he other day a neighbor came by. He was troubled, he said, by the outbreak of anti-Semitism around the world. "I thought it pretty much ended after World War II. I guess I was being naive."Posted on 04/17/2002 3:40:09 PM PDT by mrustow
Anti-Semitism Lives
In a State of Denial
he other day a neighbor came by. He was troubled, he said, by the outbreak of anti-Semitism around the world. "I thought it pretty much ended after World War II. I guess I was being naive."
My neighbor is a good man, a sincere man, and I recognized his kind words as an invitation for me to talk about my own encounters with Jew-haters.
But I couldn't. The truth is, I'm 54 years old, I've been a Jew all my life and I have never met an anti-Semite.
On the contrary. My experience is that the world is full of non-anti-Semites.
For example: A lot of German politicians are very upset by the Israeli-Palestinian war. Fair enough. Norbert Bluem, the former labor minister of Germany, has even accused Israel of waging "a war of extermination."
Germany has a small Jewish community (most German Jews killed themselves during World War II), but that didn't stop the Jews there from launching vicious charges of anti-Semitism against various German statesmen like Free Democratic Party leader Guido Westerwelle.
"This is an outrage," Westerwelle replied. "One must be allowed to criticize Israel's military policy without being pushed into an anti-Semitic corner."
Westerwelle is right. These days, in Europe, the slightest criticism of Israel or Jews gets blown up into a charge of anti-Semitism.
For example: Last week, in Kiev, a mob of Ukrainians chanting "Beat the kikes!" chased two Jews into a synagogue, tossing one of them through a plate-glass window. As usual, the Jews portrayed themselves as victims. Ukrainian police put that slander to rest by declaring that the incident "had nothing to do" with anti-Semitism.
Or take the case of Tom Paulin, an Oxford professor and frequent contributor to the BBC. His only crime was telling an Egyptian newsweekly that American Jews in Israel "should be shot dead. I think they are Nazis and racists. I feel nothing but hatred for them."
Paulin was immediately attacked for this observation. Fortunately, he was able to clear his reputation by declaring himself "a life-long opponent of anti-Semitism."
Former French Prime Minister Michael Rocard has "fought anti-Semitism" since he was "very young." That's what he told Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon in an open letter. He brought this up after asking rhetorically in the letter if Israel is planning to kill "half a million" Palestinians.
Rocard then warned that Israel's war on terrorism would lead to what he evidently considers a justified "torrent of worldwide anti-Israeli-ism."
This, presumably, is much different from a torrent of worldwide anti-Semitism.
There are non-anti-Semites on this side of the Atlantic, too. Minister Louis Farrakhan is one. Just this week, Farrakhan declared that he has nothing against Jews. "What I'm 'anti' is the type of control that some interests of that community exercise over our community."
Farrakhan, Paulin and Rocard may not like every single Jew or support every last Israeli policy. Neither do Pat Buchanan, Edward Said, David Duke, Ramsey Clark, Gore Vidal, John Trafficant and the Saudi royal family, but does that make them anti-Semites? On the contrary, these men have taken the extraordinary step of publicly declaring that they don't hate Jews.
That's why I told my neighbor to relax. If people like these aren't anti-Semites, there's really no such thing anymore.
E-mail: zchafets@aol.com
Original Publication Date: 4/17/02
I would also note that if you were not so blinded by anti-Semetism, you would notice that the author of the article was being sarcastic.
You wouldn't believe the complicated formula the Jew uses to figure out who to hate.
It includes shoe size, favorite flower, mother in law's maiden name, whether one prefers their pizza with or without extra cheese.....and some secret stuff from the Talmud.
How both Farrakhan and Buchanan are on that list is a real mystery. I think in their case favorite flower was decisive.
God bless you. You just proved my point. Have fun hating!
The charge of "antisemitism" is not designed to prevent attacks on Jews. It is designed as a political weapon used to support socialists and denigrate their opponents the same way Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton use the term "racist" to advance their political agenda.
Certainly it was because their favorite flower is the stinkweed.
Does he, really? I knew he was a sometimes brilliant, lost soul, but I did not know that he had gone that far astray from good sense. Do you have any cites/links?
P.S. What does "CODOH" stand for?
Who says? There are equally Jewhating (let's use that phrase) types around.
Yet the ADL says nothing about Castro. Myles Kantor writes, "The B’nai B’rith and American ORT, on the other hand, respectively feature photographs of Castro and the murderous Ernesto "Che" Guevara, who considered Zionism "reactionary."
How many times are you going to post that? Do you search for threads to drop it in? Lots of Liberals groups have cozied up to Castro, including elements of the Methodist Church. But I am not accusing anyone of anything. As Zev says, there are no anti-Semites.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.