Bill Maher noted in the last episode of “Real Time” that anti-semitism was in the headlines last week:
“Somehow when you get people talking long enough what comes out is ‘I don’t like the Jews.'”
Ezra “Journolist” Klein was part of the panel. His answer for this phenomena?
“Bad economy. A lot of those anti-semitic arguments have a serious undertone … In Libya you have very high unemployment, high food prices … “
Because it couldn’t have anything to do with the Libyan leadership using the term “Jew” as a pejorative, indicative of Gaddafi’s anti-Jew rule which saw a further exodus of Jews from the country. Says the man who once stated that the Jews should be “thrown into the sea”:
Israel is “behind all of Africa’s conflicts”, Gaddafi told about 30 African leaders gathered under a huge tent at Tripoli airport.
Either Klein is either purposefully obtuse — for the sake of hiding the fact that hatred and bigotry related to religion fosters the extreme anti-semitism of Libya and other Middle Eastern nations, thereby completely shaking the progressive narrative on teh Joos — or completely clueless. The plague of civil discourse isn’t incivility, it’s lies. Refuting by omission Libya’s long history with violence against Jews is a lie.
Gloria Steinem deserves a bit of credit for somewhat correcting Klein on his bizarre answer:
“Throughout the Middle East there is institutionalized anti-semitism because the textbooks are telling the kids …
So according to Klein’s reasoning, the UAE, with it’s metropolitan, “multicultural” Dubai, is welcoming to Jews, yes? Actually, not entirely. Don’t try to enter the country with an Israeli passport and don’t try looking for a synagogue in the country, either. But I’m sure it’s because of “high food prices” and not due to any hostility or prejudice towards Jews at all.
From our own State Department:
There is a small resident noncitizen Jewish population of unknown size; there are no synagogues. There were no reported acts of physical violence against or harassment of Jewish persons, however, anti-Semitism in the government-affiliated media was present and anti-Semitic articles and editorial cartoons depicting demonic images of Jews, negative images of Jews along with Jewish symbols, and comparisons of Israeli leaders and Israel to the Nazis were published throughout the year.
When your leader not only sanctions the practice but encourages it, when the worst insult your fellow countrymen can call each other is “a Jew,” it’s a problem that transcends “food prices.”