The Vatican - the most antiquated and irrelevant institution left over from the middle ages! How you amuse! So the Palestinians have a right to return to Israel, do they? That is a wonderful sentiment! When will you return what you stole from Israel? When will you aid in the reclamation of Jewish lands stolen by the Arabs? Or those taken by your charges the Spanish? Or the Germans (of which your leader is one vile specimen!).

Do us all a favor and shut up. We are reminded that people who live in thieving class kid toucher houses shouldn’t throw stones.

Ah…I am so glad to be classically educated. I feel badly for these kids today, no Latin, no great works of the Greeks and Romans. Yeah they know stuff about Zeus, but quote some Horace or Homer to them and they are lost.

Just this week I found myself mentioning certain legends of the Odyssey to looks of complete and utter lack of recognition.

And upon mentioning that I am not concerned that I might die in Israel simply because “dulce et decorum est pro patria mori“, again complete lack of recognition.

Right now I cannot even recall my Latin teacher’s name, but thanks to her and her decorum when we asked her if “canis modo” means doggy style. She simply corrected our usage and moved right along.

Related to this, one of my peers in German class once wrote “du gibst mir Krebs” - meaning you give me cancer - it was a love poem about someone with radioactive eyes. Frau Tetu freaked out upon the immediate translation of “you give me crabs”. That, my loyal readers, is a love poem of another sort!

In another outstanding article, which makes the Economist worth the hefty subscription price, there is an analysis on the difference causes for the rift in support for Israel between America and Europe. While going through historical detail on the basis of left vs. right politics and how both have changed in all three locations cause realignment over time, there is an interesting position posited:

Some Americans blame rising anti-Semitism in Europe, which they also attribute in part to its growing Muslim population. But there is a difference between being anti-Semitic and being anti-Israel. And in any case, it is not obvious that anti-Semitism is a big factor. In central Europe, for example, there seems to be both greater anti-Semitism and more support for Israel. And some polls suggest that more Americans think Jews have �too much influence� in their country than do Europeans.

I used to think you could be anti-Israel and not antisemetic. But in seeing how Jewish Israel is my mind was changed. I do not see distinction between the two concepts or states of being. If there were no Israel there would be more Jews living in other nations and I wonder how that would change the sentiment of the local populations towards Jews. The fact is Europe is antisemetic. Europeans invented the concept. I am certain in stating that there are a large number of Europeans who were glad to see Jews go - and by go I mean killed, expelled, and “willingly” emigrate to America and Israel.

I tend not to be a moral relativist and thereby I view war, death and destruction, and aggression as morally reprehensible not matter who is involved. However, Europe has very little moral ground upon which to stand and wag a finger at Israel. I do not need to list the actions by nation and century, we all know the history. However, even if you can dismiss this, you have to wonder what Europe will do when it is 60% Muslim (I would relish the chance to see the look on Ferdinand & Isabella’s face) or how Germany would react if France started kidnapping citizens and lobbing missiles across the border.

If you want to see how this is manifested in a modern European psyche, observe how suspicious England still is of France and Germany or of the rest of continental Europe as a whole. If, still, you wish to dismiss my argument, then imagine a situation where France, oh wait, France is a bad example, so let me suggest Germany. What might happen if Switzerland were moderately hostile and Austria and Poland called for your destruction while funding an army in Denmark to “snipe” at your citizens with missiles? Do I need to continue this thought experiment?

I was once told, by a wise man, that transference is the bane of human existance. It prevents us for judging people and situations for what they really are, or are not. This is the concern with anti-Zionism. Is it actually antisemitism transferred to the State of Israel from the People of Israel? There is no simple answer to this question. I am certain some people use this transference as an excuse to mask their hatred of Jews, however, at the same time I know Jews who are deeply troubled by the actions of the State of Israel and care deeply for the People of Israel. In fact they deride the State’s actions precisely because they are so concerned with the People. If you want more proof of this check out my long running letter battle in AdBusters or the writings of Tikkun.

While I do see both sides of this issue. I come to two conclusions: Poison the water and you should have killed them all in 48.

I admit that I got swept up in the hype over the cartoons of The Prophet, may he not rest in peace at the horror of the actions of his followers, when I got in a fight with a cab driver and told him to chill out for he was very angry. I then suggested he might want to take out his prayer rug from the trunk and pray to Allah for peace. When he was enraged (which was the point, duh), I told him that if that upset him, I have some cartoons to show him. Score one for multiculturalism here in NYC. Anyway, I have been trying to get copies of the Iranian repartee cartoons but no luck so far, only text descriptions are online.

Most of the descriptions seem to be prerecorded, phoned in from the normal set of stereotypes of Jews. But this one is great:

That sentiment finds expression in a split-image cartoon from a Brazilian entrant in which a stand-up comic is portrayed performing in a venue called the West Club. In one image, captioned ‘Making jokes about Islam’, the comedian is greeted with raucous laughter. But the accompanying picture, marked ‘Making jokes about the Holocaust’, shows him being booted out of the window.

Did this genius miss the whole The Producers hype? The whole thing is a spoof on accounting, production, and THE HOLOCAUST! Maybe someone should send him a copy of the soundtrack so he can sing along to the mocking of Hitler, Germany, and so on. I cannot imagine anyone reading this has not heard of The Producers…

As has been noted, no one is burning anything in the streets, in fact this topic is hardly in the news here. I even would relish the MoMA or The Met doing an exhibition on the history of antisemetic or racist cartoons which includes both the Danish and the Iranian cartoons. Often you can examine your own perceptions of race, the changes in culture, and just laugh at the cliches. Do I need to point out the juxtaposition here, I doubt it.