Why do Jews Need a State?

So after we have done a great job convincing people that Jews belong in Israel and are very much indigenous to the region. Often it follows up with a big WHY:

1. Why is there a need?
2. Why do Jews need their own land?
3. Why can’t we all coexist and have a one-state solution?
4. Why not focus on a state safe for Jews instead of being controlled by Jews?

Of course, as a Jew, I often like to answer questions with other questions that seem common sense to me.

1. What’s wrong with building a country in a region that fits with your own ethnic and religious identity?
2. What is so wrong about letting Jews have a piece of land to call their own?

At the end of the day, even the most social extroverts like to go back to being surrounded by 4 walls they call their own.

Saying that there are plenty of people who don’t get that concept or at least act like they don’t get it when it comes to Jews. If we truly believe that there should not be ethnic or religious-based countries, why don’t we start this experiment with other countries, especially in the Middle East? Why don’t we let Christians and Kurds be part of the government in Iran and Saudi Arabia?

Why don’t we give the descended of the 850000 Jews refugees from Arab and Persian lands the right of return? Let’s start with coexistence there in other middle eastern countries. How about that, no? Hmmm. Are you not interested in fighting for Jewish refugees?

And that brings us to the undisputed argument that fits the most clueless utopian dreamer at the expense of Jews and the main reason that Israel must exist as a Jewish state. The reason is anti-Semitism. For many haters, we are simply a privileged white population who sits at the top of the social pyramid.

The reality is that we are not white and by far the most hated ethnicity in the world. There is really no safe place for us, even today.

Stop it! I can see you rolling your eyes through the computer. Because we all know that Middle Easterns are trained to hate us from a young age, and many eastern European countries still think we are a pest for criticizing their participation in killing Jews a few decades back? But in the US and many European countries, isn’t the life of a jew should be pretty good? We shouldn’t have much complaints, right?

Well, triple wrong with a cherry on top.  In 2014 the uniform crime reports showed that 56% of religious hate crimes were against Jews. Not proportional, not per capita. More than half of religious crimes were against a population that is about 2.4%. Based on hate crime FBI data, 14.8 in 100000 Jews have been victimized compared to 6.6 Muslims and 5.5 blacks. Unfortunately, it has increased much more since then. In the US, from 2020 to 2021, the hate crime against Jews increased by 34%. If that doesn’t sound enough, it means 7 antisemitic incidents per fucking day.

And you would think in lovely friendly Canada. Things would be better.

In 2014 Toronto police hate crime report showed that 30% of hate crimes in Toronto were against Jews. Again Jews were the most targeted group, irrelevant to the tiny group size.

In Canada, hate crimes against Jews increased by 50% from 2020 to 2021. Canadian Jews are the most hated religious group in Canada and ten times most prone to suffer hate crimes, despite being just 1.2% of the population.

Only a few EU countries have the courage to effectively record antisemitic incidents in official data research. Some countries do not collect any official data at all. Another challenge is the under-reporting of the victims. But your friend at IsraelActivists.com  still managed to fetch some statistics. 22% of hate crimes in pan-European countries are Anti Semitic, even if Jews are only about a tenth of 1% of the population.

It’s certain that antisemitism in the UK increased in person. From 2021 to 2022, physical assaults increased by 28% and vandalism by 49%. In particular, in 2021, we had an antisemitic protest with people screaming, I kid you not, “f*** the Jews,” “kill the Jews,” and “rape their daughters.” Four men were charged, but in Mid-July of 2022, their charges were dropped.

Now, let me get a bit more personal here.

Here in Canada, about a year ago, a man drew a swastika on the doors of my synagogue. The synagogue’s security quickly captured him. (Alex, you are the man!).

The scary part was while he was captured, he was also holding a canister of gasoline in his other hand. But outside the life-threatening terrorism attempt, there is also the annoying reality that Alex and his team cost me and every member 400$ per person to maintain. That’s right. Most people need to deal with house insurance and car insurance and pay taxes. As a Jew that goes to synagogue, I have Jewish tax to protect my life, and I’m a member of 2 synagogues. Yikes!

To top it up, about 15 years ago, the elementary school United Talmud Torah that was attached to my high school was firebombed. Three years later, a bomb went off in front of the Jewish Centre where I often go to Network to meet people. This is in supposedly safe Canada, where I continuously live in uncertainty as a Jew. Did I mention that all these hate crimes come with a security bill that no other ethnicity would have ever imagined they would need to pay?

Security is often brought to the next level when I go to European synagogues. I’m often welcomed by a security guard that was an ex-IDF elite soldier. He is not exactly great at making the guests feel warm and cozy because he needs to interrogate everyone. For all the Nonjews who are reading this, if you ever visited a new Church or Mosque for the holidays, how would it make you feel to be interrogated like a criminal at the entrance?
This, my friends, is the life of a Jew outside Israel, and this year we have experienced more attacks and harassment than ever. So do we live a nice, safe life in the Western world? We tend to always put on a face that we do and keep positive, but in reality, we don’t.

So now we are back to the big question why Israel matters so much till today? Because while it is underreported and under-emphasized, Jews are never safe anywhere else and need a home where they can thrive without being afraid, ashamed, or pay security Jew taxes. Although I must admit the Taxes on cars in Israel sometimes make me appreciate my security taxes.

Coming soon…

Coming soon…