Coming out of Winter Solstice or Going Deeper

I have always dreamed of writing a novel. Historical fiction has always pulled me a la Ken Follet. Yet, for the past several years, I have thought my first would a futuristic fiction dealing in the theme of a pogrom in the United States. I have always thought that there will be a backlash against the Jews in America, albeit not necessarily in this century. Throughout the ages, from Egypt to the USSR, members of Jewish communities have worked and risen to the top of their countries’ leadership bureaucracy only to fall hard and be persecuted as an entire people and to be forced to leave the country and re-disperse around the globe. Last night I sat next to the mother of Chava (Doron’s sister-in-law) at a family Chanukah Shabbat dinner. She is an 86 year old Holocaust survivor from Germany who twice came to Palestine on the ship, Exodus. The first time, the ship and all of its passengers were fired upon by the British and had to return with all of the passengers to Germany. After surviving the Nazi work camps, she survived the DP camps to return on the ship two years later.

It could happen in America. I have heard the latent undertones during the good times such as: “You Jewish people cling together. Do you think you are better than we are? You think you’re the chosen ones, right? Why don’t you want to marry non-Jews? Isn’t that bigoted? Isn’t love more important? You can raise your kids with two religions and let them choose? Didn’t your people say, ‘Let Christ’s blood be on our head and on the head of our children’s?’?”

Why would we think things will change now? I wrote my notes a few years ago that the following events in my fiction novel will occur simultaneously:

1. There is a new President of the United States who turns out to be anti-Israel despite campaign speeches implying otherwise.
2. There is a single or group of prominent Jews that are single-handedly responsible for sending the U.S. into a depression by doing a dastardly illegal act. The Dow Jones Industrial Average falls from over 16,000 to below 2,000.
3. The new Greater Depression shows that Jews are still disproportionately wealthier than the rest of the US.
4. The US ceases military aid to Israel, if not partially, due to the fact that the funds just aren’t there.
5. The US builds stronger ties to a virulently anti-Israel state in the Middle East due, perhaps in part, to the US addition to oil imports.
6. Israel shuns the US to side with a rival world power such as China.
7. Israel commits a flagrant military massacre of innocents causing horrible international disdain.
8. There is a new Pope that comes to power and rebukes the ruling of the Second Vatican Council that ruled that the Jews were not responsible for the death of Jesus. Thus, Jews are again culpable of Deicide.
9. Several Jewish American mafia-types are uncovered and revealed to have deep ties into various industries.
10. There is a renewal of interest and publication of the famous Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion.
11. Conspiracy theories abound, with the culprit being those that still have some relative wealth after the economic collapse.
12. Companies look deeply into their dealings with companies and organizations where there are leaders with Jewish sounding names.

Tonight, I attended a film showing of my friend, Shai Pollock’s new documentary, Refugees, at the Tel Aviv Cinemateque. I was thrilled to see all of the volunteers and leader of activists with whom I had worked. It was supposedly International Migrants’ Day and there were performers, music, and dancing by the various refugees and migrant workers here. This took place in outside in the plaza in front of the Cinemateque. As I approached, I wondered why there were 150 policemen in the plaza but so few refugees. Did the cops scare them off out of fear of being detained again and finally deported? I asked a policeman and he said they were there because of the “situation”. I said, “What situation”. He answered, “The situation with Gaza”. I had read that there was an attack that had killed more than 140 people this morning. I wondered why they thought Hamas might attack African refugees at a movie theatre. I was later informed that there would be a huge protest against Israel attacking Gaza. The body count had reached 200 and the Anarchists and other left-wing groups were organizing a protest and a march to the office of the Minister of Defense.



It was a bazaar scene. On one side of this small plaza, there was dancing and singing with children performing, Colombian and African bands playing, and a festive atmosphere. Simultaneously and clearly planned on a moment’s notice, there were, perhaps, over a thousand protesters against Israel’s attack on Gaza. Hundreds of rockets had fallen on southern Israel per day over the last week causing minimal damage due to their inaccuracy. Then, Israel’s reprisal this morning seemed to be to hit a Hamas-run police swearing-in ceremony killing hundreds instantly. Israeli (Jewish) attendees in Tel Aviv would normally have been from the same groups: proponents for refugee and migrant worker solidarity and people against attacks on Gaza. While the anarchists wanted an angry, perhaps morbid evening after the huge body count, few really interfered with the festive migrant festival. The same activists wanted joy for the migrant workers and anger for the war the government was raging in Gaza.

Shai had done another documentary on Israel’s building of the security barrier separating The West Bank from Israel proper. Olive trees were uprooted in places costing despair among the Palestinians. It was a far-left film demonizing Israel and its soldiers who were pelted with stones and answered back with tear gas and rubber bullets. I assumed this film might also demonize the government but, as I have been deeply involved with the refugee issue, I found the documentary well-done and accurate. Israel’s government is torn between
1) being a country founded by refugees and giving asylum and
2) creating a tiny Jewish state where millions of Muslims would love to seek haven from their terrible Africa home countries.
There was a time when Shai filmed a Knesset debate on the status of the asylum-seeking Africans and a couple of members of the audience at the movie shouted back at the screen with opposing views. Illegal African immigrants is a hot issue here.

I keep wondering about my book when I read today's news.

1. There is a new President-Elect of the USA: Barak Hussein Obama, a seemingly new kind of President under enormous pressure to change US policies.
2. Today, Israel killed over 200 people. Many of course, must have been bystanders in Gaza.
3. Lehman Brothers went under and up sprang a fictitious new story spread claiming $400 billion was sent to Israel right before it went under. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1028069.html.
4. Bernie “The Jew” Madoff made-off with over $50 billion in his illegal Ponzi scheme sending investors and non-profits into bankruptcy.
5. The US national debt, in the trillions, will likely lead our country’s Ponzi scheme to collapse, causing us to re-evaluate our spending.
6. Did the Jews really get warned about 911 and tell 400 workers to stay home from the WTC?
7. Did Israel’s nuclear testing in the Indian Ocean really cause the Tsunami?
8. How well does America’s condition fit into the Jews’ plans of the Protocols of the Learned Elders of Zion? Will it be republished and analyzed as Henry Ford did in the 1930’s?
9. Are the Jews really Americans or are they loyal spies for Israel (These rich Jews who sent us all into poverty while maintaining their lavish lifestyles and keeping it only among themselves.)
10. How is Pope Benedict feeling?

Would you read this fiction? I don’t like the way the news stories are heading. Will this blog entry come up in Google searches for anti-semitic searches or for those seeking fuel for their blame for their current economic condition? In a time with two wars raging and on the brink of a depression, the brush is dry and could easily combust. Will conspiracy fiction be written and accepted as fact such as the “Protocols”? With huge unemployment and people with too much down time on their hands, will people seek a group to demonize and blame for their problems?

We are in one of the darkest eras of America’s history. December hosts the darkest days and winter solstice. From now on, the days grow lighter until June. Let us hope the darkest, coldest days have passed us by and the new gradual illumination of the northern hemisphere will bring peace and compassion around this planet.

Randy