Before the Holocaust, the great Zionist prophet Ze’ev Jabotinsky traveled throughout Europe warning the Jews of the horror to come. “If you don’t liquidate the Diaspora, the Diaspora will liquidate you,” said Jabotinsky in European city after city. Those words need to be heard once again today by Jews worldwide. Following French elections, Grande Synagogue of Paris Chief Rabbi Moshe Sebbag said “It is clear today that there is no future for Jews in France. I tell everyone who is young to go to Israel or a more secure country.” Similarly, post the elections in the UK where election celebrations saw Palestinian flags, numerous opinion polls indicate that Jews feel they don’t have a future in the UK. Despite a telling cover story in The Atlantic proclaiming “ The Golden Age of American Jews is ending,” American Jews seem to be largely ignoring impending realities. What happens if Anti-Semitism gets worse no matter who wins in November? In France for example, riots came even when the left won. In Democrat-run cities like New York, where violent protests occur regularly, how many more protests will the community be able to stand before they leave? How many more blocked synagogues and protests at Jewish schools will there be? Despite lip service from New York and California elected officials, the reality is Jews are beaten daily and with the current laws punishment is negligible. Lets take it a step further in the United States where the Jewish community is decidedly more liberal than Jews anywhere else in the world. How can secular Jews, who don’t go to synagogue, who don’t celebrate Jewish holidays – in the face of intense hatred where Jews are being harassed daily in the streets of NYC and many campuses – how can they remain Jewish? Given assimilation and intermarriage rates how can it even remain a possibility? Rightly, Hillel Fuld has recently started to opine that Jews need to get out of America. He wrote, “We know what’s about to happen – and it’s going to happen fast. The genie is out of the bottle. Antisemitism will only get worse and worse. Open a history book.” Fuld finishes his op-ed which has gotten lot of attention in the Jewish world by saying, “I would love nothing more than to be wrong. But I don’t think I am.” Tzvi Fishman, too, has started a project to bring Americans to Israel. Sitting in Tel Aviv, a day doesn’t pass without every Israeli asking is America safe for Jews? Daily. Somehow American Jews don’t seem to get it. Every Jew in the Diaspora must learn about Nefesh BNefesh a wonderful organization which helps Jews move to Israel. And that includes Americans. Jabotinsky was right the last time he said, “If you don’t liquidate the Diaspora, the Diaspora will liquidate you.” Will the Zionist prophet be right again? Ronn Torossian is an Israeli American entrepreneur and philanthropist.
