I am not a historian or an academic who can present theories, conclusions and other supporting documents to qualify any information. I am not a psychologist who can speak to ramifications and emotional trauma associated with trigger signs such as the swastika. However, I am Jewish, and that is more than enough of a qualification to allow me to express how the abhorrent symbol affects me.
As a Jewish person, seeing the swastika triggers a range of emotions including anger, trauma and fear. I am angry the world watched in silence as 6 million innocent Jewish women, children and men were murdered by the Nazis.
I am traumatised seeing images of how human beings were treated worse than animals. The fact that I know people who survived the Holocaust and are able to explain things in such vivid detail is even more disturbing.
The fear is real. The fear that this could happen again in my life-time scares me. Some of the incidents and rhetoric we are witnessing now with the Israel-Hamas war are eerily similar to how the Nazis started their propaganda war against the Jewish people.
This time around though, the world is not remaining silent and the Jewish community is surrounded by friends who love and support us.
The fact that people can stand outside a Jewish-owned store in one of the busiest, most popular shopping centres in South Africa, holding a sign of a swastika and proudly spewing hate speech, is unimaginable. And it shouldn’t be allowed!
Everyone says this is not a religious war and that they have nothing against Jewish people. If that is true, then how can you openly and proudly display the swastika, knowing the kind of emotional damage this is causing us?
True anti-Semites will tell you their best friends are Jewish. Clearly, their definition of friendship is different to mine. When my friend tells me something offends or upsets him, I don’t continue with whatever I was doing. I stop immediately.
Many countries have banned the swastika symbol from being displayed unless it is used for historical purposes, like in a museum. Why would any government allow a symbol of oppression, murder, death and tyranny to be proudly displayed, knowing it would cause emotional damage to its own citizens?
The individuals and organisations who stand outside Jewish businesses waving the swastika are not only anti-Semitic, but are against humanity. The same people who are calling for an end to “genocide” and the death of innocent civilians are waving around a sign which symbolises the very thing they are opposed to.
The swastika has nothing to do with the war in the Middle East, so why should it make an appearance in an anti-Israel protest?
The answer is simple. These are not merely people protesting against Israel and calling for the freedom of the Palestinian people. These are hatefilled individuals using age-old antiSemitic tropes, hidden behind a thin veil of anti-Zionism, to convey their hatred towards Jewish people.
The question has been asked time and time again: Can one be anti-Israel or anti-Zionist and not be construed as anti-Semitic? The lines have become more blurred now than ever before and the people using a swastika at an anti-Israel demonstration are interested only in hurting Jews.
The groups stand outside Jewish schools, synagogues, Jewish businesses and in residential areas like Sea Point, known to be home to many Jews. It’s pure hatred. It’s anti-Semitism at its core and it is an attack on the Jewish community.
If you have nothing against Jews, then put the swastika away. Stop comparing a defensive war in Gaza that Israel and its people were forced into, to the systematic plan of the Nazis to wipe out the Jewish people in the Holocaust. Stop protesting outside Jewish facilities.
One final question I ask: How is any of this going to end the war between Israel and Hamas and bring peace to the region?
* Daniel Bloch is the executive director at the Cape South African Jewish Board of Deputies.
** The views expressed here are not necessarily those of Independent Media.
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