Warning -this is an uncharacteristically ‘sweary’ post
Those of us who are non-Orthodox Jews of the political Right, who despite believing for example that there’s nothing wrong in having a woman on the bimah as a Rabbi, but who also believe in borders, capitalism, self-defence and freedom, look with increasing disdain and indeed horror on the activities of the Jewish Left. These Jewish Leftists are a small but noisy constituency who seem more interest in what Marx said than what Moses said and because of that they really boil my piss. I follow the commandments of Hashem, not the commandments of Marx, who was little more than a hate filled 19th century Communist ponce.
This group of often financially comfortable and very middle class Jewish Leftists have sometimes engaged in activities that not only are pointless but are also counterproductive for both Jews and non-Jews. These Leftists, in my opinion, try to force the square peg of Leftism into the round hole of Torah. They are often insulated from many of life’s vicissitudes by dint of income and geographical area of residence, for example from many of the problems that have been caused in Britain by Leftism, such as the violence brought by all too many ‘refugees’ and migrants.
One such counterproductive and possibly dangerous campaign that some of Britain’s Liberal and Reform synagogues have become involved in is the ‘refugees welcome’ movement, which both the Reform and Liberal Jewish synagogal entities have supported. The Liberal and Reform involvement in the by now disastrous ‘refugees welcome’ campaign has been underpinned by the involvement of Liberal and Reform movements with the notoriously anti-British, pro-Islam and pro-migrant ‘civil society’ group Citizens UK, whom I am sorry to report have in my opinion far too much influence over political policy in both the Liberal and Reform movements. Due to the influence of Citizens UK over Britain’s major non-Orthodox Jewish movements, we now have the worrying situation where synagogues who should by now have learned the lesson that the ‘refugees’ are not as they seem, are still agitating for the importation of more, mostly Muslim and often fake, ‘refugees’.
Finchley Progressive Synagogue in London is one shul that still doesn’t seem to have smelled the coffee with regards to the ‘refugee’ issue and done the sensible thing and backed off from it. This lack of awareness as to the truth of the ‘refugee’ situation within Finchley Progressive may be down to the fact that they have a particularly Left wing rabbi in the form of Rabbi Rebecca Birk and also a very active group of Leftists, some connected with Citizens UK, who are pushing this ‘refugee’ issue. I refuse to believe that it is the entirety of the membership of Finchley Progressive who are backing this idiocy, as it is a large synagogue with a lot of members not all of whom may be active in the day to day life of synagogue management or policy. It could very well be the case that we have a much smaller cabal of ‘refugees welcome’ and open borders obsessives who are calling the shots because they are the ones who are turning up for meetings. Maybe the rest of the members are just not being too bothered about policy and only really care that there is a place where they feel comfortable worshipping and the facilities of a synagogue burial fund. If this is the case then those who’ve just let the open borders types get on with it need to speak up if they disagree with the direction their synagogue is going in.
To be fair to Finchley Progressive, at the start of the migrant crisis it was indeed very easy for some to accept the idea that what the world was facing was a genuine refugee crisis, a crisis of the sort that is within living memory of those European Jews who fled to safety in Britain from the mechanised and industrialised murder by the Nazis. I think any civilised person would stick their hand in their pockets to protect the vulnerable and the hopeless innocents who were portrayed as ‘refugees’ by the media and pro-migrant groups such as Citizens UK. However, as the current migrant crisis has progressed we have seen that what is coming to Europe are often not genuine refugees who are grateful for rescue and who will adapt well to civilised societies. Instead what we have got are criminally inclined fighting age Muslim men, all too many of whom seem to have an adherence to Jihad. This, the dangerous fighting age Muslims males, are a cohort of people that no civilised country should allow to either enter or settle within their borders as we have seen violence and hatred arise wherever this group go.
But the days of portraying the migrants as ‘vulnerable refugees’ is now long gone and reality is intervening for many of us. I, along with a number of politically right leaning Jews, can see that importing people from Islamic cultures that are steeped in Jew hatred is not going to end well, especially not for Jews, and we believe that the time has come to bar, judicially intern and deport those Muslims who have recently entered Europe who are jihad or sharia aligned or who are criminals or those migrants who are not contributing to the economies of their host countries. We should not be hosting or facilitating those whose cultures and ideologies desire and pray for our deaths, to do this is monstrously stupid.
