Article and personal opinion on the violence in Gaza and Southern Israel, and the hate that has spewed throughout the planet as a result.

I just read an article online which talked about how a lot of hatred and anti-semitic attacks are being targeted towards the Jewish community of Paris, France, and other European countries, due to Israel's destructive, inhumane war crimes happening in Gaza.
This really breaks my heart to see this. It really saddens me to see Jews in Europe being targeted for crimes that they did not commit in Gaza. I understand that a lot of Arabs and Muslims (I hate labeling, but this is where a lot of the confusion is occurring), equating all Jews as militiant zionists, which is a dangerous thing to do. It would be like equating all Muslims and Arabs as terrorists, which is also not true.
I call forth an end to the violence.
While I feel nervous about being a target for being Jewish, I can't let this stand in the way. I am prude of my heritage, culture and faith and I REFUSE to let anyone belittle me. Events like these are the REASONS why we need dialogue, and mobilize action to the governments, in order to stop the violence, which is a breeding ground for hatred in the other parts of the world.
I may be a lone soldier on a battefield, but having confidence in myself makes me feel like a million soldiers.
I plan to go to a protest this weekend near my school. I am devising a poster that I am going to wear, that is entitled:
Two Peoples: One Heart: One Love: End the Violence in Gaza and Sderot.
There will be two hearts together, and in the middle there will be a fist interlocking both in solidarity. I understand that people may see it as weird that I am advocating for both sides, but I refuse to not turn my back on anyone. I am here for ALL people.
I refuse to see an injustice happen to a Jewish brethen over a crime that they did not do. The same for my Palestinian brethen in Gaza for crimes that they did not do.

Love and light
Stephanie :)



Article:


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/4142583/Gaza-killing-sparks-attacks-on-Jews-across-Europe.html



Gaza killing sparks attacks on Jews across Europe
Israel's invasion of Gaza has provoked a surge in anti-Semitic violence across Europe with attacks on Jewish sites in France, Belgium and Britain.


By Henry Samuel in Paris
Last Updated: 5:09PM GMT 06 Jan 2009

In France, home to Europe's biggest Arab and Jewish populations, unidentified attackers rammed a car into the gate outside a synagogue in the southern city of Toulouse late on Monday and set it on fire with a petrol bomb.

No-one was hurt, but it has revived memories of a sharp upturn in anti-Semitic crimes in 2000, with the outbreak of the second intifada or Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. In 2002, as fighting raged in the Middle East and Afghanistan prior to the allied invasion of Iraq, some 2,300 Jews left France for Israel because they felt unsafe.

Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said: "I am, in fact, worried by the international situation. My concern is that the situation should not degenerate in our country, that the violence not be imported."

President Nicolas Sarkozy, currently on a peace mission to the Middle East, condemned the synagogue attack.

In a statement issued by the Elysée, he said France would "not tolerate international tensions translating into violence between communities."

Leila Shahid, the Palestinian envoy to the European Union, said there was undoubtedly a link between the attack and fury among France's five million Muslims at "images from Gaza".

On Saturday, a pro-Palestinian demonstration turned violent, with a mob of around 500 protesters burning cars and looting a Paris jewellers.

France's Union of Jewish Students has recorded two attacks on kosher stores in Bordeaux, one on a Jewish apartment in Paris and another on a synagogue in Toulon since New Year's Eve.

"We insist the public authorities quickly investigate these warning signs of a new wave of anti-Semitic acts on our doorstep," said the Jewish community's Central Consistory.

Similar incidents have also been reported in Belgium, where a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a synagogue in Brussels on Monday.

No injuries were reported, but the building sustained damage.

Joods Actueel, a Jewish magazine, has received a dozen death threats including those by an anonymous man who threatened a suicide attack to "avenge the suffering of the Palestinians". A Jewish home was firebombed over the weekend.

In Britain, one Jewish charity, the Community Security Trust, or CST, has reported 24 anti-Semitic incidents in the past week; the most serious occurred on Saturday when three youths tried to set fire to Brondesbury Park Synagogue in northwest London. The CST said that the threat had increased after calls from Hamas leaders to attack Jewish people around the world.