The canary in the coal mine
Victor Davis Hanson is one of my favorite writers. Not only is he a great historian of Classical Greece, but he's a perceptive commentator on modern affairs, particularly the Long War. His writings have a long perspective and sense of history too often lacking on editorial pages and web sites. So, when he talks about the reappearance of a virulent anti-Semitism that's infected the halls of academia, one should take notice: A New Strain of Anti-Semitism is Spreading
Who recently said: "These Jews started 19 Crusades. The 19th was World War (1). Why? Only to build Israel."
Some holdover Nazi?
Hardly. It was former Prime Minister Necmettin Erbakan of Turkey, a NATO ally. He went on to claim that the Jews -- whom he refers to as "bacteria" -- controlled China, India and Japan, and ran the United States.
Who alleged: "The Arabs who were involved in 9/11 cooperated with the Zionists, actually. It was a cooperation. They gave them the perfect excuse to denounce all Arabs."
A conspiracy nut?
Actually, it was former Democratic U.S. Sen. James Abourezk of South Dakota. He denounced Israel on a Hezbollah-owned television station, adding: "I marveled at the Hezbollah resistance to Israel. . . . It was a marvel of organization, of courage and bravery."
And finally, who claimed at a United Nations-sponsored conference that democratic Israel was "much worse" than the former apartheid South Africa, and that it "undermines the international community's reaction to global warming"? A radical environmentalist wacko?
Again, no. It was Clare Short, a member of the British parliament. She was a secretary for international development under Prime Minister Tony Blair.
A new virulent strain of the old anti-Semitism is spreading worldwide. This hate -- of a magnitude not seen in over 70 years -- is not just espoused by Iran's loony president, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, or radical jihadists.
The latest anti-Semitism is also now mouthed by world leaders and sophisticated politicians and academics. Their loathing often masquerades as "anti-Zionism" or "legitimate" criticism of Israel. But the venom exclusively reserved for the Jewish state betrays their existential hatred.
I've often said since 9-11 that the world these days reminds me of what I've read of events in the late 1930s: the rise of fascist and totalitarian ideologies; the resort of so many to appeasement or isolationism; and the refusal to see that doing nothing now will lead to far greater death and devastation later. To that, let's add another worrisome sign -- hatred of the Jews.
The world is going to get a lot more dangerous before it gets any better.
(hat tip: Roger L. Simon)
LINKS: More at Blue Crab Boulevard.
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