My brother called me yesterday. He was distraught. Not about any of the usual health issues that seem to multiply for us old guys with each passing year. He’s had his share of surgeries, procedures and hospitalizations. Nor did any local sports teams fall short of hope. Those were not the cause of his concern. He was beside himself, nearly speechless and in despair that anyone in this country, much less supposedly educated college students, were loudly and proudly cheering for the Hamas butchers. They actively support evil. And, based on what can be dicerned from the news, they have no shame in such depravity. Somehow they think they are on the side of justice.

Today our conversation seems all the more ironic because April 30, 1945 is the date the real architect of genocide killed himself in a bunker in Berlin. It seems inconceivable that his hateful philosophy that gave rise to monstrous crimes could ever come to American shores. Make no mistake; it is seeking a foothold here. Beware of the usual word games of misdirection from those who do not have your best interests at heart. After a free country, Isreal, was attacked in an unspeakable fashion many in this country started to say the Isreali right to self defense should be limited for the sake of innocents. The “we are against butchery by Hamas but also against too much war” crowd. Then came some perverted colonialism nonsense. Isreal is bad and Palistinians are noble goobly goop. It took some time but it’s much clearer now; there is a ton of hate of the Jews. Signs, chants and slogans. A few suffer a public slip of the tongue and say zionists don’t deserve to live. Or, Jews should go back to Poland.

Poland? These young minds couldn’t be trying to reference Nazi death camps could they? Does Auschwitz rings a bell? A lady in my gym today said what is going on at Columbia University reminds her of the “Brown Shirts” of Germany. Good point. Donning the scarves, colors and symbols of Hamas. A history professor at Wisconsin who escaped from Nazi Germany in 1933 always pointed to the power of the Third Reich’s symbols in its rise. He said that the outside Nazi poison began to infect his school. Before he fled across Lake Constance he was told by a girl who he thought was a friend that he should “go back to Jerusalem”. Tonight on the news a young person was filmed smashing in the glass doors of the school’s library. Kristallnacht anyone? Like my brother I never thought such a level of antisemitism would ever rear its head in America. I was taught that antisemitism was wrong and the point was driven home by movies. (Gentlemen’s Agreement, Diary Of Anne Frank and Exodus.) And, by exmple. I remember a Catholic barkeep who traded places with a Jewish man on religious holidays. It is difficult to believe what is being said/done to Jews and Isreal now. That such conduct is tolerated in the halls of Ivy and the Executive Branch of the US government is astonishing. (Scolding Isreal while it is in the midst of defending itself sounds like a really good idea right now, Tony. Or, was John McCain right?)

By the way. Yesterday was the date in 1945 when US troops freed Dachau. Never, never again best not become a hollow sound in your lifetimes in America. We know it has and can happen in hate filled parts of the world. There is a shame for what is starting to happen in America right now. Avoid such folks. Read your history. Pursue critical thinking. Remember, US citizens stood up against evil and the Bund never took root here some ninety years ago. (Look up Milwaukee’s German population and the conversion of Camp Hindenburg to Camp Schurz.)