When do words blaming an entire group of people become dangerous?
One group understands the existential menace that awaits when bad ideas go “viral.”
One group has, in every generation, experienced lie-based rampaging mobs.
Sadly, Valentine’s Day reminds Jews that words can turn devastatingly fast into #genocidal actions.
Let me take you back to the year 1349.
The place?
#Strasbourg - just along the Rhineland border that separates #France & #Germany.
For ~450 years, a small group of #Jews (who migrated across the Rhone in #Italy & then across the Rhine in Germany & France) was cut-off from their brethren in the #MiddleEast & North #Africa.
As confirmed by DNA analyses of millions of #Jews, it was from this group of only ~350 Jews in the Rhineland ~900 CE that every Ashkenazi Jew on Earth can trace his or her roots.
Meanwhile, 1349 was one of the worst years to be alive on the continent of #Europe.
The bubonic plague (the “Black Death”) was spreading with alarming speed & had an 80% fatality rate.
In the span of four years (1347-1351), the plague killed up to ~60% of the people on the #European continent (~100-200 million people).
Today, we know the bubonic plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, & that it is mostly spread by fleas living on rats & mice.
In the 1300s, however, #Christian Europe knew of only one “enemy” to blame - the Jews.
A “big lie” spread faster than any bacteria that the plague was the nefarious result of Jews deliberately poisoning Christian wells; and, as a result of that lie, from 1348 to 1349, ~210 of the 363 European #Jewish communities were viciously murdered out of existence.
In #Cologne, the entire Jewish community was locked inside the town’s synagogue. It was set alight, and every Cologne Jew was burned alive inside.
In Mainz, the wildly outnumbered Jews tried to fight back, & even held off the mob for several days. But the Jews of Maniz were ultimately overwhelmed & murdered one-by-one.
Then came #ValentinesDay, Feb 14, 1349, in Strasbourg.
Strasbourg had been lucky. There had been no plague yet to reach the town.
But the vicious “big lie” spread to Strasbourg; and a hateful, bloodthirsty mob took to the streets demanding extermination of the town’s Jews lest they be “next.”
Strasbourg’s council initially tried to protect its Jews, but the mob became too overwhelming & it overthrew the city’s government & installed a new one said to be “of the people.”
The newly appointed council, along with the Bishop of Strasbourg, approved the #genocide of the town’s Jews.
And on Valentine’s Day, all of Strasbourg’s 2,000 Jews were arrested & marched to the city’s cemetery. There, as the town’s Christian community assembled to watch, every #Jew of Strasbourg was forced upon a wooden platform where they were burned alive … slowly (artist’s rendering shown below).
The razing of the Strasbourg Jewish community went on for hours. And the crowd remained … and watched.
When the vile deed was done, the crowd feverishly searched the ashes of 2,000 Jewish men, women, & children for valuables. All remaining possessions of the town’s Jews were compiled by the town’s council, and were divided among the Christian “working men.”
There were no consequences for this massacre.
And, of course, the plague reached the town of Strasbourg anyway & killed thousands at the same rate as in other European towns.
Meanwhile, by the end of the 14th century (between the effects of the plague itself, the massacres of Jews, & the migration of Jews fleeing eastward into #Poland, #Lithuania, #Belarus, #Hungary, #Romania, & #Ukraine), there were only ~1,000 Jews left in all of France and Germany.
Sadly, the world never learned its lesson from this tragedy of scapegoating Jews; and it’s a story that repeats to meet the new “evil of the day” in every generation.
In fact, #Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud #Abbas has attempted to use the old trope of Jews “poisoning wells” in an attempt to demonize Israel.
On June 23, 2016, Abbas told European Parliament that rabbis in Israel were “demanding that their government poison the water to kill the #Palestinians.”
Because the accusation was 100% false, defamatory & inciting, Abbas was ultimately forced to quietly “retract” his accusation. But the damage was done.
Think also of what occurred on Oct 17, 2023 (a mere 10 days after the worst #massacre of Jews since the #Holocaust) when worldwide media, politicians, & UN staffers spread another “big lie” that Israel had “bombed” the al-Ahli Hospital killing 500 Palestinian civilians.
Vicious, angry protests almost-immediately erupted worldwide against the “evil Jews,” & President #Biden’s meeting with the King of #Jordan, the President of #Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority, was cancelled.
Of course, Israel had not bombed the hospital. Instead, a parking lot outside the al-Ahli Hospital was struck by a misfired Palestinian #Islamic #Jihad missile; & the number of people killed was in the 10s - nowhere near 500.
Again, however, the damage was already done.
Today, emotional buzzwords like “#apartheid,” “genocide,” & “settler #colonialism,” are used to paint Jews as the most evil people on Earth.
The only way to fight the mob & the generation’s latest “big lie” against the Jews, is to learn history, spread facts, & have the courage to stand up for what’s right over what’s popular.
Unfortunately - and especially when it comes to Jews - sometimes what is popular is also evil.
