“Death to the Jews!”
“Death to the Arabs!”
The first line, we’ve heard for some time. The second line, we heard for the first time last week — chanted by a few Israeli youths in anguish over the violence unleashed against Israelis, first by Arab street walkers at the beginning of Ramadan, then by Hamas from Gaza.
None of this justifies the cry, “death to the Arabs.” Full Stop.
Golda Meir once said, “We can forgive the Arabs for killing our boys, but not for forcing us to kill their boys.” Translation: We must not let Israel’s brutal neighborhood dilute Jewish values, the most fundamental of which is not to kill, except in self-defense.
It is frightening to learn that Jews chanted this ugly, anti-Jewish slogan. It is frightening to learn that they saw fit to mimic the equally ugly, anti-Semitic slogan chanted by some Arabs.
We could say that what these Jews chanted is also counterproductive, the very worst PR for Israel. But we won’t go there. This chant is wrong not because it’s bad PR. It is wrong. It is anti-Jewish. Full Stop. Nothing should need to be said beyond that.
Unfortunately, there is evidently profound need for Jewish education for these youths, and dramatic questions for teachers. The chanters are responsible for their own acts, but they did not spring out of nowhere. To the extent that these youths are students in or graduates of Orthodox Jewish institutions, it is time for a major reckoning with these institutions.
No, Jews do not chant “Death to the Arabs” no matter what certain Arabs chant and no matter what certain Arabs do. We take no solace in needing to kill in self-defense and tremble that some Jews seem to have lost the fundamental Jewish value that justifies killing only in this instance.
Copyright © 2021 by the Intermountain Jewish News
