This is spilling over into antisemitism. During my 20s I began to do have a lot with the Jewish community in Melbourne. There are good Jews and bad Jews and as I have previously said the extremist Zionists who live with the arrogant assumption that they are God's chosen and deserve to take the land of Palestinians. This is the kind of thinking which has much to do with the present war and the lack of empathy for the long occupied territory of Palestine and blockade of Gaza. That said there are many Jews who do not hold these kind of extreme, inhumane views. As for very wealthy Jews, yes there are but much of that wealth stems from the encouragement of the intelligence of Jewish children as they grow up. I was most impressed with Jewish families and the manner in which they encouraged their childrens' powers of reasoning whereas in the general, working class Australian community growing, questioning children were often greeted with, "Ask your father" and then, "Ask your mother" or "Go out play" or even, "Shut up."
There is no denying there is a powerful Zionist lobby in the US that effects US foreign policy and in Australia Zionists are quick to jump on anyone critical of Israel or Israelies. That said it does not justify blanket anti-Jewish statements to deny the decency of many Jews and those who have contributed generously across the spectrum of social activity not to many the many brilliant, scientists, doctors, artists, musicians and other creative people.
In the 50s I heard people say. "Hitler did not do a good enough job." So easy to fall into the trap of repeating these old shibboleths that are inherent in the underlying racism that perpetuates stereotypes and hatreds.
