The Anti-Semitism of an Irish Prime Minister, a BBC Journalist & a New York High School

Since Hamas attack of Israel back on October 7th, we have seen anti-Semitism come out in the open the world over. 

This anti-Semitism has taken many forms. Here are but three examples which have taken place in recent days.

First, is from Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar. In response to the release of 9-year old Israeli-Irish hostage Emily Hand, Varadkar issued a statement calling Hand “an innocent child who was lost has now been found and returned.”

As a great many people pointed out, Emily Hand was not lost. She was kidnapped and held hostage by Hamas. Among those who made this point was Israeli Foreign Minister Eli Cohen:

Mr Prime Minister, It seems you have lost your moral compass and need a reality check. Emily Hand was not ‘lost’, she was kidnapped by a terror organisation worse than Isis that murdered her stepmother. Emily and more than 30 other Israeli children were taken hostage by Hamas, and you @LeoVaradkar are trying to legitimise and normalise terror. Shame on you!

Second is BBC "journalist" Jeremy Bowen. While acknowledging he was wrong for blaming Israel for attacking the Al-Ahli Hospital in Gaza, he has no regrets. Bowen said in an interview, "I don't regret a single thing in my report, because I think I'm measured all the way, I don't feel bad at all."

Finally, closer to home, there were the actions of students at Hillcrest High School the Jamaica section of Queens in New York City last week. Upon learning a Jewish teacher at the school had attended a pro-Israel rally, hundreds of students stormed the school in an attempt to physically attack her. Chants of "Free Palestine" were heard as extensive property damage was done to the school. More than two dozen NYPD officers were summoned to the school to quell the riot.

These incidents merely scratch the surface of the overt anti-Semitism which has occurred in the wake of Hamas attack. But they are emblematic of the different ways which anti-Semitism manifests itself.

In the case of Irish Prime Minister Varadkar, we have a statement of denial as to what happened to Emily Hand and why it happened. Surely, had Emily Hand been held hostage by ISIS there would have been no attempt by Varadkar to claim that she had been lost. But when the victim is Jewish, and the perpetrators are Palestinians the facts are whitewashed.

In the case of Jeremy Bowen (and by extension the BBC) although we have an admission of error, it is clear he is not sorry for the error and will not ensure it doesn't happen again. Thus, Bowen does not care about the facts and he and the BBC will invariably falsely accuse Israel of killing Palestinian civilians despite all evidence to the contrary. Then again what can we expect from an organization which prohibited its Jewish employees from attending today's march in London against anti-Semitism?

In the case of the Hillcrest high school students in New York City, we see a mob of children using force and intimidation to physically remove a teacher and cause grievous harm because she peacefully expressed a view about Israel contrary to their own. 

So, what we have is a head of government who is minimizing Jewish suffering, a prominent journalist who engages in defamation and a group of students prepared to use violence and engage in terrorism to exclude Jews from their school.

As long as heads of government and journalists all the way down to schoolchildren persists in these words and eeds, the future does not bode well for Jews wherever we might live.