An international Ultimate Frisbee competition for youths held in Ghent, Belgium last week was supposed to include some Jewish teams. Then an anti-Semitic vandal (was The Squad in town?) spray-painted “Boycott Israhell Now!” near the playing field, so the mayor of Ghent joined with the city’s police to inform the young Jewish Frisbee whizzes that not only were they banned from the event on the field, they couldn’t attend as spectators either. This was in the interests of “safety.”
The police chief allegedly told one of the team’s coaches, “This is your war, not mine.” The statement is “blaming the victims” exemplified, but it is exactly the same unethical reasoning used on dozens of college campuses to ban conservative speakers. Meanwhile the city’s decision was ratified by the international Ultimate Frisbee Association.
An op-ed in the Las Vegas Sun pointed out the despicable hypocrisy and cowardice on display in the episode. Brian Greenspun wrote in part,
“…it wasn’t that long ago that my wife and I were visiting Belgium and, to a person, the Belgians we met couldn’t wait to express to us — as if they were talking to all Americans some six decades later — their unending and continuing gratitude for what the United States did for them and their families.
In short, when Belgium and the rest of Europe needed someone to stand up to a malevolent bully — by committing its resources, its money, its equipment and, most importantly, its men and women of the armed services — America stood in the breach.
And the Belgians told us to a person, they would never forget.
I can vouch for this part. Years ago I attended a special event held by the Battle of the Bulge Foundation (my wife was a fundraiser for the group) at which the Belgian ambassador tearfully saluted the veterans of the battle (including my father) who were present and those who had passed away, saying that the nation’s debt could never be repaid. But, Greenspun, writes, when it came time to stand up for Jewish teens in 2024 during a Frisbee competition, of all things, Belgium ducked.
Rather than tightening security, rather than canceling the entire competition because the organizers just couldn’t handle the moment, and rather than — as the Americans did so many decades ago — coming to the aid of those under fire, Belgium blamed the victims….How quickly they forget.
How far is this conduct removed from the way Jewish students were treated when the desperately-courted Democratic voting block of anti-Semites demonstrated at Columbia, UCLA, Harvard and other universities? Not far, not far at all. At the time, Vice-President Harris said that she “understood” their position, one of Ethics Alarms’ all time least favorite weasel-worded ways to support unethical positions without having to be accountable for them.
Of course, she was just Vice-President then, and nobody paid attention.
I don’t forget.
Ethics Alarms 
The Nazis used to shut down speeches and put people into “protective custody” for so-called safety reasons, too. The Belgians didn’t learn much, apparently. Although, it’s possible that the current generation of leaders who didn’t live during the war and couldn’t care less about what the U.S. did or didn’t do have been allowed to let that time period pass from the nation’s collective memory.
…and this is why we have history lessons and history books and (gasp!) statues dedicated to things we don’t like (such as Hitler, Stalin, atomic bombs, the Confederate Flag, and Founders Who Owned Slaves). We want our children to ask about them, so we can teach them the principles of good and evil, give them an understanding of the context of those times, and hopefully guide them to better decision-making in their lifetimes.
When the things with which we disagree are simply eliminated from public discourse, we risk what we see now in the U.S., and what the Belgians are seeing: the rise new generations that see no problem re-committing the evils of the past.
Western Europe sold its soul for cheap labor after World War Two. The guest laborers aren’t going back home, and they’re pissed.
starting to look like the nazis actually did conquer Europe and we just ignored it…..