2 min read
BySteven Berkoff, Steven Berkoff
One of my joys of working in Paris was visiting the legendary Jewish Goldenberg deli in the Rue De Rosiers. The thing about Jewish delis is that, no matter where you are in the world, they make you feel not only that you are at home but also that you belong to a unique brotherhood of mankind.
The restaurant was warm-hearted, charming, even healing. It was bombed in 1982, when six customers were killed. However, it survived, was rebuilt and continued until 2007 when rising costs obliged this wonderful institution to close its doors and the creeping and pernicious disease of "fashion" took over.
That was a sad day. The Jewish race has spread throughout the world adding its culture, its special food, its zesty music and, not least, its idiosyncratic humour.
The horror of the disgusting murders in Paris is a reminder of some unpalatable facts. One is that no matter how entrenched in our relative societies, Jews will be sought out as scapegoats for every act that offends the host country. Whether it be the blood libel charge that began in England in the 12th century or faked plots of world domination. The last and most pernicious scapegoating is towards the creation of the state of Israel.
No matter how distant, indifferent, or merely sympathetic one is to this most incredible resurgence of the ancient state, Jews will be either celebrated, as in the Six-Day War, or utterly reviled, as in the piecemeal takeover of Palestinian land. "Jews" are now indelibly linked with "Israelis". This is, for most, a source of great pride since Israel has achieved against apparently insuperable odds a transformation of the Middle East. However, this link is also a connection that sends shock reverberations around the world and Jews are singled out. We cannot plead innocence in regard to some less-than-savoury acts committed by the present government under Netanyahu. As he puts obstacles in the way of an independent Palestinian state, with his continuous building of huge Jewish settlements on disputed land - which is all but impossible for any Palestinian leader to accept (leaving Netanyahu able to claim that they are recalcitrant) we are all tainted.
Jews are always blamed for acts that offend our hosts
The horror of life in the Gaza strip is something that we Jews in the diaspora could never have imagined. Yet now we all appear in some way complicit.
No one could possibly deny that the narrow waistline of Israel desperately needs to expand and how wonderful it would be if Israel could slowly but surely occupy the whole land. But, not in this way, perhaps not in any way. After the German extermination factories in Poland, such a state of Israel was a dream beyond our wildest imagination.
Now it exists and it must be protected. Hopefully, when Netanyahu is got rid of, a more enlightened leader will embrace the Palestinians. Even this may not end some rabid Muslims from attempting to kill us. But at least we will have the world on our side.