The Pope has put into writing that Catholics can no longer blame all the Jews for the death of Jesus. He says that people have been misinterpreting the phrase “the Jews” to mean all Jews, then and forever, when it actually just means the leaders of the Jews who called for Jesus to die. And while that is indeed a positive thing, the state of world Jew-hatred is still pretty damned bad.
Religious anti-Semitism is only one part of the Jew hatred in the world today, and Christian anti-Semitism lags far behind Muslim anti-Semitism as a leading cause of Jew hatred. Muslim anti-Semitism has been thoroughly institutionalized throughout the Arab and Muslim world, so much so that when the dictators fall—the ones who have used the Jew Blame Game to keep their wretched masses from realizing who, exactly, was making them so wretched (and here’s a hint: It wasn’t the Jews)—it doesn’t matter. Their people still hate the Jews.
The Obama administration is preparing for more Islamist governments to take over the Middle East, which means it’s more likely that the governments will be more hostile to Israel. And by “preparing,” I’m pretty sure it doesn’t mean “Trying to get them to stop hating Jews and Israel.” Not that that would be an expected goal of United States foreign policy. After all, it’s far more important to tell the Muslim world that we’re working on the fantasy “Islamophobia” than to tell them to stop producing 41-part miniseries based on The Protocols of the Elders of Zion. And who did that? Why, Hosni Mubarak’s Egypt, that’s who. And there was a sequel. Refusing to sell Israel gas that was paid and contracted for is only one tiny step the Islamists will take. Israel is surrounded by Islamic nations who have been raised to hate Israelis and Jews, and who will soon control the armies of those nations. NOTE: The miniseries was produced in 2002, so no, I’m not blaming Obama for it. It is merely an example of the institutionaized Jew-hatred that has been ignored by successive administrations. To see the modern Jew-hatred, one needs only look at the reports on the news by Hosni Mubarak that the Egyptian protests were being helped along by “Israeli spies.” Because in the Middle East, you can never go wrong by blaming the Jews.
The anti-Semitism of celebrities seems to really shock the world at large. Mel Gibson gets drunk and spouts Jew-hatred; the world issues a collective gasp—even though this was years after Gibson baited Jews in order to propel his movie about Christ to the news cycle and thus get millions of dollars of free publicity. I recall getting into blogwars with people who thought I was imagining that Gibson had a Jewish problem. My anti-Semitism detector may be set lower than most, but it’s almost never wrong.
Last year we saw that Helen Thomas, the former “dean” of the White House Press Corps, whose anti-Israel views were extremely well known, let slip the mask of her true Jew hatred. And every time she opens her mouth now on Israel, another drool of venom slips out. Charlie Sheen decided that calling Chuck Lorre (born Charles Levine) “Haim Levine” was the thing to do in a rant, denying that he had any bad intent. Sure. Calling him “Jewboy”? Too overt. Calling him “Haim” (sounds so much like Hymie, too!)? Defensible. Sure.
Indefensible is the designer John Galliano’s little rant about how much he adored Hitler. Natalie Portman wasn’t the only one disgusted. But of course, Galliano has his defenders, who point out that he was drunk, and we all say things we don’t mean when we’re drunk, right? Like Mel Gibson. He didn’t mean it the first time. Or the second. Or the third. Drunkenness causes anti-Semitism, didn’t you know that?
And then, of course, we come to the elephant in the room. Anti-Zionism is the anti-Semitism of the 21st century. Hatred for the Jewish state comes in all shapes and sizes, and some of the most vehement hatred I’ve seen has been in comments on British newspaper sites from atheists. Those who profess themselves to be above all this silly religious fantasy simply froth at the mouth when discussing Israel’s treatment of the Palestinians. And it’s not just the atheists. The communists, the socialists, the rich, the poor—it’s simply an amazing cross-section of Europeans who hate Israel with a fiery passion. But of course, they don’t hate Jews. No. When European Muslims attack Jews, though, isn’t it because of Israel? That’s what they tell their Jewish populations. If only there were a Palestinian state, there would be no attacks on Jews, no Jew-hatred, no drunken rants by foppish fashion designers, no chants of “Jews to the gas” at soccer matches, no need to have empty stadiums when Israeli teams compete in Europe—no, all these things will disappear when there is a state called Palestine (that will, of course, have no Jews in it).
So I’d have to conclude by saying thanks to the Pope. We do appreciate your attempt to stop your followers from hating us. (And believe me, I’ve met my fair share of Jew-hating Catholics.) Now if only the Pope had a bit more influence over the rest of the world.
