Holocaust Names - Radio Editorial

Radio Editorial

In Need of Another Chanukah
by Shlomo Fleischmann

Before one year the world awaited with greatest concern the arrival of the new Millenium. It was general relief when neither the religious nor the technical foretold calamities set in. Was the concern then, proven unjustified or was it only postponed? We think it was just delayed. Seen from this perspective, the new Millennia starts just now with the inauguration of the new President of the US. After World War II and the Cold War, we became complacent with matters of security. Neglecting the principle of "Safety first," much time and energy was spent on petty bickering, which weakened the country. We have to be aware that the potential danger in the new Millennium is much greater than ever before. Too many smoldering of fires, too much power by unpredictable fanatics and terrorists can bring doom to the world. It is essential that the elected leader of the country should be able to concentrate on business for the benefit of the country. This is the only criteria. We have to stand behind our leaders and stop the vicious circle from mutual personal attacks. Enough is enough. All Americans have to stand up for the man who carries the burden for all Americans.

A new development, though not an unfamiliar one - took place lately." - A dramatic rise in anti-Semitic incidents. The reports are staggering. Complaints are coming from Australia, Germany, Belgium, Britain, Spain, France, South Africa and Argentine. And - also plenty from our country. Petrol bombs, arson, shooting, beatings, etc.

"Why this sudden dramatic increase in attacks?"

Undoubtedly the reason for this increase, lies in the biased reporting of the media. In spite of experiences and education, there still exists in the world a dormant anti-Semitism. Reports about misdeeds by Israel are invigorating the old feelings of hate and transferred to Jews in general. The revelations of alleged crimes perpetrated by Jews confirm and justify the various vicious slogans of hate - and then - violent actions are quick to follow.

About the reason of media bias, we can only speculate. But it is a fact, though media representatives try hard to explain it away. But for the truly informed, the misrepresentations - from subtle remarks - till full-blown lies are excruciatingly painful.

Part of the blame lies also in Israel's ineffective information service. We should have known better. God entrusted Moses with the struggle for the physical and spiritual leadership. Moses was Moses, and the greatest man Judaism ever had, but he was hard of speech. No problem God said -"take your brother Ahron, he is good in PR and he should speak for me." The rest is history. But history - badly learned by current Israeli leaders. Today we have no Ahron- and we miss him.

Neither Israel, nor the rest of our people, can afford this blunder. Israel is blamelessly attacked and on top defamed. It happened also in our history and the sentence "Gam ratsachta vegam yarashta," - which means "You have murdered and also inherited," is stated in the scriptures.

As nobody does it for us, we have to pre-empt the - by the media promoted anti Semitism - by observing the lies and speak up. Energetic responses and complains have to be addressed to the media and fair reporting requested. If we don't help ourselves - nobody will.

- I am Shlomo Fleischmann

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