Brünnhilde throws herself on the flames by Arthur RackhamIn Ashkelon, 24 injured, some critically, by a “new missile” attack on an apartment house. Score one for the ayatollahs to whom the Obama Administration is providing c. $10 billion in “sanctions relief.” Clausewitz said that war is an extension of politics by other means. In the Middle East, war is an extension of anti-Semitism by other means. Prediction: there will either be a new ceasefire announced pronto or a decisive re-escalation. The latter would be better for Israel. UN Security Council resolution kabuki will have all the tensile strength of soiled tissue paper. I am coming to the conclusion regarding Western Europe that the focus on “min-kristallnachts” and mob attacks on synagogues may be misplaced. As with earthquakes, more attention needs to be paid to the myriad temblors that anticipate the Big One. This means the quotidian, small but daily anti-Semitic incidents including bumping kids on the way to school, shunning them when they are in school, knocking off yarmulkes, jostling Jews off the sidewalks, refusal to serve Jewish customers, and jeers and sneers at Jewish neighbors. These are becoming the fabric—the woof and warp—of everyday life for Jews in Western Europe. Then there is the “evolution” of the police response—from discouraging anti-Jewish outbursts, to “regulating” them—mostly by restraining Jews—which we see in the UK. Cumulatively, these are indicators of societies that have passed the point of no return. And all this is happening even without the lightning rod of “a new Hitler.” The sound of Wagner’s “Götterdämmerung” played nonstop on a tinny pipe organ.