Never Again: A Chronicle of Jewish Resilience and Struggle Throughout History

By Rev. Ruben Diaz

Never Again, Never Again, Never Again

You should know that wherever I go and preach, with regard to the people of Israel, I often address them as the “Chosen Ones.”

Sometimes, depending on the different circumstances, we might ask ourselves, Chosen for what? The answer might be, chosen to suffer, given their history.

It is important for you to know that the struggle of the Jewish people throughout history is not comparable to any other nation or people in the world.

Even in modern times, disgust for the Jewish people will manifest itself from time to time. We must not forget and we must speak of the destruction of Jerusalem and the Holy Temple in 70 A.D. by Titus the Roman General. The Romans, under Titus, took over 100,000 Jews and enslaved them. We must also talk about the Inquisition, the Crusades and the Holy Wars that attacked and persecuted the Jews and resulted in the death of thousands of innocent Jewish lives.

The Christian Kings and Nobles plundered their possessions, their money, their houses, their works of art and many other valuables. The Christian Bishops wrote books against the Jewish People. Others openly persecuted and killed Jews in public view without fear of punishment. The suffering of the Jewish people continued after the Crusades.

In the year 1096, Geoffrey Bullion swore that he would not let a single Jew live. In Mallen, in Regensburg, in Travis, in Prague, the Jews were murdered by the thousands.

In the year 1215, the Catholic Church issued a decree prohibiting Jews from appearing or being seen in public without displaying the Jewish symbol of the Star of David attached to their clothing. In the year 1290, 17,000 Jews were expelled from England. In 1394 the Jews were expelled from France.

In 1480 Spain began the Inquisition which killed over 400,000 Jews. In 1881, after the death of Alexander II, Jews in Russia and Romania began to experience persecution.

By then, Anti-Semitism had begun to flourish throughout Europe and other parts of the world. In Germany a political party was organized for the sole purpose of stripping the Jews of all social and political rights. Anti-Semitic newspapers began to appear, falsely accusing Jews of horrendous crimesq.

Throughout Jewish history, Jews have been persecuted, murdered, and spread to other countries. However, nothing can compare to the Anti-Semitism of Adolf Hitler and Adolf Eichmann. They are responsible for the slaughter of more than 6 million Jews under the “Final Solution.”

In 1887 Theodore Herz started the Zionist movement. In 1917, British Foreign Secretary Lowell Alfred Balfour proclaimed that the British would support the creation of a Jewish state in Palestine (Israel). General Edmund Allenby led British forces across the Sinai Desert into the land of Palestine. David Ben-Gurion was part of the Jewish Battalion that aided and assisted General Allenby in the liberation of Palestine (Israel) from England on December 9, 1917.

On November 29, 1947, the United Nations issued a resolution creating the State of Israel. On May 14, 1948, David Ben-Gurion declared, during a meeting, that the establishment of a Jewish state would be called the State of Israel.

We must not forget that, in Israel’s struggle and its battles for survival, the creation of the State of Israel and the return of the Jewish people to their homeland were made possible by the contribution of many courageous individuals, among them are leaders such as Golda Meir, Yashik Shamir, Ariel Sharon. Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres and many, many others.

Many enemies have vowed to destroy and wipe Israel off the face of the earth. On June 5, 1967, 12 Arab nations declared war on Israel. Those nations were Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Egypt, Yemen, Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq.

In the Middle East, terrorist groups such as Hamas, Al Qaeda, the PLO, and nations such as Iran and others have vowed to destroy the State of Israel. News organizations like Al Jazeera and people like the late Yasser Arafat and Osama bin Laden joined forces to seek Israel’s destruction.

Here in the United States, there are many people, even among elected officials, who express their discontent with the Jewish people and the existence of the State of Israel.

On October 7, 2023, Israel was attacked by “Hamas” the government and terror group of Gaza, killing more than 1,200 innocent people, injuring more than 2,000 and entering the homes of Jews, killing their young, children, elderly, raping women and kidnapping many innocents as prisoners of war.

My dear readers, Israel is again under siege, we all need to come together and repeat the words of the great Menachem Begin, when he said, “Never Again, Never Again, Never Again.”

I am Former Senator Rev. Ruben Diaz and Here’s What You Should Know