So

“so” has become the fashionable word, with which more and more people begin their sentences. It is almost always meaningless and just an empty word. It does not serve as a ‘therefore’, nor as an ‘in order’.

It is not as ridiculous but just as annoying as the generic filler word “like”, which many people pad their sentences with, when searching for the right word.

So, here’s a good New-Year’s resolution… cut out the Sos.

Tachles

For German readers, here’s a short piece of mine, that appeared in this week’s Tachles, the Jewish weekly magazine of Switzerland.

It is about the use of earth, purportedly from the area of the Nazi concentration camps, to create a provocative reminder of what collaboration with right-wing extremism can lead to. The idea of the artists, who were behind this installation, was to warn against any pacts with Germany’s AfD party. There was an uproar and the artists apologised: The ashes of the victims should be allowed to rest in peace was the general view and especially the voices heard from German Jewish organisations.

I think that – if indeed, after so many years, the earth still had any leftover ashes ­ – this use, to provoke German society against right-wing xenophobia and racism, is the best that has happened to them in the last 75 years.  

united Kingdom – What Now?

He did it. He won by a landslide. The papers are full of analysis and predictions. What will he be like, now that he’s got that all-enabling majority? Where is Britain going? What about Scotland? Ireland? united Kingdom?

In all of this, we should not forget the underlying facts: Britain is where it is because of a nationalist and xenophobic drive, led by Nigel Farage and his enablers, succumbed to by a weak Tory Prime Minister, David Cameron, who produced a half-baked referendum, followed by Theresa May and a Tory party, the deceitful message of which it was that 51.5% of the vote reflects “the will of the people”, a notion that turned into a mantra of the political class. All this was nurtured by a Brexit pushing populist press. Then there is the interesting question of foreign meddling (Putin?) and the personal interest and whims of a few mega-rich individuals who finance such campaigns.

The deed is done. Will it be good for Britain? Nationalism and Xenophobia are bad. Full stop. They go hand-in-hand with racism and antisemitism. And they have all been given a free run. From this point of view, the whole process has been extremely bad for Britain.

Will it be good for Britain’s economy, for people’s standard of living, for the quality of their lives? I think not. Time will tell.

What is it be: Leave the country? Build a bunker and store food and medicine? Pray? Meditate? It’s the time of the year and it will probably just end up with drink and be merry.

Our Boys vs. Stray Weeds

If you have the opportunity to watch the Israeli 10-part-series Our Boys, do so. Netflix(?) HBO(?) It is worth watching.

It is a docu-drama that revisits the revenge killing of a 16-year-old Palestinian by three orthodox Jews. A real story that happened in Jerusalem in July 2014. The series gives insight into remote – perhaps even alien – societal groups, unknown to most of us: Palestinians, Ultra-orthodox Jews, and... Israeli secret service. You get to understand them all better. Even the warped world and world-view that produced the killers.

I recently asked one of the writers and directors of the series, to what extent, they may have been instrumentalised by the shabaq, Israel’s internal security service. After all, the film’s portrayal of the shabaq is sympathetic and it was a fact, that the film’s directors had been granted access to the interrogation files – surely an unusual occurrence. The only explanation, that I can think of for shabaq’s decision to cooperate with the makers of this series, is the hope that it would benefit their PR.

My interlocutor believed that not to be the case. Indeed, those who are willing to think beyond the excitement of the show, may be asking themselves, why the Israeli secret service treats Jewish suspects of hate crimes with kid gloves, whereas it shows no such reservations when it comes to its dealing with Arabs.

Interestingly, the original name for the series was to be “Stray Weeds”. At some point, they must have concluded that Our Boys better portrays the state of affairs in Israel.  

Here’s an official HBO trailer.

France I - The Strikes

Perhaps it is French laicité , a concept going back to the French revolution, that is behind this regular screwing up of the pre-Christmas period by French unions. December seems to be the month, in which they like to make life miserable for their own countryfolk and terrorise whoever is in power. 

On a more serious note, it must also be the French revolution that explains the mega-aggression, whenever the French go on strikes. Blocking the roads throughout the country is standard. Some years ago, I read that a French historian explained the difference in striking patterns between France, where strike action often precedes negotiations, and other countries, in which strikes will be undertaken when negotiations fail. The French are proud of their revolution and consequently there seems to be more acceptance of violent behaviour to further one’s aims. Guillotine anyone?

The latest strikes have come about to prevent Macron’s government from going ahead with its plans to reform the pension system. I can well understand the frustration of many, who feel that the rich are getting richer, whilst they are facing old-age with not much bread and definitely no cakes.