But back to the subject of Finchley Progressive Synagogue, where stupidity and indeed fuckwittedness with regards the ‘refugee’ issue seems to be still very much in fashion.
Despite there now being ample evidence that opening Europe’s borders to what is now seeming like a deluge of ambulant human cultural sewage has not been a good thing, Finchley Progressive is not only continuing with their misplaced humanitarianism with regards to ‘refugees’, but also seems to be doubling down on ‘refugee’ fuckwittedness.
You would think, wouldn’t you, that an educated person like Rabbi Birk and her probably equally well educated supporters at Finchley Progressive, would at least have had the nous to understand that times have changed with regards to the ‘refugee’ issue? Surely even the most dim and ideologically motivated of ‘refugees welcome’ morons could not fail to understand that, nor fail to recognise that continuing to support the importation of people who are likely to represent a clear and present danger to both Jew and non-Jew is not the greatest or most sensible of ideas. It’s not a sensible policy for two very stark reasons. The first is that bringing in people who come from cultures which have the phrase ‘kill Jews’ written through them like the name of a seaside down in a stick of rock is not a sensible things to do. One would not after all take on as a babysitter someone from a family of paedophiles and it is equally as stupid to bang the ‘refugees welcome’ drum for those from cultures that are completely incompatible with those cultures that we have built in the West and who may well end up being a threat to both Jews and non-Jews. The second and equally important reason why this refugees welcome policy is dangerous is the false impression that it gives of the Jewish community to the wider world. This ‘refugees welcome’ lunacy which is being practised by Finchley is giving the false impression to others that this ‘refugee’ policy is welcomed or supported by a majority of Britain’s Jews, something that is plainly not the case. Those of us who take a more sensible and less naive view of the ‘refugee’ issue also have an opinion on this matter and it is one that is no less valid than that of Rabbi Birk and her leftie supporters in Finchley shul or the open borders nutcases of Citizens UK.
I was motivated to write this piece by an article in the Jewish Chronicle dated 23rd September in which Rabbi Birk and Finchley Progressive synagogue are still showing themselves to be flogging the dead horse of ‘refugees welcome’. They are doing this despite many people, including many of us Jews of the Right, being alarmed and pissed off with the mess that these ‘refugees’ are making of our shared European continent and in the UK. Those of us who live in the world of reality and especially those of us who can see through the ‘refugees welcome’ rhetoric, would respectfully ask Rabbi Birk and her supporters and those non-Orthodox Jews who are still naively supporting the ‘refugees welcome’ project to cease their involvement in a campaign that has been characterised by dishonesty, emotive rather than practical thought and a complete disregard for the safety and security of all of us, no matter what peaceful deity or religion we may follow.
Here’s the Jewish Chronicle article along with this blog’s comments on the published story. As is usual policy for this blog the original text from the JC is in italics whereas this blog’s comments are in plain text. For readers not familiar with the JC, it is the newspaper of record for Britain’s Jews but in recent years its editorial policy seems to have shifted much more to the Left than it may have done in the past, much to the chagrin of the likes of myself.
The Jewish Chronicle said:
Barnet Council has responded to lobbying from a local synagogue and other groups by agreeing to accept more Syrian refugees if it can secure government funding.
Let me translate that sentence for the readers of this blog. What the Jewish Chronicle should have said is that a small bunch of left wingers at a synagogue that has a history of naive ‘refugees welcome’ idiocy along with the Citizens UK group have strong-armed Barnet council into doing their bidding. The usual modus operandi of Citizens UK is to link with groups like synagogues or churches that have gravitated towards social justice warrior behaviour to make it seem to the council that the desire to import potentially explosive ‘refugees’ has more public support than it has in reality. Like much else that Citizens UK involve themselves in with regards the ‘refugee’ issue, there is the stench of dishonesty and spin here, about which I shall go into more detail later.
