Echoes of a disastrous past

Students of history will recognise current developments as yet another disastrous rerun of past failed political objectives.

How many times can the same old mistakes, misconceptions and dead-end policies be repeated?

Endlessly, it seems, with the certainty of similar disastrous results.

The number of non-Jewish students learning about history, ancient and modern, is decreasing annually. As a result, the present and upcoming generations know little or nothing of past events, which resulted in disaster for Jews in particular and humanity in general.

One has only to observe current trends to discern which dead-end cul-de-sac things are hurtling down.

Facing up to rapidly emerging threats requires determined leadership and unflinching courage if we are not to succumb to the inevitable toxic fallout.

Identifiable threats mutated from previous centuries include such maladies as isolationist politicians, deal brokers, Jew haters and deniers of reality.

Each one of these incurable conditions has resurfaced with a vengeance and threatens to engulf all those targeted.

Isolationist policies seem to have been a standard feature of American foreign diplomacy since the founding of the Republic. Its basic premise was “non involvement in European and Asian conflicts and non entanglement in international politics.”

This aversion to foreign intervention meant that in the First World War, the USA initially refused to take sides. From 1914 until April 1917, young men from Britain and the Empire and France fought and died in large numbers. The only reason that the USA finally entered the conflict was because of American ships being targeted by German submarines and an intercepted telegram which implied that Germany was about to attack the US via Mexico. There is no doubt that the US entry in the war hastened its eventual end.

However, it did not eliminate isolationist tendencies. President Wilson’s creation of the League of Nations, which was embraced by most other nations, was rejected by US legislators, and America never joined this organisation. The strength of the isolationist lobby meant that the League was hobbled right from the start. It also constrained FDR in his efforts to become more involved internationally.

The rise of Italian Fascism and German Nazism went unchallenged as US isolationists and British appeasers refused to face up to the looming threats. Concurrently, these policies also prevented desperate Jewish refugees from finding a safe haven and doomed most of them to certain death. When war was eventually declared in 1939, the UK and France stood alone. With the collapse of the French only Great Britain stood against German domination of Europe. Despite the destructive Blitz and Japanese victories in Singapore, Hong Kong and elsewhere, the USA refused to become involved.

It was only after Pearl Harbour that the USA belatedly entered the scene. One speculates as to what might have happened had the Germans successfully invaded Britain. Would the US have recognized its Nazi occupation and tried to reach a “deal” with the Nazis?

This background is important to remember because it has a direct bearing on what is transpiring in our time. The isolationists in Washington have once again resurfaced and are influencing how the USA responds to today’s threats and challenges. Vice President Vance, when asked about the conflict between Pakistan and India, replied that “it is none of our business.” The fact that his boss subsequently brokered a fragile ceasefire seems to imply some sort of disconnect at the top.

Coupled with a desire to disconnect from defending free democracies is a rediscovered enthusiasm for making deals. Unfortunately, these so-called deals can easily end up selling allies down the river and enabling aggressors and terror sponsors to continue their nefarious activities.

President Theodor Roosevelt was spot on when he stated “speak softly and carry a big stick – you will go far.”

The current incumbent in the White House has taken the opposite approach. Bluster and bombastic threats have been followed by reversals and flip-flops. Punitive tariffs one day and backpedal the next. Warnings to Hamas that the gates of hell will open if all Israeli hostages are not released followed by no consequences when that did not occur. Hamas says that “we were advised to give Trump a gift – in return he will give us back a better one.”

One solitary hostage is released, and Washington claims a victory. Where are the threatened consequences if all the hostages are not released? They are nowhere to be seen. The Houthis engage in piracy. The USA bombs Yemen and then abruptly stops, claiming that the terrorists will cease targeting US vessels. The only problem is that they continue to fire missiles at Israel, knowing that they are safe from US retaliation.

Shifting red lines on preventing Iranian nuclear weapons capabilities now abound. Originally it was “cease” and “dismantle” or else dire results would ensue. Now there is talk of “civilian” nuclear power for a country which is awash in oil. Immediate compliance has been replaced by endless negotiations designed to deceive and delay.

Claims that the Ukraine/Russia conflict could be solved in a day turn out to be an illusion. Back in 1938, Chamberlain told the Czechs to relinquish the Sudetenland to Hitler. We all know where that ended. Today, Trump is telling the Ukrainians to relinquish Crimea to Putin.

During the last outburst of appeasement and isolationist frenzy, the democracies of Europe were abandoned and sacrificed, leading to the tragedies of the Shoah.

Given the current US frenzy to make “deals” one wonders what the leaders of Taiwan, South Korea and other threatened countries must be thinking. The northern part of Cyprus is illegally occupied by Turkey, a NATO member and Tibet lost its sovereignty a long time ago to the Communist Chinese. The most surreal piece of news recently was the announcement that France and Poland are going to sign a mutual defence pact, which would guarantee that if either country were attacked, the other would come to its aid. Obviously, the Poles have had a major lapse of memory because the last time they signed up to such an arrangement in 1939, neither Britain nor France saved them from German aggression. Relying on the French in particular is a lost cause given their track record.

The other noxious echo from the past, which is now rampaging worldwide, is, of course, Jew hate. Ostensibly driven by opposition to Israel, but in actual fact incubated and reincarnated by humanity’s oldest virus, this plague has now become a pandemic.

Swedish Jews who once felt secure now find themselves questioning whether they can continue to call Sweden home. Faced with a rising tide of hate, the latest reports maintain that 80% of Jews feel very pressured and threatened.

A Norwegian hotel has emailed Israeli tourists that “we have to boycott you” because the hotel’s employees‘ union has decided to ban Israeli travellers.

An Israeli couple was kicked out of a Naples restaurant for being “Zionists.”

The editor of a Dutch Jewish newspaper admitted that she is very pessimistic about the future of Jews in Europe. In the face of increased Jew hate in the Netherlands, the silent majority have chosen to remain silent once again. This is in a country where 75% of its Jewish citizens were rounded up, betrayed and deported to their deaths during the Shoah.

Eurovision is being held in Switzerland this week. Jews have been advised that if they attend, they should be careful not to wear anything that might identify themselves as Jews and definitely should not speak Hebrew. Who in their wildest nightmares would have imagined this scandalous situation, reminiscent of pre-Shoah Germany and Austria, would once again become the norm?

In Wellington, the Capital of New Zealand, graffiti appeared on a wall with the message reading “I hated Jews before it was cool.”

Condemnation of this hateful message followed, but there was one jarring and disgraceful response from a trustee of The Helen Clark Foundation, a self-styled “think tank” created by the former Prime Minister of NZ. Her husband is a trustee and professor. His tweeted response to this graffiti was that “you reap what you sow.” In other words, Jews are responsible for being hated because, presumably, of what Israel is doing to protect its citizens.

This classic leftist defence of Jew hate in projecting all sins onto the evil Zionists is a perfect example of how far the poisonous pus of hate has penetrated the addled minds of even the most so-called educated sectors of the population.

This is definitely an eerie echo of the past now revived.

It is therefore amazing that, given all the available evidence, there should still be many who continue to deny the obvious.

It is time to hearken to the words of Psalm 146 – “put not your trust in princes (mortals) in whom there is no help.”

Michael Kuttner is a Jewish New Zealander who for many years was actively involved with various communal organisations connected to Judaism and Israel. He now lives in Israel and is J-Wire’s correspondent in the region.