Fiat Lux

When key members of the House of Saud stir up anti-Semitic propaganda instead of taking a hard look at why they have a terror problem in their country, you know there’s a problem.

To be specific: Crown Prince Abdullah and Prince Saud have both blamed “Zionists” as being the ones pulling the strings behind recent terror attacks in their kingdom.

I’ve asked it before and I’ll ask it again: with ‘friends’ of America like these, who needs enemies?

A distressing article in today’s SF Chronicle: more on the growing anti-semetism in Europe. Given that I have close members of my family currently living in Austria and Italy, reading these sorts of articles is deeply upsetting. I don’t want to see my family become targets because they’re not just Americans but also Jews.

I also don’t want to sound like the worrywart who sees danger around every corner while comfortably ensconced in her safe zone. I drive over the Golden Gate Bridge 5 or 6 times a week; that’s about as “risky” as my behavior gets.

But getting back to anti-Semetism, there’s a longstanding debate as to whether cricitism of Israel is in and of itself anti-Semetic. I for one definitely believe that such is not the case. Some of the most vocal critics of Israeli policies are, after all, Jews. However, I also think that people who hate Jews can and do find a socially acceptable outlet for their bigotry in the criticism of Israel.

The hard part is trying to tell the difference between legitimate criticism of Israel and criticism of Israel based on anti-Semetism. William F Buckeley Jr took a whole book to come to the conclusion that Pat Buchanan was anti-Semetic.

Here’s Norman Podhoretz on the subject: “In our own day Israel has become the touchstone of attitudes towards the Jewish people, and anti-Zionism has become the main and most relevant form of anti-Semetism”.

Sounds about right to me.