Defacing Anne Frank's statue isn't helping 'Gaza', it's just evil antisemitism - opinion

I know I am singing to the choir when expressing certain views in these columns.

The vast majority of the readers of this newspaper, both in print and online, are good, decent, honest people with a high sense of moral value.

But maybe, just maybe, one or two of the vile haters out there (some of whom have been kind enough to write to me personally to wish me “and my kind” dead) may read this and stop to think for a moment about the depths to which they have sunk, and the fine Nazi philosophy they appear to be supporting.

So what has rattled my cage so much, you may ask?

Let me try to calm myself and explain.

There are few things more sacred to the collective Jewish memory than the Holocaust, that unique episode in the history of man’s evil to his fellow man during which six million of our people were murdered, not because they had “stolen” anyone’s land, and not because they had “killed” anyone’s god, and not because they were “an aggressive and colonialist regime,” but purely and simply by dint of the fact that they were born into a Jewish family.

It mattered not one jot whether the “dirty Jew” was from the higher echelons of society or the poor downtrodden peasant version of the “race.”

Nor did the level of belief in God or the level of Jewish observance make any difference to the Nazis’ choice of victim.

The Jew was the target – whatever type of person he or she was, whatever they had done or not done.

The whole world surely knows and accepts that this was the most despicable act, not just of the 20th century but of all the horrible history that mankind has thrown up over millennia.

And who, above all, represents and personifies the victims of the Holocaust? Whose writings in her untainted, innocent teenage diary capture the essence of the crime, the sheer inexplicable evil of what was happening all around her?

Anne Frank has nothing to do with Israel or Gaza

I AM REFERRING, of course, to Anne Frank – the Dutch teenager who, through her diary, has left an indelible mark on the world, encapsulating the essence of youthful optimism amid history’s darkest period.

Despite the terror and uncertainty surrounding her, Anne’s words radiate a sense of optimism and a longing for a normal life. She writes of her dreams, her aspirations, and her desire to become a writer. Her diary entries reveal a young girl who, despite being confined in a small attic, remains hopeful and resilient. This hope is not only personal but also universal, reflecting the innate human desire for freedom and happiness.

However, the stark reality of Anne’s situation cruelly dashed these innocent desires. The normal teenage experiences she yearned for – attending school, making friends, and exploring the world – were brutally denied to her. The simple wish to be a normal girl living in a peaceful world became an impossible dream.

Her writings often reflect her struggle with these unfulfilled desires, highlighting the contrast between her vibrant inner world and the oppressive external circumstances. This cruel dashing of her dreams underscores the tragic loss of potential experienced by so many young victims of the Holocaust.

The pain and sorrow Anne must have felt are palpable throughout her diary. The sense of abandonment by friends and the outside world is a recurring theme. As the war raged on, news of friends being taken away and the constant fear of discovery weighed heavily on her.

Anne’s reflections on loneliness and isolation reveal a deep emotional suffering that many young people can empathize with, magnified by the extreme conditions she faced. The betrayal by those who were once neighbors and friends adds another layer of tragedy to her story, illustrating the pervasive fear and mistrust that characterized the Nazi occupation.

ULTIMATELY, Anne Frank represents the wickedness of a regime that systematically exterminated six million Jews for no reason other than their birth religion. Her diary serves as a powerful indictment of the Nazi ideology, showcasing the human cost of hatred and bigotry.

All of this is not news to any of you, but this week our haters, thinly disguised as being concerned for the victims of the war in Gaza, crossed a very bright redline and showed their true colors.

From the depths of their depravity, they vandalized a statue of Anne Frank, a monument to that shocking period, located close to her first home in Amsterdam.

“The statue of Anne Frank on the Merwede Square in Amsterdam, where the Jewish diarist lived until she went into hiding in 1942, has been defaced with red paint and the text ‘Gaza,’” wrote the Center for Information and Documentation Israel, based in The Hague.

Tell me, explain to me, because I just don’t get it – what has Anne Frank got to do with Gaza?

I get it that the Muslim population support their brethren in Gaza – we would do the same.

I understand that many people are upset about the terrible loss of life in Gaza – none of us are happy about it, but Anne Frank died a horrible death from typhus in February 1945, three years before Israel even existed.

No, my friends, the cat is now well and truly out of the bag. This act and many others, perpetrated largely by the regressive, perverted, so-called liberal Left, purporting to be supporting the “Palestinian Cause,” is nothing other than pure, old-fashioned, deeply ingrained, evil, rotten antisemitism: hatred of the Jews – and blaming all of us for what’s happening in Gaza.

By defacing the statue of Anne Frank with the word Gaza in red paint, the perpetrator has shown his true colors.

And those colors are not the black, white, green and red of the Palestinian flag, they are the blood red, black and white of the Nazi emblem – and all it stands for.

The writer, a rabbi and physician, lives in Ramat Poleg, a neighborhood in Netanya, and is a co-founder of Techelet-Inspiring Judaism.