The council, which has already accepted 50 refugees, has pledged to try to take three refugees a year from the war-torn country over the next ten years.
That’s 50 public sector or privately rented homes that will no longer be available for British subjects or for those who have chosen to throw in their lot completely with Britain. It’s also 50 places at doctor’s surgeries and schools and for other services that cannot be accessed by ordinary Britons because a ‘refugee’ is occupying the position. If Finchley shul really wanted to to the most possible for those displaced by war, and like them I believe that this is a good cause, then they could have done better to have raised money for agencies working on the ground in the war zones themselves rather than the much more expensive option of bringing possibly dangerous ‘refugees’ to the UK. Bringing these ‘refugees’ here is the least cost effective option to help those displaced by war and the resources wasted on fifty imports could have provided shelter, food and medical care for five hundred or so back in Syria or nearby.
Rabbi Rebecca Birk, of Finchley Progressive Synagogue, welcoming the news, said “By engaging positively with Barnet Council, we have already secured the resettlement of 50 Syrian families that now call our borough home. Many visit the synagogue each week and have become true members of our community
Rabbi Birk may welcome 50 more possibly undeserving and potentially dangerous mouths to feed but I for one do not. I had to smile over Rabbi Birk’s claim that ‘many’ of the migrants visit the synagogue every week. Personally I doubt that claim as many of these ‘refugees’ are Muslim and there are not that many Jews or those likely to be interested in Judaism in the cohort of ‘refugees’ that Rabbi Birk is helping to bring in. I thought that these ‘refugees’ were a bit more ‘allah hu akbar’ than ‘shema Yisrael’ and can’t think why they would be regularly attending a synagogue? Are these ‘refugees’ genuinely interested in Judaism or wishing to show gratitude for help or are they merely showing up for a handout or to be paraded in front of congregants in order to elicit more support for these ‘refugees’?
“Finchley Progressive members strongly believe that we can and must do more to help refugees, as a borough and as a country. I am delighted that Barnet continues to be a leading humanitarian voice on this issue and I hope we can encourage other councils to do the same.”
Rabbi Birk may believe this but I tend to think that she is a fool for continuing with this ‘refugees welcome’ nonsense long after the rest of us have seen how a significant minority of these ‘refugees’ have swiftly worn out their European welcome, because of the crime, disturbance and also jihad that they have brought. Sadly I have to thank Rabbi Birk for one thing and one thing only and that is creating a synagogue which I wouldn’t want to be seen dead in. Yes I’ll miss the fabulous music by not going but I will spare myself the chore of having to listen to open borders rubbish from the ‘refugees welcome’ clique there.
The synagogue has been at the forefront of a Barnet Citizens campaign, along with Middlesex University students and refugee support groups, for the council to act.
Just as it only takes one prick from an infected syringe needle to infect a person with HIV or Hepatitis, it only takes a few complete and utter pricks, as are those pushing the ‘refugees welcome’ guff for example, to become involved with the anti British group Citizens UK to get a synagogue or a church group to throw reality to the winds and support an increasingly despised ‘refugees welcome’ campaign. It’s a shame to see what was once a fantastically lively shul, one with a brilliant history of religious music, becoming puppets of the cynical left wing political hacks of Citizens UK. If you want more information and critical commentary on the matter of Citizens UK, then this blog has covered this group in detail and the posts can be found by searching for ‘Citizens UK’ in the search box.
Local Conservative MPs Theresa Villiers and Mike Freer were due to join Syrian refugees who have settled in the borough at a Succot service at the synagogue this evening which will celebrate the council’s efforts and also the 80th anniversary of the Kindertransport which brought 10,000 children to Britain from Europe before the Second World War.
Onto the above paragraph and you have two conservative in name only MP’s and one massive dishonest statement. The Conservative party used to be the party of solid borders and patriotism but now, as we can see by the actions of this pair, they are not that much different from other virtue signallers. This pair really are conservative in name only. As regards the dishonesty then there is the monstrous and offensive lie that the ‘refugees’ that are currently raping, jihading and murdering their way across Europe, are in any way similar to the genuine refugees who fled Nazi Germany on the Kindertransport. As I have said before on here when discussing the involvement of Jewish groups in the ‘refugees welcome’ fiasco, there is a world of difference between the peaceful children who grew up to contribute greatly to the UK who arrived on the Kindertransport and the violent, mostly Islamic savages whom are currently being referred to as ‘refugees’.
