Why do Soldiers have to Protect my Newspaper?
Why do Soldiers have to Protect my Newspaper?

The next issues of the monthly magazine of the Jewish community in Berlin, the Judisches Berlin, will be delivered to subscribers in an anonymous envelope without any written identification. "We decided to do it, despite the considerable additional costs, to reduce the likelihood of hostility towards our more than ten thousand members" said the spokesman of the newspaper Ilan Kiesling to the newspaper Tagesspiegel. Frightened by the number of terrorist threats and the alarms, many readers had already called to unsubscribe. 

Henryk Broder, one of the most famous pens of German journalism, the Jewish intellectual and columnist at Die Welt after a long experience at DerSpiegel, interprets the decision of the magazine as a sign of capitulation. "The Jews of Europe do not want to take their destiny into their own hands, they love to be protected, but that they do not understand that this is the same of being persecuted,"

Broder told me. "Nor do I believe the reassuring words that come from European leaders on anti-Semitism, such as Manuel Valls and Angela Merkel. It is a lie, they are afraid of the Muslim population in Europe. What we are witnessing is not the rebirth of Jewish life in Germany and Europe, but the end of an experiment. It is over. There is no life after death". 

Since January 15, the French army’s “Opération Sentinelle” has protected 722 Jewish schools and synagogues in France. The army has reported 371 incidents perpetrated against the soldiers standing guard in front of the protected sites. What would have happened to the Jews without the soldiers standing in front of their temples and schools?

Meanwhile, in Sweden a radio asked the Israeli ambassador if Jews are not the cause of anti-Semitism. 

Post-Holocaust Europe is a dead tree and Jewish life is possible only in Eretz Yisrael. Only in Israel every Jewish man, woman and child can live in freedom with dignity, respect and pride. 

Yesterday, a friend told me that about 400 Italian Jews have already left for Israel and hundreds are preparing the necessary documents. My first reaction was one of sadness and loss.

Then I looked at the soldiers who have just been deployed in front of my newspaper's offices. First they adopted bulletproof vests. Then they began to patrol with machine guns. 

I understood that the writing is on the wall. For the Jews - and for me.