Pope Benedict XVI

When you read or hear about someone with public profile give credence to the idea that the holocaust was either an exaggeration or never happened, you can see why the Jewish community is so prone to imagine anti-semitism is alive and well and therefore sees ANY criticism of Israel as another form of anti-Jewish sentiment.

The recent furor over the Roman Catholic priest being un-excommunicated by the Pope (a German Pope no less) is a case in point. The Roman Catholic Church has had enough bad publicity in the past with sexual abuse cases involving priests one would imagine that anyone in the upper echelons of the Church would have seen the complete stupidity and immorality in resurrecting a priest with such sick ideas and that it was not going to go unnoticed. And quite right too. When Ahmedajad makes similar claims one wonders why he would see fit destroy his own intellectual credibility by espousing one completely false (and indeed offensive) idea in the midst of ones that could have some validity from an Iranian/Muslim perspective. It's called shooting oneself in the foot.

The holocaust was such an abomination that it does pervert normal thinking, how could such a thing happen? But it did. One of the effects has been that the Western world is still so disturbed by what happened to the European Jewish community at the hands of the Nazis and others that were complicit or silent that we have become over sensitized about criticizing ANYTHING Israel does as it now publicly represents Jewish identity aspirations. This has now become as dangerous for the US as it is to the long term interests of Israel and to the region. No country, including the US, should be off limits to critique when it is justified. This allows leaders to follow counter productive paths because they think they can get away with it. The shock of Sept 11 was such that normal careful thinking was thrown to the wind and we ended up in a pointless and damaging war in Iraq at vast expense that we can ill afford and the death of thousands. The Israeli invasion of Gaza and the destruction wrought is another example of actions that were enabled due to the belief by Israeli leaders

Indeed it isanti-Semitic in itself as it fuels the fire ill will.

that no one will ever call them on anything, no matter how outrageous. If anyone does have the temerity to call them on it they will be branded as anti-Semitic.

Meanwhile what did the Israelis accomplish? Nothing, they made it worse and deepened the hatred and hardened the animosity that splashes on the US as it was our munitions and weapons given to the Israeli army that were used to flatten Gaza. If the major source of Palestinian fighters is the 49 percent of the population of Gaza unemployed how on earth is that helped when even more are out of a job due to destroyed infrastructure and factories? Talk about further radicalizing a population! This is completely nuts. This sort of perverse thinking is not good for Israel. Indeed it is anti-Semitic in itself as it fuels the fire ill will. In very real terms the most anti-Semitic government on earth must be the Israeli government itself as no other organization works so hard to fuel hatred.

If Israel adopted a Marshall plan for Gaza and the West Bank, ended the settlement policy completely (and began reversing it as well) it would cost far less to both Israel and the US tax payer and accomplish far more towards peace than smiting the Palestinians with a club with each pin prick they perpetrate. What the Israelis need is a pro-Semitic government. A real one. Alas, it does not look like they are getting one. The perversions of the past still haunt us and we will all continue to pay the price.