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Eternal Cruelty
BY MOSHE KATZ
CEO
ISRAELI KRAV INTERNATIONAL
May 19, 2024, Apeldoorn, The Netherlands, (Holland)
Anne Frank display and memorial at Camp Westerbork in the Netherlands
I am in the lovely town of Apeldoorn, Gelderland, The Netherlands (Holland). It is so peaceful, so calm. It is a Sunday night, I finished a wonderful Krav Maga seminar, I go for a stroll. It feels so peaceful. I have been warned that when I visit Amsterdam tomorrow, I must be extra vigilant as there are many Arabs, and those they have duped into believing their lies and propaganda, who will be out looking to attack Jews. I stand out as looking very obviously Jewish. I do not hide.
But tonight felt peaceful, almost...as if...the world is a peaceful place where hatred has died.
Years ago during one of my first visits to the Netherlands, we were sitting at the table during a coffee break and commenting on how Germans, Dutch, Belgians, and Jews were all sitting together, as friends and as Krav Maga practitioners, with no trace of animosity while just a few years ago this would have been an impossible dream. Just a few decades ago many of these young people would have been in uniform, shooting at each other with the intention to kill. And having coffee with a Jew like me would have been unthinkable and even illegal in any of these countries. How things have changed we thought.
October 7, 2023, and the events that have happened since then, such as American university presidents supporting genocide of the Jews, have shown us that really nothing has changed. Just a couple of hours ago I visited the local synagogue of Apeldoorn, around the corner from my hotel. It was closed and I do not believe it is currently active. Certainly, the Jewish population of this area has dwindled greatly since the outbreak of World War Two and the murder of most of the Jews of this land. The other day I visited Camp Westerbork, the final transit station for Dutch Jews. 102,000 Jews of this land spent their final days in the Netherlands in this camp before being deported to their murder in Auschwitz, Treblinka, Sobibor, Theresienstadt and Bergen Belsen. There are Jews who lived minutes away from where I am at this very moment, they were taken from their homes to Westerbork and then transported out of this country to the death camps.
I see videos of our Arab neighbors in Gaza, filmed moments before they went out to commit one of the most horrific crimes of the century. They are calm, there is a cup of tea on the table, they are discussing body cameras and gigabits, and is it enough memory to film, etc. In all seems so ordinary, so normal. The banality of evil. and I think of the Holocaust memorial of the little synagogue that I just visited, where 560 members of this community were murdered.
The Nochba terrorists finish their preparations, pray to "god" and go out towards the border with Israel. Yes, Gaza was totally independent, there is no so called "Israeli Occupation", that accusation is as real as the "Protocols of the Elders of Zion" and the so-called plot of Jewish bankers to take over the world. The myths against the Jews did not die with the Holocaust. All that died was hope for humanity.
The terrorists head out to the border with Israel, along the way the local Gaza population cheers them on and encourages them with shouts of "god is great" and wishing them success. These are the same so called innocent non-combatants that are crying and begging the world for "humanitarian aid". Humanitarian aid for non-humans, for people created as humans but transformed into grotesque monsters. I am in Europe, and I know the European Community has contributed greatly to this cause. They continue to support aid for people aiding and abetting terrorism and hiding our hostages.
I am this quiet town in the Netherlands, but I am reminded of the times when it was not quiet, when hospitals and even mental institutions were emptied of their Jews and the entire Jewish population was dragged off to death camps. Now and then, the names change but the story remains. The new Nazis are in Gaza, and they are even more cruel and brutal than the ones that were once here. The difference is now we fight back. This upsets the world; I do not care at all. We fight back, we have no other choice if we wish to continue to exist. I teach self-defense, Israeli style. I teach all good people to fight back so that such atrocities do not happen to any people.
Now and then, there and here, the hatred, the evil, the cruelty is eternal. We must be aware; we must train to fight back.
Memorial for victims of the Holocaust outside the Apeldoorn synagogue. The community dates back to the year 1770 and at one time number more than 1,000 members. Today there are less than 40 and little hope for a future. Most of the Jews were deported in early January 1942.
In front of the synagogue in the Paslaan a monument in remembrance of the 592 Jews from Apeldoorn who didn't survive the Second World War was reveiled in October 2005.
Moshe Katz, 7th dan Black Belt, Israeli Krav Maga. Certified by Wingate Institute. Member Black Belt hall of fame, USA and Europe.
Understand the Israeli Fighting Mentality - Israel a Nation of Warriors by Moshe Katz
What is the cultural background of Krav Maga? What makes it unique? What makes the Israeli military so effective? Why are Israeli security systems used all over the world?
What are the Biblical origins of Krav Maga and who was the first Krav Maga instructor?
What weapons and military strategies did our Biblical ancestors use?
How has Krav Maga developed in Israel and what are its goals?
All that and more in this unique book.
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