The West would do well to remember King Solomon’s most famous ruling.
Last weekend, France erupted in widespread rioting. One French official put the number involved in protests at 550,000. Of those, more than 100,000 were in Paris, including on Paris’ famous Champs-Elysees Avenue. The marauders vandalized at least 3,000 shops. They stole from high-end stores like Apple and Louis Vuitton. And they turned cars and government buildings into bonfires. The most dramatic was the burning of the town hall of Limoges, France. The 143-year-old building had survived the Nazis, but not this black-clad mob waving Palestinian flags. Police arrested around 2,400 people.
French President Emmanuel Macron described the riots as “political and seditious acts by ultra-left groups whose aim is to bring down the Republic.”
Far-left politicians and political groups are openly siding with the rioters. Seven left-wing political parties have objected to restrictions on new demonstrations. Jean-Luc Melenchon, leader of the far-left Indomitable France party, took part in the Paris protests. He lashed out at police for “unleashing” on the crowds. He seems to think that rallying with the rioters will help his chances in the April presidential election.
What a contrast to a month ago, when Pope Leo held an open-air Mass on that same street, Champs-Elysees Avenue. It was attended by 800,000 people. There were many French flags in the massive crowd. The event took place during daylight, and attendees had no reason to hide their faces.
France isn’t the only Western country dealing with violent uprisings. Recent riots in Milan, Italy, injured almost 200 police officers. Of the 330 people whom police detained, around half were foreigners or children of immigrants. Many of the rioters also flew the Palestinian flag. In recent years, America has seen similar scenes in New York City, Washington, D.C. and many college campuses.
These protests aren’t merely organic uprisings. Dozens of groups that seek to destroy the West are coordinating and amplifying these violent outbursts. Some are anarchists. Some are communists and socialists. Some are foreigners. They may not share the same long-term goals, but they are rallying around a common cause — destroying the West.
To understand their lust for violence, consider a dilemma King Solomon once faced. As I Kings 3 recounts, two prostitutes once came to him. They had each had a son and lived in the same house. One night, one of the boys died. One woman claimed she woke up to discover a dead boy next to her, but she realized it wasn’t her son. She claimed the other woman had switched babies during the night.
Since Solomon didn’t have DNA testing, he asked for a sword. He said he would cut the living boy in half and give a piece to each woman. The false mother agreed, but the true mother said the other woman should have the boy. Because she loved her son, she didn’t want him to die. Solomon then knew that woman was the boy’s mother.
Here’s the point. Antifa, the DSA, Muslims who want to impose Sharia law and some immigrants who don’t assimilate are like the mother who’d be perfectly happy with half a dead baby. These groups don’t love America, France, Italy or whatever country they are in. They want to destroy it and remake its government. They want to erase its past to write a new future. They want to plunder its wealth for themselves.
They don’t value the country they are in because they don’t consider it — its heritage, its institutions, its values, its people, its land — to be theirs. This is why they are perfectly happy to use violence to accomplish their goals. They aim to conquer.
It’s up to those of us who love this country — and the leaders we elect — to stop them.
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