Never Again

Seventy-one years ago today, Soviet forces liberated the Nazi concentration camps at Auschwitz, revealing some of the worst horrors of the Holocaust. More than one million people were systematically murdered at Auschwitz. Nearly all of them were Jews, killed as part of Hitler's "final solution to the Jewish question," which ultimately claimed six million Jewish lives.

In 2005, as then-Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was threatening a second Holocaust by vowing to "wipe Israel off the map," the United Nations voted to recognize January 27th as International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

This week, Iran's current president, Hassan Rouhani, is touring Europe drumming up business contracts. He should visit Auschwitz to see firsthand the evil that Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, denies.

Meanwhile, German Chancellor Angela Merkel is warning about a disturbing rise in anti-Semitism coming from the massive influx of Muslim migrants now flooding Europe.

Over the weekend, Merkel said, "Anti-Semitism is more widespread than we imagined. And that is why we must act intensively against it." Merkel added that it was particularly prevalent among young people from countries "where hatred of Israel and anti-Semitism is widespread."

It's Happening Here Too

I'm glad Angela Merkel is speaking out against anti-Semitism in Germany. Sadly, it is growing here in America too, especially on the political left.

I have written about this problem on several occasions, and it is worth addressing again in light of recent events and today's observance of International Holocaust Remembrance Day.

I couldn't help but notice during the protests in Ferguson, Missouri, that there were "Free Palestine" chants and comments about Palestinian oppression. We have seen it happening on college campuses, where the left merges issues of race and gay rights oddly with gross intolerance toward Israel, one of the most tolerant nations in the Middle East.

A professor at George Mason University has written a column identifying several examples of this phenomenon, which has many liberals puzzled and asking why the Black Lives Matter movement is hostile to Israel?

I'll answer that question. It is simple and disturbing. The left is increasingly united by one thing -- it's hatred of Judeo-Christian civilization and the twin pillars of that civilization, America and Israel.

Harvard Law Professor Alan Dershowitz, a liberal American Jew, recently commented about the increasing intolerance of the left, saying:
 

"I know when I speak on college campuses in favor of Israel, I need armed guards protecting me from radical leftist students who would use physical intimidation. They won't give me a safe space. They won't give pro-Israel students a safe space, they won't give Christian students a safe space."

Just as Angela Merkel is warning against anti-Semitism coming from countries where anti-Israel attitudes are prevalent, I don't think it is any coincidence that the rise of anti-Semitism in America is occurring at a time when Muslim immigration is reaching historic levels.

Whatever the source, anti-Semitism is infecting our politics and needs to be confronted by liberals in the tradition of Harry Truman and John F. Kennedy. They might want to stop their incessant efforts to marginalize conservatives and deal with the metastasizing cancer in their own political body.

Israel Attacked

Israel's electrical grid sustained a massive cyberattack this week, just as the nation reached a record demand for electricity as temperatures plunged below freezing. Fortunately, Israel was able to neutralize the attack.

But let's consider the likely culprits. Was it Hamas or the Palestinian Authority? Probably not. Their attacks against Israel are considerably less sophisticated.

Was it ISIS? Possibly. It has demonstrated considerable technological savvy, but it is more interested in consolidating its position in Iraq and Syria.

One likely culprit is Iran, Israel's sworn enemy. The leader of Iran has repeatedly promised that Israel would soon be gone from the face of the earth. You know, the same Iran Obama continues reaching out to in the hope that it will become a "very successful regional power."

With each passing day, the mullahs in Tehran are feeling emboldened, making war more rather than less likely.