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| My great uncle was alienated in postwar France. Now Americans know how he felt | My great uncle was alienated in postwar France. Now Americans know how he felt |
| (5 months later) | |
| These are strange times for liberal Jews who, like me, were born in America only because their grandparents ran there to escape fascism | |
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| Sat 26 Aug 2017 08.59 BST | |
| Last modified on Fri 1 Dec 2017 14.28 GMT | |
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| My great uncle, Alex Maguy, was a truly remarkable man. Born in 1905 in a Polish ghetto, so poor he forever associated hunger with his childhood, by the time he died in 1999, he was a highly successful gallery owner in France, who lived in a flat filled with paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Monet and Chagall. | My great uncle, Alex Maguy, was a truly remarkable man. Born in 1905 in a Polish ghetto, so poor he forever associated hunger with his childhood, by the time he died in 1999, he was a highly successful gallery owner in France, who lived in a flat filled with paintings by Picasso, Matisse, Monet and Chagall. |
| His brother was murdered in Auschwitz. When Alex himself was captured and sent to the camps, he literally clawed his way out of the train, walked back to France and joined the underground resistance. He also fought in various military campaigns and was decorated by the French, British and Norwegians. Although he stayed in France until the end of his life, he never entirely trusted the French government again; and when, in 1967, Charles de Gaulle described the Jews as “elite people, sure of themselves and domineering”, Alex furiously returned his French military awards to the Élysée Palace. For all of these reasons and more, Alex saw Israel, he wrote in the 1990s in an unpublished memoir, “as the realisation of all of my dreams”. | His brother was murdered in Auschwitz. When Alex himself was captured and sent to the camps, he literally clawed his way out of the train, walked back to France and joined the underground resistance. He also fought in various military campaigns and was decorated by the French, British and Norwegians. Although he stayed in France until the end of his life, he never entirely trusted the French government again; and when, in 1967, Charles de Gaulle described the Jews as “elite people, sure of themselves and domineering”, Alex furiously returned his French military awards to the Élysée Palace. For all of these reasons and more, Alex saw Israel, he wrote in the 1990s in an unpublished memoir, “as the realisation of all of my dreams”. |
| I wish I’d had longer to get to know Alex, but I’m glad he is not alive now to see how the realisation of his dreams has betrayed its roots. Last week, Israel’s communications minister, Ayoub Kara, who calls Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “close friend”, told the Jerusalem Post that staying on the right side of President Trump was more important than condemning the neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville, Virginia. In other words, for Israel, Trump trumps Nazis, because that’s where we are in 2017. | I wish I’d had longer to get to know Alex, but I’m glad he is not alive now to see how the realisation of his dreams has betrayed its roots. Last week, Israel’s communications minister, Ayoub Kara, who calls Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu a “close friend”, told the Jerusalem Post that staying on the right side of President Trump was more important than condemning the neo-Nazis marching in Charlottesville, Virginia. In other words, for Israel, Trump trumps Nazis, because that’s where we are in 2017. |
| “Due to terrific relations with the US, we need to put the declarations about the Nazis in the proper proportion,” Kara told the Post. “We need to condemn antisemitism and any trace of Nazism... but Trump is the best US leader Israel has ever had... and we must not accept anyone harming him.” | “Due to terrific relations with the US, we need to put the declarations about the Nazis in the proper proportion,” Kara told the Post. “We need to condemn antisemitism and any trace of Nazism... but Trump is the best US leader Israel has ever had... and we must not accept anyone harming him.” |
| So Israel will do what it can to stop the spread of Nazism, except criticise a man who insisted there were some “very fine people” marching with neo-Nazis earlier this month. Whoa, don’t strain a muscle, Israel, you’re doing some pretty extreme backwards bends there! | So Israel will do what it can to stop the spread of Nazism, except criticise a man who insisted there were some “very fine people” marching with neo-Nazis earlier this month. Whoa, don’t strain a muscle, Israel, you’re doing some pretty extreme backwards bends there! |