They are right but preventing a reform in the pension system will not put the burden on the rich. It will simply pass the burden to the next generation: that is, to the children of those who are striking. Is that what the strikers want?

France II – Macron and Antisemitism

In February of this year, France’s President Macron, at an annual dinner of CRIF, the representative body of French Jews, came out with a statement equating anti-Zionism with Antisemitism: "L'antisionisme est l'une des formes modernes de l'antisémitisme" Whichever of his assistants had written that text, is either an idiot or under the thumb of a pro-Israel lobby. 

 

That was ten months ago. Now the French parliament has passed a resolution repeating Macron’s idiocy. The Israeli government confirmed that “The adoption of the resolution came after many months of diplomatic efforts by the Israeli embassy in Paris.”

Whereas I believe that establishing a Jewish state in Palestine was morally justified, I do not expect everyone to share my view. I definitely do not expect Palestinians to do so: For Palestinians, Zionism means dispossession, displacement, occupation and structural inequality. It is cynical and insensitive to stigmatize them as anti-Semites for opposing Zionism. They oppose Zionism not because they hate Jews, but because they experience Zionism as an oppressive political movement.  

The fact that some Antisemites are also anti-Zionists, does not mean that all anti-Zionists are Antisemites. Antisemitism is way too serious a problem to handle it superficially, only because the Israeli government takes advantage of European guilt over the Holocaust.  

France III – Leonardo & More

Despite the above, French politicians and politics will not prevent me from going to the Leonardo exhibition at the Louvre and the El Greco and Toulouse-Lautrec exhibitions at the Grand Palais. A nice French restaurant or two will hopefully make it easier to digest all that culture.

Johnson should send flowers to Usman Khan

A couple of days ago Usman Khan went on a killing rampage in London and managed to kill two passers-by. In doing so, Mr. Khan made his own personal contribution to the election campaign of Boris Johnson. Two weeks before the elections, instead of defending his party’s running down of Britain, Boris Johnson is now able to talk about the favourite subject of the world’s politicians: terrorism.

We must stop this nonsense:

Politicians and media around the world are playing with our emotions with their ridiculous “fight against terror”.

We should stop acting as if people killed by terrorists are more valuable, important, loved or lovable than people killed in car accidents or people killed by murderers without political motives.

In truth, it is the politicians who are terrorising us with unnecessary panic. If they want to lower the number of people dying unnecessarily, they should find out where an investment would be most efficient. My guess is that car accidents is where the attention should be going: In the years 2000-2017, the average number of deaths in the UK was: terrorism – 7, dog bites –18, hot water – 100, road accidents – 2,920.

Don’t be misled by your politicians or by headline-hungry media.

The Chief Rabbi and Labour

Two weeks before the elections in Britain, the country’s Chief Rabbi, came out with a statement that was tantamount to an endorsement of Boris Johnson. He should not have done that.

I share the Chief Rabbi’s discomfort and frustration by a Labour party that does not handle Antisemitism in its midst and by Corbyn, the leader of that party, who enables this.  More than that, I despise Corbyn for his scandalous dereliction of duty, as the Leader of H.M. Opposition, to oppose the Tory government on the most important issue that this country has had since 1945: Brexit. But I do not share the Rabbi’s view that anxiety as to “What will become of Jews and Judaism in Britain if the Labour Party forms the next government?“ is justified.

Speaking out against Corbyn, without at the same time speaking out against Johnson and his Conservative party’s miserable track record on racism, islamophobia and xenophobia, was wrong.

As a moral and theological authority, the Chief Rabbi should have left such a blatantly political interference to the Board of Deputies of British Jews, the body representing Britain’s Jews.

UK Elections – Who to vote for?

Half of those who participated in the Referendum, three years ago, voted against Brexit. This population of Remainers has been swindled out of its rightful voice in parliament, because of Jeremy Corbyn’s personal Brexit sympathies.

So, who should British Remainers vote for? They should vote tactically: If the Liberal-Democrat candidate in their constituency has a good chance of getting in, they should vote for that candidate. Regardless of how much they like the incumbent MP. Otherwise, they should vote Labour.

It now seems that Boris Johnson will get more votes than Jeremy Corbyn and it is vital that he should not be able to form a government without a coalition partner. The price of the Liberal Democrats for such partnership will hopefully be a second referendum.

Brexit is the important issue and people should vote with that in mind. But even for those, who do not feel that strongly: The Liberal Democrats’ more balanced policies in virtually all spheres would be critical dampeners to the extremist agendas of both Conservatives and Labour.

Above all: Vote.