The suitcase or the coffin?

British Jews are being ethnically cleansed in slow motion.

As Algeria declared independence from French rule in 1962, the phrase “the suitcase or the coffin” spread among French Algerians. Fearing genocide at the hands of the Algerian Arabs, they departed en masse for France—a country many of them had never known.

Along with them went other minorities, including most Algerian Jews, whose presence in the country long predated the Arab conquest.

This act of ethnic cleansing by any other name has been largely erased from history, but it provides an object lesson: Ethnic cleansing does not require mass murder. The threat of systematic violence and an unlivable life of constant persecution is enough.

All of this springs ominously to mind in the wake of the Yom Kippur terror attack on a synagogue in Manchester, England—committed by a Muslim literally named Jihad.

Much beleaguered already, British Jews are slouching toward flight. One witness at the scene said, “There is no place for Jews in Britain anymore. It’s over.”

Writer Ashley Rindsberg, attending services at another British synagogue, was told by a friend, “I reckon Jews have about 10 years left in this country.” When news of the Manchester attack arrived, Rindsberg’s friend said simply, “You see what I mean. Ten years.”

British Jews, in other words, are already looking to the suitcase.

They have good reason. For years, Muslim and leftist Britons have been engaged in a campaign of incitement, defamation, intimidation, and outright terrorism against British Jews. Their riots occur on an almost daily basis, including immediately after the Manchester attack.

This reign of terror has been allowed to continue by complacent or collaborationist authorities, who either loath Israel and Jews as much as the protester-terrorists or are too terrified of Muslim and leftist violence to act.

British Jews see the Palestinian flags adorning quickly growing Muslim neighborhoods. They see the left openly endorse the genocide of Israeli Jews. They see and experience the acts of violence and terrorism. Quite rightly, they wonder why they should stay in such a place.

The reason, thus far, has been that Jews have lived in Britain for centuries, once again long predating the Muslim presence. They love Britain and want to stay. But they know that the Britain they love is fading and, in many places, no longer exists. They know that in the corrupt and decrepit new Britain, there is likely no future for the Jews. The Muslim community and its leftist allies fully intend to either ghettoize them or subject them to such horrendous violence that the Jews will flee.

We know this is true because it is already happening. In many ways, British Jews are now ghettoized. Their synagogues are fortresses; they must avoid certain neighborhoods; they must conceal all outward signs of their Jewish identity; they must suffer hatred and violence while the responsible authorities abandon them to their fate.

This is ethnic cleansing in slow-motion, expulsion by any other name. The only silver lining is that now, at least, British Jews have somewhere to go.

Whether this atrocity will actually be carried out to its logical end, I do not know. Recently, I spoke to an Israeli friend who told me that, in his opinion, 50% of Diaspora Jewry will make Aliyah within 25 years, and I can’t tell him he’s wrong.

If this is the case, then it must give American Jews some pause, because everything that is happening in Britain—defamation, incitement, violence, riots, murder, and terrorism—is also happening in America.

To understand what this means, we must look to history. We have seen it hundreds of times over the centuries, and it often happens overnight. Suddenly, a Diaspora community that has lived in a place—like Algeria—for eons is uprooted and expelled through hate and violence.

Often, the expulsion is official, but just as often, it is not. Systemic antisemitism and systematic violence are often enough to prompt mass flight. They were enough, for example, to expel my ancestors from the Russian Empire and prompt them to flee to the United States.

This terrible history proves that we must never say, “It can’t happen here.” It can happen anywhere. No matter how accepted, successful, and indeed happy the Jews have been, it can always be ripped away overnight. All of Jewish history proves it.

To avoid this constant fate, American Jews must cease to consider themselves an exception to history. They must slough off the legacy of middle-class quiescence and assimilation. They must fight.

Fortunately, unlike in Britain, American Jews have the numbers and the resources to engage in active self-defense, should they choose to do so. But they must recognize that this self-defense is essential. Without it, they will face the same choice as British Jews appear to be facing: the suitcase or the coffin.

I wonder how long they’ve got.