JERUSALEM POST
by Naomi Ragen
August 28, 2014

What chilled my bones was that this had become the new normal for her. She had accepted the situation, and it had become her way of life – with no recollection of any other way to live.

Back in the 1970s, I remember watching a television report about the civil war in Lebanon. Etched in my memory was an interview with a nameless woman who described how she lived when her street was surrounded by snipers picking off ordinary civilians at their whim. Her words went something like this: We go out in the early morning, because at that time the snipers are still sleeping. And then in the heat of the day, because they are tired, she said matter-of-factly. Her words struck me with horror not so much for their content, because after all what was the poor woman to do; she had to go out sometime to buy food for her family. No, what chilled my bones was that this had become the new normal for her. She had accepted the situation, and it had become her way of life – with no recollection of any other way to live.

This, most of all, is the true danger of the current conflict between Israel and the brutal terrorists on her borders. As my son told me the other day, in reference to keeping my grandchildren occupied during the summer while rocket attacks and sirens were going off nonstop all over the country: “We’ve sort of gotten used to it.”……

……From a quiet life among a tolerant and liberal population, Jewish life in Sweden and most of Europe has become a nightmare – as Muslim immigrants from all over the Islamic world have flooded the country, rising to over 4 percent of the population. Since the recent war in Gaza, life for Swedish Jews has become even more intolerable. “We have always known that there are those who hate us in Sweden, but this time it was expressed more powerfully, because there were so many anti-Semitic remarks and attacks by anti-Semites that it was impossible to follow. Even among celebrities, politicians and journalists – it was not a criticism of the operation in Gaza, but really hate against Jews,” Victor Borslöv-Reichmann, a 22-yearold Swedish-Jewish student, told NRG.

The irony of Europe having historically closed its doors to Jews only to now open them wide to Muslims is hard to ignore. In Sweden, at least, this has not brought blessing……

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http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Consider-this-The-new-normal-372650