Charlotte Fischer, of Citizens UK, who has been active in the refugee campaign, said, “The UK cannot turn its back on these children but the government continues to insist that local councils don’t want to help. It is fantastic that Finchley Progressive Synagogue, Middlesex University Students Union and the members of Barnet Citizens have secured a pledge from Barnet council to take more child refugees, sending a clear message to government that our local politicians and communities are ready to help these incredibly vulnerable children.”
What you see here from Ms Fischer is a window into the mindset of the Citizens UK group. She, like they, insist on pushing the ‘vulnerable children’ fiction, despite there being a large number of questions surrounding the objects of her attention such as: “Are they really refugees”, “Are they really children” and “Why is that ‘refugee’ self-exploding on a tube train?” Finchley Progressive Synagogue should really be ashamed of themselves that after so much that Citizens UK have said about the ‘refugee’ crisis has turned out to be fiction that they still associate with Citizens UK and their ‘refugees welcome’ nonsense.
Rabbi Danny Rich, Liberal Judaism’s senior rabbi, said: “Whilst the Barnet success is to the credit of locals, I am proud of the early pioneering leadership of the Syrian refugee campaign by Liberal Judaism before it was popular.”
‘Refugees welcome’ may have been a popular cause once, but not so much now, as we know much more of the truth about it, and the nature of the ‘refugees’ that have so far been welcomed. We can see it’s not vulnerable kids coming in but instead the sort of adult individuals who, after a short period of poncing off welfare, are as likely as not to go ‘allah hu akbar – BOOM!’ and take the lives of innocent Europeans.
Rabbi Rich is, I understand, a good and learned man who many people quite rightly respect for his good qualities, of which there are a great many. But, I’m afraid he may well be mistaken in thinking that ‘refugees welcome’ is a campaign that has any traction outside of the limited ‘religious / Left’ circles that he and those like him move among. Rabbis Birk and Rich should do well to consider how this pushing of a ‘refugees welcome’ campaign plays outside of their rarefied circles and they fail to realise that this campaign has little support outside of the middle class Left and the naive ‘Bajhis and bagels’ interfaith circuits.
Liberal Judaism, he added, would be holding its fourth year of “Sanctuary Succot” events to raise awareness of the plight of Syrian refugees, which would take place in Birmingham, Lambeth, Kingston and Leicester as well as Barnet.
I must admit that in addition to vehemently disagreeing with the ‘refugees welcome’ idiocy and having no hesitation in saying so, I feel that turning the Jewish festival of Succot, otherwise known as the Festival of Tabernacles into a platform for a particular political view, as Liberal Judaism has done, is completely wrong. Treating Succot as a promo for the ‘refugees welcome’ movement has alienated those who like me do not want to be in any way involved with any pro-refugee activity. I personally find it offensive to see so much politics dumped onto one of the Jewish festivals and like others who think similar to me, have deliberately stayed away from those synagogues which have done this in order to not support a cause with which we vehemently disagree.
It has been said that many Jews look at the developments in politics and society and consider whether or not it is good for the Jews as a community. Well, I have looked at the ‘refugees welcome’ movement and consider it not just bad for Jews but bad for everyone. I am both sad and disturbed to see such a high profile synagogue as Finchley Progressive continuing to support such a failed and empty cause as ‘refugees welcome’. For this synagogue in particular and for non Orthodox Jews in particular, that path is not only going to bring in those who may pose a direct threat to us and our neighbours, but may also by extension cause resentment and disgust from the wider community to fall upon the rest of us Jews. We on the Jewish right need to bring truth to a ‘refugee’ debate that has become smothered in both lies and emotionalism and challenge those in our communities who insist that there is nothing wrong with importing those who may end up creating dangers one way or another to both the Jews and non-Jews of Britain.
