The "New" Antisemitism

Helen Thomas, the leftist icon of the White House press corps, let her true feelings show the other day when she told the Jews of Israel to get out of Palestine and go back to Poland and Germany. Given the source, such comments shouldn't surprise. As a long-time Jew-hater, Thomas' animosity toward Israel is no secret, but for once her comments were not covered up by her media colleagues. This time she was caught off guard when a rabbi with a camcorder happened upon her and simply asked a few questions. And now her comments are here on the Worldwide Web for all to see. Surprisingly, I would have expected a sounder understanding of the history of the Middle East from so prominent a journalist, but perhaps her Lebanese heritage has colored her views. Thomas, of course, should be fired, and sent off to wherever they send over-the-hill leftest journalists...Havana perhaps...or maybe Gaza?

I've embedded the video of her remarks below:



Helen Thomas has since apologized, but how sincere can such an apology be? I mean, really, she can't claim she simply "misspoke" or that her words were reported out of context. Telling the Jews to "go back to Germany" is hardly one of those phrases that rolls off the tongue unintentionally. And its meaning doesn't really change with the context. It means exactly the same thing in any context. One gets the impression, too, that she wasn't referring to 21st century Poland or Germany, but rather to the Poland or Germany of 1939. Maybe she should offer a version of the Mel Gibson defense and just blame it on that second Manhattan at lunch.

It would be a mistake, however, to view this incident in isolation. Over the past few decades the American left's attitude toward Israel and the Jews has undergone a major change. The causes? I'm not exactly sure, but I'll hazard a guess and offer a few. First, many of the old-line Jewish leftists, secular Jews who, prior to 1967, had a soft spot for Israel and the Zionist movement, are no longer with us. They have been replaced by a whole new crop of young ideologues, those indoctrinated in our colleges and universities by professors who were the once young leftists of the sixties. These folks -- some now populate offices in the White House, the Executive Office Building, and the State Department -- have no love for Israel which they view as a clone of the USA. To them Israel is just another capitalist state, but one run by Jews, that is guilty of oppressing the non-Jews among its population and making war on its neighbors. And, of course, the left has a certain ideological affinity with the oppressed Muslim masses and those who are fighting for their liberation -- aka, Al Queda and friends. That's why a Hugo Chavez and a Mahmoud Ahmadinejad can hug and kiss in front of the cameras even though one is, at best, an agnostic and the other a religious fanatic. Ironically, Chavez, like most leftists, is basically suicidal and doesn't realize that Ahmadinejad would slit his throat if he weren't so useful.

We're seeing evidence of this Antisemitism creeping into our own foreign policy. Israel, the one truly democratic state in the Middle East, is being treated as a pariah while we cuddle up to Islamic theocracies and even downplay the continued terrorist activity of organizations like Hamas. This same Antisemitism provides one of the foundational elements of the foreign policies of many European states, those nations so admired by our current administration. It's why an Ahmadinejad can call publicly for the destruction of Israel and the killing of all Jews and yet be tolerated by European heads of state. But watch what happens in those same countries when one of their own citizens says anything derogatory about Islam. We're talking hate crime, followed by arrest, conviction and jail time...

I'm no knee-jerk fan of Israel. Over years its political leadership has done some truly stupid things, but so has ours. I still scratch my head over the Israeli attack on the USS Liberty during the 1967 War, one of the all-time dumb moves by an allied government. But even this, and other similar actions, pale in comparison to the sins of Israel's enemies who either support or, at some level, tolerate Jihadist terrorists. And the big secret, the one that is never addressed publicly, is that Israel is the only nation in the Mideast that would gladly live in peace surrounded by its Muslim neighbors, assuming its neighbors would permit it. But no, these Islamic states cannot abide Israel's existence and continue to do everything in their power to bring about its complete destruction. Like Helen Thomas they'd love to see the Jews go back to Germany and Poland.

Indeed, I'm assuming Ms. Thomas was merely following Ahmadinejad's lead. Back in December he made some similar recommendations, about which Thomas, as a journalist, was no doubt aware. The Iranian president said that if Germany and Austria feel responsible for massacring Jews during World War II, a state of Israel should be established on their soil. He also repeated his view that the Jewish state was a "tumor".

"Now that you believe the Jews were oppressed, why should the Palestinian Muslims have to pay the price?...Why did you come to give a piece of Islamic land and the territory of the Palestinian people to them? You oppressed them, so give a part of Europe to the Zionist regime so they can establish any government they want. We would support it...So, Germany and Austria, come and give one, two or any number of your provinces to the Zionist regime so they can create a country there which all of Europe will support and the problem will be solved at its root...Why do they insist on imposing themselves on other powers and creating a tumor so there is always tension and conflict?"

(For more on these comments by Ahmadinejad, click here.)

Odd isn't it? There's really little difference between far left and far right. The Hitlers and Stalins of the world are all cut from the same cloth, and so apparently are their ideological children. And one common element seems to be a virulent Antisemitism.

Pray for the peace of Jerusalem (Psalm 122):

A song of ascents. Of David. I rejoiced when they said to me, "Let us go to the house of the LORD." And now our feet are standing within your gates, Jerusalem. Jerusalem, built as a city, walled round about. Here the tribes have come, the tribes of the LORD, As it was decreed for Israel, to give thanks to the name of the LORD. Here are the thrones of justice, the thrones of the house of David. For the peace of Jerusalem pray: "May those who love you prosper! May peace be within your ramparts, prosperity within your towers." For family and friends I say, "May peace be yours." For the house of the LORD, our God, I pray, "May blessings be yours."

Amen.