As International Holocaust Memorial Day was marked in the UK this week, new evidence has emerged of antisemitism’s shocking depth.
Much of it has been fanned into furious flames by lies and propaganda shared on unverified social media. But thank God for sections of the traditional press still seeking to tell the truth.
Tuesday’s Daily Express front page featured Holocaust survivor Eva Clarke beside the banner headline, NOW STOP THE HATE. As one of the youngest survivors, 80-year-old Eva weighed just 3lb when her skeletal mother gave birth to her on a coal cart at the gates of Mauthausen concentration camp.
Fifteen members of her family were slaughtered at Auschwitz-Birkenau including her father – shot just a week before it was liberated. But Eva’s survival was miraculous.
When her Czech-Jewish mother Anka initially arrived at Auschwitz, she was met by ‘Angel of Death’ Josef Mengele, demanding to know if she was pregnant. Had she admitted it, she would have been sent to the gas chamber.
She was thus deemed fit for work elsewhere, eventually arriving at Mauthausen in Austria. She was so shocked to see the name of the death camp that she went into labour. And Eva was born on April 29th, 1945, a day after the Nazis ran out of gas to run their killing machine and just days before US troops liberated the site.
Eva has since put her horror story to good use, educating the public about this dark history for which she received the British Empire Medal in 2019. Such education, she contends, is the only answer to the ongoing hatred.
However, polls now show that people holding what are considered to be entrenched antisemitic views make up more than a fifth of the population (over 12 million)! And almost half (45%) believe that Israel treats Palestinians the same way as Nazis treated Jews. And, again, almost a fifth consider the October 7th, 2023, massacre of Israelis justified.
In Parliament on Monday, former Conservative cabinet minister Lord Pickles warned that Britain is “sleepwalking into disaster” with the rise of antisemitism.
You would think having a Holocaust Memorial Centre prominently placed in our capital, a project given the green light over ten years ago, could help reverse this trend. But it has been plagued by repeated delays no doubt in part due to fears of upsetting the growing Islamic population. As to the Holocaust Memorial Day itself, the number of secondary schools marking the event has more than halved.
Fear of standing up to the truth in the face of belligerent activists calling for Jewish blood, both among the general public and the church, which owes its very existence to the Jews, is crippling our society.
“Do not fear” is a word of comfort from God himself recorded countless times in the Bible. So why are we Christians fearful? It’s time to put on the armour of Holy Spirit strength God has given us, and stand foursquare with our Jewish brothers and sisters, to whom we owe so much.
It’s more important than the state of the economy, or even the military. Because if we fail to bless the Jews, a curse will come upon our nation (Genesis 12:3, Isaiah 60:12).
The best thing we can do for our Jewish friends is show them the love which has been poured into our hearts by their very own Messiah, Yeshua (Jesus). It may well provoke them to discover the secret of our faith. (Romans 11:11)
“For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future.” (Jeremiah 29:11)
“So do not be afraid, Jacob my servant; do not be dismayed, Israel,” declares the Lord… “Jacob will again have peace and security, and no-one will make him afraid.” (Jeremiah 30:10)
Charles Gardner is author of Israel the Chosen, available from Amazon; Peace in Jerusalem, available from olivepresspublisher.com; To the Jew First, A Nation Reborn, and King of the Jews, all available from Christian Publications International.
