Back to Boykin

Several news outlets (1, 2, 3, 4) are reporting that the Prime Minister of Malaysia, Mahatir Mohammad, opened the summit of the Organization of Islamic States with some good ol’ fashioned anti-Semitism. I’m not talking anti-Israeli comments – which are often labeled as anti-Semitic, but more on how that lazy use of language, and how it does a dis-service to all involved, in another post – but full out Judeophobia. Just so you don’t doubt me, here’s the most obvious example: “The Europeans killed six million Jews out of 12 million, but today the Jews are in control of the…

So I’m reading Jeff Jacoby’s op-ed in the Boston Globe today and he’s talking about anti-American sentiment in the Arab world, (I’m ignoring the fact for a second that the idea of an Arab world, like Arab street, is Orientalist, and that using Egypt as an example for over two dozen countries is just bad writing.) when I run across this paragraph: It was Al-Akhbar, another regime-sponsored daily, that declared in August: “The Statue of Liberty . . . must be destroyed because of the idiotic American policy that goes from disgrace to disgrace in the swamp of bias and…

Clearly the event was disgusting. I was searching for a way to respond when I found this post. The section on “Sophie’s Choice” is heart-breaking and I think conveys the abject hopelessness of the situation. From killing adults to making children acceptable and normal targets. How does anything justify this sort of barbarity?