Mort Rosenblum: Violence, extremism breed more of both

and analysis of the writer:

DRAGUIGNAN, France — In the film Conclave, and more during a for-real wait for white smoke, the world watched enraptured at the Roman Catholics’ ceremonial ascent. A simple priest moved up through a hierarchy to be sanctified as their Holy Father.

Jews are different. Ask any of the 15 million or so of them for a detailed definition of Judaism, and you’ll get nearly 15 million answers. If they had a pope, it would not be Benjamin Netanyahu.

I could be saying we, not they. My name and nose are dead giveaways. For reporters, neither ethnicity nor nationality should matter. Still, I expected that to be a problem in 1967 when I began covering Muslim countries in Africa and the Middle East.

Egypt had just led Arab armies on another war to reclaim territory lost when British-mandated Palestine was divvied up to make room for a co-existing Jewish state on not-very-holy land that had been fought over for millennia.

In fact, I never had a problem in those early years. Jews, like Muslims and Christians, were “People of the Book” with differences but also shared traditions. They welcomed strangers as individuals in their midst until there was a reason not to.

Israel was to be a haven for Holocaust survivors and other Jews who wanted to revive Hebrew and old traditions in a modern democracy, with a strong military to keep the peace in a tough neighborhood. All three faiths worshipped at sacred sites in Jerusalem.

In those earlier days, conflict was about real estate and rights, not religion. Palestinians wanted autonomy in the West Bank and Gaza. Israel wanted security within its borders. Peace talks made progress yet foundered because of extremists on one side or another.

After Hamas made that monstrous raid out of Gaza on Oct. 7, 2023, Israel struck back hard. The reported death toll is near 54,000, rising fast since March 2, when Israelis cut off food, water, fuel and medical supplies while doubling down on bombardments.

Take some time to watch recent videos and photos of that recent onslaught, with sickening testimony from international medical teams and top-ranking U.N. officials.

And then read up on those two young Israeli embassy workers about to be married who were shot dead at random by an American activist shouting, “Free Palestine.” They were working with Jews and others to find ways for a workable, lasting coexistence.

No one’s God is in this picture. This is what happens when ignorant hotheads make uninformed generalities and act out at the most convenient targets. All Jews across the world, whatever their personal beliefs, are potential targets.

Hamas’s victims on Oct. 7 were largely peaceniks who believed in a fair deal for Palestinians. Most Gazans despised Hamas’s harsh rule and its squandering of resources on those underground tunnels, explosives and weaponry.

Netanyahu’s response to the Washington shooting was an emotional recall of the initial Hamas attack and a justification of what has happened since. He said France, Britain and other Europeans falsely accuse Israel of collective punishment.

Dominique de Villepin was livid in a radio interview. As French foreign minister in 2003, he told Colin Powell at the U.N. that France would join in invading Iraq only with proof it had weapons of mass destruction. Later, as prime minister, he saw endless enemies created by that pointless war.

“Netanyahu’s political objective is the deportation of Gazans,” he said, “which smacks of ethnic cleansing, of territorial purification. Europeans know this yet here they are with wooden swords. We cannot let this fait accompli continue.”

He had a three-point plan: suspend immediately Israel’s commerce with Europe, its main trading partner; embargo all arms supplies; prosecute the Israeli government and its military high command at the International Court of Justice.

Israel has evaded broader scrutiny with an effective policy: foreign journalists are barred from Gaza.

On CNN, Christiane Amanpour recently battered away at deputy foreign minister Sharren Haskel, who dismissed as “complete lies” damning reports by global leaders and doctors under fire. Many call starvation and indiscriminate bombing war crimes.

Wrapping up after 20 minutes, she asked that international reporters be allowed into Gaza. “I want to believe with my own eyes,” she said. Christiane laughed in derision as Haskel gave her straight-faced — and unsurprising — response:

“I’ll be happy to provide you with accurate data from our authorities, and I’ll even give you my personal telephone number.”

That policy shows no sign of changing. Donald Trump has distanced himself a bit from Netanyahu. Yet he still talks of clearing the rubble and relocating people with no intention to go. He wants luxury seaside resorts, preferably all in the family.

Christian evangelical supporters and billionaire backers follow his lead: Jews who reject his skewed vision of Israel betray their faith. But an awful lot of Jews, count me as one, fear what Villepin and other seasoned statesmen fear.

For 40 years, I’ve laughed off handwringing by Americans who tell a reporter named Rosenblum based in Paris about antisemites in France. There were scattered incidents, mostly about politics, not religion. Today, all bets are off.

Netanyahu is only a politician clinging to power to avoid corruption charges. Extremist settlers who take West Bank land at gunpoint are simply goons. But to growing terrorist ranks that their actions swell, a Jew is a Jew. And Israel’s survival is at increasing risk.