Jews and the Issue of Fighting Back

 I have just finished reading reports of the latest attack upon a Jew in Los Angeles. It occurred in an area of West Los Angeles, which is not far from where I grew up, an area that is historically, heavily Jewish. A 32-year-old man was accosted and attacked by a man driving past in a car. The attacker, seeing that the victim was Jewish, got out of his vehicle and beat the man. Upon leaving, the attacker said, “Free Palestine”.

For years now, with the Palestinian movement spreading its poison so effectively to the US, especially on our campuses, I hear time and time again of Jews being attacked both in North America and Europe, largely due to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. They were attacked not because they bore a resemblance to Benjamin Netanyahu, but because they were recognizably Jewish. Either they wore a kippah, or they were seen coming from a synagogue.

I have also taken note that in far too many of these cases, the victims put up little if any self-defense. I am speaking here about the US and Europe because I know that in Israel, it is different. Arab terrorist attackers are almost as likely to get taken down by armed Israeli civilians as by the police or military. I applaud that.

Some years ago, the late Jewish activist, David Horowitz, a man I admired, was speaking at the University of California at Irvine, where I was teaching part-time. The issue of fighting back came up during the question-and-answer session. A young Jewish student addressed the issue quite frankly. She said that as Jews, they were brought up to avoid confrontations and violence, thus, it was difficult for them to stand their ground when confronted. (I am paraphrasing.) As I thought about her comments, it made sense to me. Few of the Jewish kids I grew up with (and there were many) got into fights. In those days (the 1960s), schoolyard confrontations frequently ended in fisticuffs, either on school grounds or after school. I had my share, and I don’t defend it because, looking back, I know it was usually, if not always, for stupid reasons.

But I never got into a fight because of my religion. Nobody attacked or insulted me because of my religion. Certainly, back then, nobody ever tried to kill me just because of who I was. We live in a very different world now.

I want to say this carefully, because I come from a law enforcement background, and I will never incite violence. I would never advise that innocent Muslims be attacked on the street or their mosques vandalized just because some of them engage in such attacks against Jews. That would be wrong.

However, given the current situation in the US, Canada, and Europe, what I do encourage is this: All Jews should know how to defend themselves from the time they are children.  They should learn self-defense, boxing, martial arts, whatever is necessary in order to protect themselves from these dastardly attacks. Gun laws vary from country to country, but in the US, Jews should at least consider exercising their rights under the Second Amendment to possess arms for self-defense. Become trained in the safe use of firearms. Know the laws governing the use of firearms and use them responsibly in accordance with the law. People should not have to be victims just because there are no police in the area at the time.

Of course, this advice is directed to American Jews because I cannot speak for the laws of other countries. As for the people in Israel, they don’t need my advice. They know what to do.