The vile urges of anti-semitism are still with us and it is difficult to prospect their total elimination.

To compound matters, the problem of anti-sionism has become an added overlay – and whether it constitutes another form of anti-semitism as many Israelis declare. I do not believe it is but one cannot simply ignore the voice of Jews who assert the contrary. After all, it was their race that was targeted by the Holocaust.

Just as worrisome, there is now the spectre of modern populist anti-semitisim, that comes from the right, though Israeli Prime Minister Natanyahu denies this; in his view, it originates from left wing extremists.

Both Jews and Arabs as well as many “races” found in the territory that stretches from Mesopotamia to Sicily, including Malta, have Semitic roots. Before they understand how they can show solidarity among themselves, there can be little hope that anti-semitism will die out.

Most of all, such a solidarity would have to include a just and final settlement concerning the future of Palestine...

***

Gżira

In the past week, I met a number of Gżira residents who gave me first hand accounts of today’s worries in our society now: I had already heard about them but from a distance. Among such worries was the complaint that new buildings coming on stream in their area with the ongoing construction boom had forever deprived residents of the views they could previously enjoy from their rooftops.

Or how the arrival of foreign residents in their neighbourhood had changed the lifestyle rhythm they were accustomed to.

All those I met were in agreement that financially their lives had improved. Most of the complaints were about its quality. I also encountered doubts about how much the momentum in the economic improvement we are experiencing could be maintained in future.  

Those doubts were actually related to an apprehension about the deep social changes which our society has been experiencing. Residents fear they could bring in their wake strong tensions in the everyday life of citizens and families residing at Gżira.

***

Trump

President Trump has finally found an interlocutor who knows how to stand up to him and who really has the means at last to do so.

Experts in US poliitcs claim that this is what has happened with the return of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker of the House of Representatives in Congress. She and Trump have embarked on a no holds barred confrontation regarding his insistence to build a wall between Mexico and the US. He shut off wage payments to federal government employees and insisted that the budget for public services would remain frozen unless he was granted federal funds with which to build the wall. As of now, he has had to blink. He had to agree to carry over and pay their dues to employees up to the first weeks of February without having gotten Congress to approve funds for the wall.

Every political system carries its own approaches by which to smooth over political controversies. The American way usually tends to lead first towards total, polarised disagreement that will eventually cool down and fade away.

This time though, Trump should find it a problem to count on people forgetting. He has projected the wall with Mexico as a token of his leadership and of his determination to roll back immigration. Over this, he indulged the most he could in exagerrations. Probably, too many Americans have seen through his hype.