WhatsappCrown Heights is an area in New York that has become a scene of growing hate crimes in recent years. But around 25 years ago, there were waves of hate crimes too. Once things came to a head over there when there was a weak Mayor of New York who basically allowed hoodlums to go around and beat up Jews mercilessly. His name was David Dinkins, and when he was questioned about the anti-semitic actions, despite denouncing them, he also said that some of the youngsters were “just letting off some steam.” That comment should never be forgotten as it reflects the main reason that the Jewish people can never rely on other leaders to take care of their security.
Lessons from World War II
The Jewish people have had many friends in power over the years. However, there have been more who have been hostile to the Jewish people or who showed apathy to terrible tragedies that befell the Jewish people. To this day, many will debate whether FDR was a good or bad President. Many give him high marks for his handling of the economic woes and for battling the Nazi threat in World War II. But it is much harder to look at his record on Jewish refugees before and during the Holocaust and not be appalled. There were ships of Jewish refugees that were returned to Germany. Moreover, towards the end of World War II, American pilots flew many sorties right over train tracks that led to death camps where thousands of Jews were killed every day. The American leadership was definitely aware of this, but chose to be apathetic, and use a lame excuse that they will not divert any resources to anything but winning the war. Due to that attitude alone, thousands more Jews were killed.
Plain and simple, the Jewish people learned the hard way that they cannot allow their safety and well-being to be handled by anyone except themselves. Why? Because they can’t rely on anybody else. They can befriend true friends and work together with others. But they can only truly rely on themselves. That is the very essence of the Israeli Defense Forces. It is the ultimate answer to the apathy of the FDR’s of the world. OF course, the haters and anti-semites are the core of the problem. But, the apathetic leaders who stand by and do nothing against the haters are also part of the problem. David Dinkins may have been a decent human being, but allowing a pogrom against Jews on his watch was an indecent act. The Jewish people have a solution to anti-semitism – a strong State of Israel.
