Anti-Semitism in Britain (x-posted from HOLOCAUS)
Sharon Michalove, Editor, H-Albion (mlove@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu)
Tue, 5 Dec 1995 20:51:59 -0600
>A friend of mine in London recently sent me an oponion column from the Sunday
>Times which I thought I would share in part with this list. It shows that the
>not-so-genteel tradition of English antisemitism is alive and well (I note
>that I am half Brit myself).
>
>Julie Burchill, "Israel makes a drama out of a crisis," Sunday Times, Nov.
>12, 1995:
>
>"I do like the Jews. Ever since I was a teenybopper I've always found them by
>far the best bet for everything a girl could ever want, from sex to laughter.
>
>"But the fuss over Yitzak Rabin's unfortunate assassination eight days ago in
>Tel Aviv gives me serious cause to doubt their sense of perspective
>
>"A leader of a country gets shot or blown up and killed by a fellow member of
>that country. Well, _yes_. It _happens_. Indeed, it happens in countries as
>diverse as the United States, India and Sweden. Remember Olaf Palme?
>
>"I don't recall much breast-beating about how the assassin had 'put a bullet
>through the soul' of the Swedish people, as the typically overwrought Chief
>Rabbi, Dr Jonathan Sacks, remarked last week of 'the Jewish soul'. Whatever
>_that_ is: it sounds a bit on the old racist side to me.
>
>"'Fratricide' was another big word much bandied about by small intellects.
>
>"Excuse me, but I didn't realize that Mr Rabi and Yigal Amir had the same
>mother.
>
>"When a leader of a country is assassinated, it usually is by another citizen
>of that country; for some reason, people tend not to assassinate leaders
>while on holiday in a foreign land. Of course Mr Rabin's untimely and violent
>death is sad and regrettable, especially for his family and friends.
>
>"But for Israel to behave as though it were the first country ever to
>experience a political assassination adds weight to the unpleasant theories
>about Jewish 'hysteria' and their ability to make a self-flagellating drama
>out of any minor crisis.
>
>"Well, the Israeli tourist industry has been picking up recently and Woody
>Allen seems to have negotiated a successful comeback on our cinema screens --
>they obviously need _something_ to beat themselves up about.
>
>"David Ben-Gurion once shocked the youthful state of Israel by saying that it
>could not consider itself a 'real' country until Tel Aviv had 10,000
>prostitutes.
>
>"He may have been being funny to some extent, but he was also telling the
>truth.
>
>"After years of struggle, your country is born in a blaze of glory and
>idealism -- and then you grow up, get prostitutes, have wars, kill people and
>have a couple of leaders shot by nutters.
>
>"And it is these things, far more than being recognized by the United
>Nations, that make a country a real one."
>
>-------
>
>As my friend who sent me this piece wrote in a letter to the Times
>(unpublished), there is more to Ms Burchill's carelessness than simply
>mistaking Ben Gurion for Haim Nachman Bialik.
>
>-- Greg Fried
>f6ri@midway.uchicago.edu
Sincerely,
Sharon
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@
Sharon D. Michalove
Assistant to the Chair for Undergraduate Studies
Department of History, UIUC
309 Gregory Hall, 810 South Wright Street
Urbana, IL 61801
217-333-4145
mlove@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu
******************************************************
("`-''-/").___..--''"`-._ A cat, with its phosphorescent eyes
that stand it instead of
`6_ 6 ) `-. ( ).`-.__.`) lanterns, moves fearlessly
through the darkness . . .
(_Y_.)' ._ ) `._ `. ``-..-'
Theophile Gautier (1811-1872)
_..`--'_..-_/ /--'_.' ,'
(il).-'' (li).' ((!.-'
******************************************************
@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@