From simmer to boil

If I had the ability to choose where to grow up as a kid in the 1970s, it would have been pretty difficult to choose any place better than Sydney, Australia. We pretty much had it all: a nice home, food on the table, family outings and holidays (er, vacations), and a great family-oriented Jewish school. So when the UNESCO proclaimed 1979 as the Year of the Child, it really couldn’t get any better – it really was all about us. I can still hear the song they used to play on TV, during the commercial breaks. I even remember my friend’s mother quip, “When are they going to make it the year of the adult?”

Whether the initiative bore any real fruit for the children of the world I don’t know, but the idea lives on in the form of World Children’s Day, which was established way back in 1954. According to the UN website, it is celebrated on 20 November each year to promote international togetherness, awareness among children worldwide, and improving children's welfare.

And while it’s a global event, few would be surprised that the top of any Google search will produce links about Palestinians in Gaza. This year however, World Children’s Day took place against a backdrop of kidnapped Jewish Israeli children being held captive in the enclave. Interested what the UN had to say? Here’s the link, but let me save you the effort. Don’t even bother.

A couple of months ago, I would have made the point that when it comes to causes affecting the Jewish people, such as the need to have guards outside schools and places of worship or everyday acts of antisemitism, the world simply shrugs its shoulders. Today, I stand corrected. The world actually does care. But it’s a twisted care manifested in hatred. The apathy of yesterday was merely simmering hostility, just waiting to come to the boil.

Today, the most blatant, documented violations of our enemies are questioned for their authenticity to a degree that’s so absurd, it’s embarrassing. Meanwhile, our actions are examined with the finest of toothcombs, hoping to jump on any hint of wrongdoing. When that’s not possible, the gaps are filled in with hearsay, rumours and blatant lies.

And yes, at the grassroots, there are plenty of good, ordinary people who aren’t afraid to speak up and I appreciate that. But when it comes to pure numbers, we simply can’t compete. It’s the few of us – 15.2 million Jews worldwide – supported by a relatively minor proportion of the rest of the world who aren’t afraid to stand by our side, against 1.8 billion Muslims supported by antisemitic left-wing intellectuals and all those jumping on the bandwagon because it’s trendy and popular. Certainly not because they’ve objectively investigated both sides of this very complex conflict.

I truly believe that it doesn’t matter whether we see this war through until Hamas is completely dismantled or if we capitulate to world opinion, abandon our kidnapped brethren and allow Hamas to rebuild its capabilities, G-d forbid. Our actions and motives simply don’t matter because so many more people hate us than don’t.

So, let the world cry, criticize and accuse away. Because no matter what we do, it won’t make one iota of a difference.