#Education #Israel #Palestine
One group understands the existential menace that awaits when bad ideas go “viral.”
One group has, in every generation, experienced lie-based rampaging mobs.
Sadly, Valentine’s Day reminds Jews that words can turn devastatingly fast into #genocidal actions.
Let me take you back to the year 1349.
The place?
#Strasbourg - just along the Rhineland border that separates #France & #Germany.
For ~450 years, a small group of #Jews (who migrated across the Rhone in #Italy & then across the Rhine in Germany & France) was cut-off from their brethren in the #MiddleEast & North #Africa.
As confirmed by DNA analyses of millions of #Jews, it was from this group of only ~350 Jews in the Rhineland ~900 CE that every Ashkenazi Jew on Earth can trace his or her roots.
Meanwhile, 1349 was one of the worst years to be alive on the continent of #Europe.
The bubonic plague (the “Black Death”) was spreading with alarming speed & had an 80% fatality rate.
In the span of four years (1347-1351), the plague killed up to ~60% of the people on the #European continent (~100-200 million people).
Today, we know the bubonic plague is caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, & that it is mostly spread by fleas living on rats & mice.
In the 1300s, however, #Christian Europe knew of only one “enemy” to blame - the Jews.
A “big lie” spread faster than any bacteria that the plague was the nefarious result of Jews deliberately poisoning Christian wells; and, as a result of that lie, from 1348 to 1349, ~210 of the 363 European #Jewish communities were viciously murdered out of existence.
In #Cologne, the entire Jewish community was locked inside the town’s synagogue. It was set alight, and every Cologne Jew was burned alive inside.
In Mainz, the wildly outnumbered Jews tried to fight back, & even held off the mob for several days. But the Jews of Maniz were ultimately overwhelmed & murdered one-by-one.
Then came #ValentinesDay, Feb 14, 1349, in Strasbourg.
Strasbourg had been lucky. There had been no plague yet to reach the town.
But the vicious “big lie” spread to Strasbourg; and a hateful, bloodthirsty mob took to the streets demanding extermination of the town’s Jews lest they be “next.”
Strasbourg’s council initially tried to protect its Jews, but the mob became too overwhelming & it overthrew the city’s government & installed a new one said to be “of the people.”
The newly appointed council, along with the Bishop of Strasbourg, approved the #genocide of the town’s Jews.
And on Valentine’s Day, all of Strasbourg’s 2,000 Jews were arrested & marched to the city’s cemetery. There, as the town’s Christian community assembled to watch, every #Jew of Strasbourg was forced upon a wooden platform where they were burned alive … slowly (artist’s rendering shown below).
The razing of the Strasbourg Jewish community went on for hours. And the crowd remained … and watched.
When the vile deed was done, the crowd feverishly searched the ashes of 2,000 Jewish men, women, & children for valuables. All remaining possessions of the town’s Jews were compiled by the town’s council, and were divided among the Christian “working men.”
There were no consequences for this massacre.
And, of course, the plague reached the town of Strasbourg anyway & killed thousands at the same rate as in other European towns.
Meanwhile, by the end of the 14th century (between the effects of the plague itself, the massacres of Jews, & the migration of Jews fleeing eastward into #Poland, #Lithuania, #Belarus, #Hungary, #Romania, & #Ukraine), there were only ~1,000 Jews left in all of France and Germany.
Sadly, the world never learned its lesson from this tragedy of scapegoating Jews; and it’s a story that repeats to meet the new “evil of the day” in every generation.
In fact, #Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud #Abbas has attempted to use the old trope of Jews “poisoning wells” in an attempt to demonize Israel.
On June 23, 2016, Abbas told European Parliament that rabbis in Israel were “demanding that their government poison the water to kill the #Palestinians.”
Because the accusation was 100% false, defamatory & inciting, Abbas was ultimately forced to quietly “retract” his accusation. But the damage was done.
Think also of what occurred on Oct 17, 2023 (a mere 10 days after the worst #massacre of Jews since the #Holocaust) when worldwide media, politicians, & UN staffers spread another “big lie” that Israel had “bombed” the al-Ahli Hospital killing 500 Palestinian civilians.
Vicious, angry protests almost-immediately erupted worldwide against the “evil Jews,” & President #Biden’s meeting with the King of #Jordan, the President of #Egypt, and the Palestinian Authority, was cancelled.
Of course, Israel had not bombed the hospital. Instead, a parking lot outside the al-Ahli Hospital was struck by a misfired Palestinian #Islamic #Jihad missile; & the number of people killed was in the 10s - nowhere near 500.
Again, however, the damage was already done.
Today, emotional buzzwords like “#apartheid,” “genocide,” & “settler #colonialism,” are used to paint Jews as the most evil people on Earth.
The only way to fight the mob & the generation’s latest “big lie” against the Jews, is to learn history, spread facts, & have the courage to stand up for what’s right over what’s popular.
Unfortunately - and especially when it comes to Jews - sometimes what is popular is also evil.
#Education #Israel #Palestine
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