[Chicago Tribune] Tom Neumann - I've seldom found someone who is anti-Israel but at the same time likes Jews. Anti-Israel attitudes do not fall into a pattern of normal political hostility of the type directed toward other countries. At their core, objections to Israel are not based on the country's policies but instead rest on Israel's very right to exist. Faced with terror attacks, there is no country in the world that would not have garnered sympathy except Israel. The exceedingly ugly character of the marches and rallies against Israel makes it clear that what we are witnessing is global anti-Semitism. There is precedent for the Hamas philosophy, the Nazis referred to it as seeking to make the world judenrein. That thugs beat a Jewish girl in Paris while telling her that it was revenge for Israeli attacks on Hamas goes well beyond the traditional bounds of protest. It was clear anti-Semitism reminiscent of similar events in European history. The lesson of the Holocaust is that Israel can and should expect neither fairness, honesty or justice from the world community. Israel can only depend on itself because anti-Semitism today remains not only tenacious, it is fashionable. The writer is executive director of the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs.
2009-01-26 06:00:00Full ArticleBACK Visit the Daily Alert Archive