There is something very frightening afoot in Germany reminiscent of the 1930s. It’s hard to believe, but a German appeals court has ruled that an attempt by three German Palestinian Arabs to burn down a synagogue in the city of Wuppertal was not anti-Semitic in nature but rather anti-Israel and thus a form of political expression not warranting anything beyond suspended sentences.
According to the court, the three were merely attempting to draw attention to the Gaza conflict between Israel and Hamas.
The decision justifies violence by all professed political dissidents and amounts to a declaration of legal immunity for all those attacking Jews, as long as, we suppose, the perpetrators have any arguable connection to Islam or Arab nationalism. The illogic is self-evident. But there is another dimension to this. To be sure, this was a regional court that issued the ruling and we know nothing about the qualifications of the judges. Could it be that they were so clueless that they did not understand the implications of what they were doing? Unlikely. Or was it rather a matter of them kowtowing to the growing Muslim presence in Germany and other parts of Europe?
What is equally disturbing is the lack of hue and cry following the decision. We have seen nothing from Chancellor Merkel or other German politicians. Perhaps they were preoccupied with helping to force the Jews, er, Israelis into giving away their biblical homeland.