I have the unique vantage point of an American Jew in Paris, and with the events in the past few weeks, I want to share my perspective.
About 10 years ago, South Park released the episode “Raising the Bar,” in which Eric Cartman embraces his obesity, concluding that it entitles him to use a scooter, and most of America supports this idea.
Meanwhile, James Cameron, director of Titanic, goes 50,000 ft below sea level, searching for “the bar” that seems to have reached a new low. The episode concludes with Michelle Obama vowing to fight childhood obesity and Cameron announcing Avatar 2.
Ten years later, the bar is well below 50,000 feet, and it’s unclear if it exists.
After the October 7 pogrom launched by Hamas against Israel, thousands of pro-Hamas supporters took to London, Paris, and New York streets, demonstrating their fealty to mutilating children and raping women.
Across college campuses in America, students shout for the “intifada.” Most recently, at Cooper Union, Jewish students hid in a room, fearing the mob.
I don’t want to rehash the depravity because most of us know. But, the facts are worth sharing again lest people forget. Speaking of, denial is en vogue.
Several mainstream media outlets incorrectly attributed a recent misfired rocket at a hospital to Israel, and the bowels of the internet won’t let us forget. The Israel Defense Forces, which rarely shows images of dead bodies, showed journalists 45 minutes of footage of the October 7 carnage, all taken on Hamas’s Go Pro cameras.
The incidents in Europe are many, so here are the Spark Notes.
- A Berlin synagogue was firebombed, and a Lyon synagogue vandalized.
- An elderly Parisian Jewish couple’s door was doused in gas and lit on fire.
- In Paris’s heavily Jewish 16th arrondissement, an 81-year-old woman was attacked and robbed in her home.
- Synagogues in Spain have been covered in antisemitic graffiti.
I have been making Instagram reels, most of which get bombarded with antisemitic trolls demanding “proof” of violent attacks against the Jewish people. I keep the comments because I believe people need to see this.
There are disputes among the Right as to whether or not we ought to embrace cancel culture. I agree with Karol Markowicz. The Left made the rules, and now we will play by them.
StopAntisemitsm, Canary Mission, and Accuracy in Media compile lists of those publicly engaging in antisemitic and pro-terror attacks. Everything on these sites is available to the public.
Bill Ackman and other CEOs have said they will not hire pro-terror employees (how is this even controversial?).
Heritage’s Simon Hankinson wrote about revoking the visas of those who openly support terror groups. A visa condition is abiding by American law, including showing one is not “ineligible under the Immigration and Nationality Act due to criminal behavior or other conduct rendering them unsuitable guests of the United States.”
Similarly, my visa conditions for France dictate that I must respect France’s laws and values—which I do happily—including paying enormous taxes and social charges so the Republique can fund health care for illegal immigrants.
If you read this far, and take away nothing else, watch the speech by Columbia Professor Shai Davidai in which he, rightfully so, derides a throng of pro-terror students.
His words have stuck with me all week, “I am not afraid to speak up. I am speaking up because I am afraid.”
Friends, I’m also afraid. So please help me, and every other person who values freedom and decency, and speak up.