| These are strange times for liberal Jews who, like me, were born in America only because their grandparents ran there to escape fascism. Now we find ourselves citizens of a country where the president prefers to attack the press than actual Nazis. Women wearing knitted pussy hats on the women’s march in January provoked an irritable “Why didn’t these people vote?” from Trump, but goons shouting, “Jews will not replace us!” are defended by the president, who insists, “Not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me.” What, did some people get lost looking for a Starbucks and end up on a racist march? As TV host Jon Stewart said last weekend, “I don’t think everybody who likes him is a Nazi, but everybody who is a Nazi sure does seem to like him.” | These are strange times for liberal Jews who, like me, were born in America only because their grandparents ran there to escape fascism. Now we find ourselves citizens of a country where the president prefers to attack the press than actual Nazis. Women wearing knitted pussy hats on the women’s march in January provoked an irritable “Why didn’t these people vote?” from Trump, but goons shouting, “Jews will not replace us!” are defended by the president, who insists, “Not all of those people were neo-Nazis, believe me.” What, did some people get lost looking for a Starbucks and end up on a racist march? As TV host Jon Stewart said last weekend, “I don’t think everybody who likes him is a Nazi, but everybody who is a Nazi sure does seem to like him.” |
| During the election, a certain trope took hold, that to criticise Trump supporters was snobbery, the blithe stance of coastal elites who don’t understand the fears of real (white) Americans, and some are sticking to that line now. I still haven’t yet figured out how criticism of a billionaire who bagged the support of America’s highest earners by promising them lower taxes represents “snobbery”, so maybe I’m just slow, but here is what I think of this argument: I think it’s disgusting. There is a word for people who support and normalise Nazis and Nazi defenders, and that word is “appeasers”, and that now includes, shockingly, Israel, as well as the conservative Jews in Trump’s circle such as Jared Kushner – like me, a grandchild of a Holocaust survivor. But a heads up to those groups: this tactic generally does not work out well for you. A Vice documentary from Charlottesville, in which a white supremacist gripes about how Donald Trump “gave his daughter to a Jew, that bastard Kushner”, gives a hint as to why. | During the election, a certain trope took hold, that to criticise Trump supporters was snobbery, the blithe stance of coastal elites who don’t understand the fears of real (white) Americans, and some are sticking to that line now. I still haven’t yet figured out how criticism of a billionaire who bagged the support of America’s highest earners by promising them lower taxes represents “snobbery”, so maybe I’m just slow, but here is what I think of this argument: I think it’s disgusting. There is a word for people who support and normalise Nazis and Nazi defenders, and that word is “appeasers”, and that now includes, shockingly, Israel, as well as the conservative Jews in Trump’s circle such as Jared Kushner – like me, a grandchild of a Holocaust survivor. But a heads up to those groups: this tactic generally does not work out well for you. A Vice documentary from Charlottesville, in which a white supremacist gripes about how Donald Trump “gave his daughter to a Jew, that bastard Kushner”, gives a hint as to why. |
| Alex knew that De Gaulle’s words would embolden antisemites in France, and he was proven right. His speech marked the moment attacks on the character of the Jews became part of anti-Israel rhetoric. That Trump has encouraged antisemites and racists in America is proven every day: just this month, former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke thanked Trump for suggesting that those who fight against racists are morally equivalent to racists. | Alex knew that De Gaulle’s words would embolden antisemites in France, and he was proven right. His speech marked the moment attacks on the character of the Jews became part of anti-Israel rhetoric. That Trump has encouraged antisemites and racists in America is proven every day: just this month, former Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke thanked Trump for suggesting that those who fight against racists are morally equivalent to racists. |
| Alex didn’t want to leave France, but he felt alienated from the country he called home. Right now, a lot of American liberal Jews are feeling exactly the same way. | Alex didn’t want to leave France, but he felt alienated from the country he called home. Right now, a lot of American liberal Jews are feeling exactly the same way. |
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