (Köln or Cologne) in Germany. Nevertheless, the Germans who had come to that country from Asia after the Jews claimed that Jews were not truly Germans and attacked the Jews, in particular during the crusades beginning in 1095. The crusaders sought to establish a Christian kingdom in Israel and aimed to drive the Moslems out of that country together with the Jews. Finding the target of their efforts too distant they killed Jews in the Rhineland and all along their route as they proceeded to THE HOLY LAND. They did establish a Christian Kingdom of Jerusalem for a time (1099) but lost that “kingdom” in 1143 when the “Saracens” (Easterners in Arabic) or Moslems defeated the crusaders. As a result of the crusades, feudalism was ended in Europe because the peasants who had left the feudal estates refused to return to their erstwhile slavery. Feudalism was defeated but the Jews survived in the cities that grew as a result of that defeat.

When the Romans settled in Spain, a good number of Jews settled there as well since the Romans had destroyed their home in Israel. The Jews lived in Spain for a thousand years when the queen of Spain, Isabella and king Ferdinand decided to expel all Jews from Spain unless they converted to the state religion, Catholic Christianity. Because the Jews had nowhere to go, except the Netherlands and in a limited fashion Germany and Poland etc., many Jews financed the voyage of Christophoro Colombo, a descendant of Jews, who then discovered the New World. On the day Colombo (Columbus) sailed from Lisbon, the Jews sailed from there as well, as they had been expelled from Spain and Portugal. In any case, that discovery placed England into the foremost position to gain access to the New World since England was located closer to America than any other European country and had then a large navy. That navy destroyed the Spanish armada (navy) in 1588. Spain then declined as a world power. The persecution of the Jews caused the downfall of Spain.

England, however, welcomed the Spanish and Portuguese Jews and England’s fortunes improved thereafter. In fact, Benjamin Disraeli, a decendant of Portuguese Jews became English Prime Minister in 1868 and again in 1874-80.

The Russian Empire, which seemed impregnable, was the scene of a great and active Jewish life. However, in 1881 the Czar (Ceasar) of Russia, Alexander III, launched a vicious attack on the Jews of Russia, many of whom died in pogroms (i.e. storms). The consequence was that a large number of Jews migrated to the United States. The Russian Empire came to an end with the revolution of 1917 when Joseph Trotsky, real name Bronstein, commanded the revolutionary army. The Czar, Nicholas, was murdered. The Russian Empire was finished. The Jews not only survived but prospered in America even as a few migrated to Israel and revitalized that ancient home of Goy (Nation) Yisroel.

The Germans, always anti-Jewish, nevertheless permitted some Jews to rise to high positions in the government and gave the Jewish community at least some opportunities after the defeat of Napoleon (1815) and before the advent of Hitler (1933). We need not recite the horrors of the Holocaust in which all Europeans outside of England participated. The result was the utter destruction of Germany (1945) whose Arab allies were already building concentration camps and gas ovens meant for the population of Israel if their German friends had won.

We Jews survived. Nazi Germany is no more and Germany is at best a second rate country far removed from its erstwhile preeminence in science, art, literature and commerce.

Now the Arabs and their supporters seek to ignite another Holocaust. Each day they kill Jews, any Jews, to satisfy their belief that no Jew has a right to live and that they have been divinely appointed to kill all Jews everywhere.

This week, the Arab states representing 250 million people are meeting in Beirut, Lebanon to tell the Jews of this world that unless we all commit suicide they mean to come and murder us. Fortunately, the Jews of Israel and the United States can defend themselves. We have a government that recognizes a terrorist when it sees one. Indeed, the Arab killers and their allies seem once more to be an overwhelming enemy who should be able to murder all of us, all 13 million of us. Yet, you and I know they will not succeed. This brief history demonstrates that we seem like an easy target to our huge enemies. Yet, our enemies always lose. We always survive. So it will be again this time. The haters will lose, love will win.

There is, after all, only one issue between us Jews and our enemies. We believe that all human beings have a right to live because we were born. That includes Jews but also Arabs and other hate mongers. The Arabs believe that we Jews have no right to live. That is the only issue between us. Therefore all the killing and all the bloodshed imposed on Israel and the United States will end whenever the Arabs recognize that they are not empowered to kill Jews at will but that we all belong to one human family.

May the Arab people take to heart the words of Thomas Jefferson, that “all men are created equal” soon and in our day, Bimhayro v’yomaynoo,

Shalom u’vracha.

P.S. Isn’t history fascinating? So turn off the TV and read a History of the Jews instead. You deserve to do something for yourself for once.

Dr. Gerhard Falk is the author of numerous publications, including Stigma: How We Treat Outsiders.

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