Haters, haters everywhere
There can be no doubt that the Jewish people have been the most persecuted people in history. They have been used and abused by everyone from Pharaonic Egypt to modern Paris, have been slain in Slavic pogroms and in socialist programs, and been targeted by everyone from debt-ridden Christian kings ruling by divine right to atheist architects of a secular world order. It is a wonder they survive at all.
Today, as they face an implacable enemy - one that has fought four wars against Israel and slays Jews everywhere around the world - it is also a wonder to see how there are those who don't believe the Jewish people have enough enemies and seek to invent more.
For example, Joel Mowbray, a muck-raking conservative writer and Bush administration supporter who has done excellent work dissecting the State Department for its appalling bias toward Saudi Arabia after 9-11, published an article on Dec. 31 tearing into retired Gen. Anthony Zinni, USMC, for "tarnishing" his three-decade service history with "idiotic remarks" that Mowbray claims are anti-Semitic.
"Discussing the Iraq war with the Washington Post last week, former Gen. Anthony Zinni took the path chosen by so many anti-Semites: He blamed it on the Jews."
Really? I read the article and I didn't happen to notice any such blame being assigned. That's probably because, according to Mowbray, when Zinni said neoconservative, he actually meant Jews. Mowbray says this is eerily similar to remarks made by Malaysian Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad, who said: "today the Jews rule the world by proxy. They get others to fight and die for them."
What did Gen. Zinni actually say? Down toward the bottom of the article, he says:
The more I saw, the more I thought that this was the product of the neocons who didn't understand the region and were going to create havoc there. These were dilettantes from Washington think tanks who never had an idea that worked on the ground.
I don't know where the neocons came from - that wasn't the platform they ran on. Somehow, the neocons captured the president. They captured the vice president ... What I don't understand is that the bill of goods the neocons sold him has been proven false, yet heads haven't rolled.
Now, the general is absolutely correct. President Bush did not run a campaign promising war on Iraq. The neoconservatives in the administration do come from Washington think-tanks. They inarguably have an influence that is disturbing to the hysterical Democratic left as well as to the conservative and libertarian right, not historically known for supporting Wilsonian-style military adventurism.
However, since Zinni himself identifies precisely zero individuals from the neocon camp, Mowbray is forced to turn to Business Week, which distinguishes between Jewish "neocons" such as Pentagon official Paul Wolfowitz and non-Jewish "key allies" such as Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld, to explain Zinni's anti-Semitism. This is absurd, as there is no connection whatsoever between Zinni and Business Week. But Mowbray assures us that it's all typical, so drawing imaginary lines to slur someone's reputation is OK since everyone knows that "neocon" is a code word for Jew.
But Joel Mowbray is not the only one who can find a Jew-hater in a haystack. When Pat Robertson wrote critically of international bankers after the Mexican and Russian bailouts - which involved American taxpayers protecting giant banks from the consequences of their bad loans to the two governments - the unsuspecting public was likewise informed that "international banker" is also a codeword for Jew.
It seems that to some deluded minds, straightforward capitalism, classical conservativism and libertarianism are all anti-Semitic. Movies about the Gospel, of course, are also anti-Semitic, according to the Anti-Defamation League, so is the New Testament itself. We are still somewhat in the dark as to the status of the National Football League, the Linux operating system and Winnie the Pooh, although I understand that "halfback," "grep" and "Roo" are all code words for Jew as well.
Which no doubt sheds a harsh new light on the hidden purpose behind Roo's being stranded in that tree with Tigger. Not to mention the run blitz. In any event, the Jewish people are facing enough difficulties without manufacturing imaginary ones. Anti-Semitism, or Jew-hating as it should more rightly be known, is reprehensible. But a false and unsupported accusation of it is equally unconscionable.