Türkiye has no debt to Israel or the Jews; Because it did not know anti-Semitism, said Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan; In response to the West’s criticism of its positions in support of the rights of the Palestinian people. Indeed, neither Turkey nor the Arab world knew persecution of Jews. On the contrary, they were a haven for Jews who fled Europe. Because the reality is that anti-Semitism and anti-Jewishness is essentially a European phenomenon.

The failure of Western countries to stop the Israeli attacks on Gaza, which claimed the lives of more than 21,000 Palestinians, prompts the observer to link traditional Western support for Israel to the past, and to consider it as a debt paid by Europe, on whose lands “anti-Semitism” was born.

Europe's continued support of Israeli policies from the mid-twentieth century until today, and its silence regarding Israel's practices despite its violation of international law and human rights, raised many questions about the motives and goals of these positions.

A report by Anadolu Agency highlighted Western support for Israel, which comes as an attempt to atone for the bad conditions that Jews have experienced throughout history, especially in Europe, at the expense of the Palestinians.

The roots of anti-Semitism in Europe

In the Middle Ages, Europe imposed restrictions on Jews specializing in certain fields and professions, deprived them of university education and work in government sectors, and forced them to reside in specific areas.

During this period in which pressures and prejudices prevailed, the Jews chose “to be patient with living in exile” based on their belief about returning to “Zion.”

Although "Zionism" constitutes the largest part of Jewish religious life, there was no organizational structure for it until the late 19th century.

The competition between Christianity and Judaism formed the first foundations of the phenomenon of anti-Jewishness, and what led to the competition between the two religions was the supremacy of Christianity in the place of Mosaism.

Anti-Semitism

The Jews' rejection of Jesus, peace be upon him, was considered the greatest threat facing the Christian belief system.

Jews were subjected to many restrictions in medieval Europe. With the declaration of Christianity as the official faith of the Roman Empire in the fourth century AD, the Church gradually restricted the activities of the Jews.

By the sixth century, Jews were no longer allowed to employ Christian workers.

In the 13th century, Jews began to avoid engaging in religious controversy and debate with Christians, and France witnessed the burning of many Jewish holy books in public places.

Until the 16th century, Jews were subjected to displacement in many European countries, including Britain in 1291 and France in 1394.

They were expelled from Spain after their communities flourished in Andalusia

They were expelled from Spain in 1492 along with the Muslims, after the Jewish community enjoyed one of its greatest periods of prosperity during Islamic rule in Andalusia.

During the fourth Lateran Council meeting in 1215, church officials decided to prohibit Jews from being granted positions and jobs in government institutions and the army, requiring them to wear a hat and the Jewish badge.

The Basel Council meeting in 1434 witnessed a decision to universalize the special Jewish dress.

In 1555, Pope Paul IV approved, in the first official step, forcing Jews to live in specific areas, streets, and alleys, although there were previous examples in various parts of Europe.

The Ottoman Empire and the Arab countries were a destination for Jewish immigration

After being exposed to pressure and displacement policies in Europe, in 1299, Jews began to immigrate to the Ottoman Empire, which was in the process of expansion at the time, and Ottoman cities such as Istanbul and Izmir began to attract waves of Jewish immigration.

While living conditions were poor in the Jewish neighborhoods in Europe in the late 17th century, they enjoyed a free and decent life in the Ottoman Empire, which became a refuge for Jews, especially those suffering from pressure in Europe.

The Dreyfus case is a turning point

In the late Middle Ages, Christians began to view the Jews as “traitors” to Jesus, peace be upon him, and untrustworthy, and the best evidence of this is the “Dreyfus” case in France.

Alfred Dreyfus, an officer of Jewish origin, was arrested in September 1894 on charges of spying on the French army for the Germans.

Although no incriminating evidence was found during a month of investigations, Dreyfus was convicted and exiled to Devil's Island (a French colony in Guyana) as punishment.

