Anti-Judaism

The Wall Street Journal

Anti-Judaism
By WILLIAM KRISTOL
September 8, 2006; Page A14

"How odd / Of God / To choose / The Jews." Thus the British journalist (and communist) William Norman Ewer, in the early part of the last century. The reply came from Cecil Browne: "But not so odd / As those who choose / A Jewish God / But spurn the Jews."

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Some of the activists at Moveon.org, the political organization that raises millions for Democratic candidates and generates support for left-wing policies, had a curious reason for cheering the Democratic primary defeat of Sen. Joe Lieberman. As Robert Goldberg reported in the Washington Times, after one Moveon member celebrated the defeat of "Jew Lieberman," 95% of those who responded to the post on the Moveon Web site expressed their approval.

Meanwhile, over in Europe, Norwegian writer Jostein Gaarder, author of "Sophie's World," announced in Norway's leading newspaper, the Aftenposten, the end of Israel: "There is no turning back. It is time to learn a new lesson: We do no longer recognize the state of Israel . . . We must now get used to the idea: The state of Israel in its current form is history . . . Fear not! The time of trouble shall soon be over. The state of Israel has seen its Soweto . . . May spirit and word sweep away the apartheid walls of Israel. The state of Israel does not exist. It is now without defense, without skin. May the world therefore have mercy on the civilian population." Mr. Gaarder's distaste for Israel seemed to be based on his dislike of Israel's policies, his revulsion against the God of Israel ("an insatiable sadist"), and his anger that, "for two thousand years, we have rehearsed the syllabus of humanism, but Israel does not listen." It's not clear who that "we" has been for 2,000 years. But since Israel has only existed since 1948, it is presumably the Jews, not merely, Israel, who have not listened. (It was, however, generous of Mr. Gaarder to call for mercy for the Jewish civilian population.)

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Jews are under attack. And no one seems very concerned. Liberal Jews are more concerned about Mel Gibson than Mr. Ahmadinejad. The mainstream Jewish organizations have played the "anti-Semitism" card so often that it has been devalued. Much of the world is in denial about the jihadist threat. No one wants to be alarmist. This is, in a way, understandable. There are two large Jewish communities in the world. The Jews of America prosper in comfort and security. The Jews of Israel have been able to defend themselves. It's not 1938 again.

But the jihadists are on the move. Recently in Gaza, kidnapped journalists Steve Centanni and Olaf Wiig were forced to "convert" to Islam before being released. What would have happened to them if they had been Jewish? And, incidentally -- if they had refused to "convert," as some Jews and Christians have in the past -- what would have happened then?

Mr. Kristol is editor of The Weekly Standard.

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an avowed enemy of freedom and democracy, and a shameless promoter of PNAC wars (he was one of the signers of the PNAC version of "Mein Kampf" and "Manifest Destiny."

Kristol is no friend of Jews or of Israel. To people like him, Jewish blood should be shed to advance an American imperialist agenda for the world.

Kristol was one of the propagandists for the war in Iraq, as he is today a propagandist for the war in Iran.

The author of this piece is nothing more than an old-fashioned instigator.

Besides, I can't get passed the sign-up page to view the rest of the article. Not that I really want to anyway.