The Lag b’Omer pilgrimage tragedy at Mount Meron has caused antisemites to come crawling out of the woodwork to celebrate. Dave already posted some of the nauseating responses, and the Jewish Chronicle reports on another dimwit who commented:
“Shouldn’t celebrate the death of any human, but we must also recognise if these occupiers weren’t on stolen lands they would [be] alive…”
Oh really? For such supremacists, the lands historically occupied by the Islamic caliphates are not considered to be “stolen lands” or under “occupation” which is how the land of historic Israel came under Islamic rule. For these supremacists, it is an entitlement that Muslims have the right to invade territory and Christians and Jews be forced to live subservient (as ahl-dhimma) to the whims of their Muslim overlords. It is why the State of Israel is a thorn in the side of these antisemitic Islamists: a symbol of their impotence. The word “occupation” here means the entirety of the State of Israel and not the 1967 borders defined by international law or organisations like the United Nations.
But let us follow the logic to its inevitable conclusion. If the pilgrims in Meron died because the land they are on is “stolen” and because they are “occupiers” (never mind that some of the victims were not even Israeli citizens) then it necessarily means that Saudi Arabia and Iraq must be under illegal occupation for similar tragedies have befallen pilgrims in Mecca, Medina and Baghdad both in recent years and historically.
- In 2015, more than 717 pilgrims died in an event described as a “crush and stampede” in Mina, Mecca during the annual Hajj festival. It was the deadliest Hajj disaster in history.
- Again in Mecca, during Eid al-Adha in 1990 a stampede inside a pedestrian tunnel (Al-Ma’aisim tunnel) claimed 1426 lives.
- In Medina during 2014, a fire broke out at a hotel full of pilgrims which left fifteen people dead and one hundred and thirty injured.
- Some 1,000 people died at a stampede on the Al-Aimmah bridge over the Tigris River in Baghdad during a Shia pilgrimage in 2005.
Historically, there have been countless similar disasters at these and other pilgrim sites around the Muslim world. Are we to assume to assume that these tragedies were divine retribution for the Muslim occupation of these sites? To further illustrate the inherent flaws in this argument; how do these dimwits explain similar disasters in other parts of the world where ancient festivals are celebrated, such as the Sabrimala stampede in India which injured 200,000 Hindu pilgrims?
The victims have not all been identified but most that have are said to have been haredim of the Toldot Aharon sect who identify as anti-Zionists. Toldot Aharon are a small Jerusalem based offshoot of the larger Satmar sect. The Jerusalem Post describes their attitude towards the State of Israel:
…In contrast, the outside world – especially anything affiliated with Zionism – is described as dark and evil. For a municipal social worker and police officers to enter the home of one of the hassidim is a desecration…
In light of all this, and as distasteful as it sounds, one could pose the question: Why are the enemies of Israel celebrating when divine retribution at Mount Meron fell upon those who oppose Zionism? Inadvertently, by their own words they prove that opposing the State of Israel incurs divine wrath, which would logically mean that by claiming Israel is “occupied” they are on the wrong side of divine providence. The fact is that meta-physical rationalisations for earthly tragedies can work both ways. One party may rationalise a tragedy as a divine retribution but another may conclude it is divine favour.
Finally, what all of the above reveals is that if these antisemites really were anti-Zionists as they often pretend then they would be mourning the loss of their anti-Zionist allies and not celebrating the deaths of Jews. The Neturei Karta would do well to pay heed!