The Dreyfus case was reconsidered in 1904 by a Supreme Court that acquitted the Jewish officer, and he was reinstated with the medals and positions he had been stripped of during his trial, before his death in Paris in 1935, after serving in the army again during World War I.

The Dreyfus case caused a new wave of anti-Semitism to erupt in France, and “Jewish hatred” began to spread more widely. The workers were the biggest victims of hatred, and it is claimed that the founder of modern Zionism, Theodor Herzl, was influenced by it, despite being a secularist, and he was then convinced of the necessity of forming a national homeland for the Jews. 

"Antisemitism" in Eastern Europe provided Zionism with immigrants

In the 19th century, persecution of Jews was widespread in Russia and Poland, the two main centers of the Jewish diaspora.

Pogroms were committed against Jews in the Russian Empire, especially during the reigns of Alexander III (1881-1894) and Nicholas II (1894-1917), with the encouragement of the government.

During these periods, many parties defending anti-Semitism achieved impressive electoral success in Austria, France, Germany, and Hungary.

After being subjected to oppression and humiliation, many Eastern European Jews chose to start a new life by immigrating to the United States, and for those who were unable to do so, “Zionism” became an alternative hope for them to escape persecution.

Anti-Semitism turns into genocide during World War II

After World War I, as a result of the Treaty of Versailles (1919), most of the political rights were taken away from the Jews, who were declared scapegoats for all negatives. They were held responsible for inflation and the economic crisis in Germany.

Anti-Semitism, which has been widespread in Europe for years, reached its peak during the Nazi era in Germany (1933-1945).

Millions of Jews in Europe were systematically murdered or subjected to forced labor and torture in concentration camps during World War II.

The Nazi leader, Adolf Hitler, launched a campaign to confiscate the property of Jews and expel them from their jobs in academia, the judiciary, the army, and the civil service. Their shops were closed, their places of worship were destroyed, and marriage was prohibited.

At the same time, Jewish communities were thriving in many Arab countries, and played a major role in trade in these countries.

What is the story of "Kristallnacht" that launched the Holocaust?

The Nazis carried out attacks against Jews on the night of November 9 and 10, 1938, known as "Kristallnacht."

During that night 91 people were killed, at least 267 synagogues were destroyed, many shops and homes were destroyed, and 30,000 Jews were sent to concentration camps.

The Nazis forced hundreds of thousands of Jews into forced labor in concentration camps to support the war, and expelled them from their neighborhoods as part of the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question" plan, which was drawn up by Nazi officials in January 1942.

The victims were placed in train cars designed to transport animals and transported to killing centers and extermination camps - containing gas facilities - in Poland.

Industrial-style executions, using pesticide to kill rats, were carried out in camps such as Auschwitz, Treblinka and Chelmno, run by the Nazi SS.

The elderly, minors, and the physically weak and unable to work were the first to be killed, and the strong were killed after they became weak and unable to work.

By mid-1943, almost all the Jews who had reached concentration and death camps had been killed, and when the Allied armies entered Germany and Poland, they rescued the rest of them.

This massacre, called the Holocaust, killed nearly two-thirds of the 9 million European Jews.

Europe pays the debt of guilt at the expense of the Arabs

Following policies of discrimination and "anti-Semitism" against Jews in Europe before World War I, and genocide in World War II, European countries supported Jewish immigration to Palestine to establish the State of Israel.

After World War II, the United States adopted the idea of settling the surviving Jews in Palestine.

The question is always raised whether the reason behind the European position on Israel's policies and actions after the establishment of its state, even though they constitute a war crime, is a "sense of guilt" from the past.

But this feeling of guilt, instead of translating into European repentance for the persecution of minorities in general, turned into an attempt to please global Zionism at the expense of the Palestinians and Arabs. Today, it has even turned into the persecution of Muslims in Europe instead of the persecution of the Jews.

Source: Arabic Post