Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Annals of anti-Semitism















I got nothing.

UPDATE: (June 11) And in case you thought the above reference was an exaggeration, here's the liberal Ha'aretz:

A photo released by the White House, which shows Obama talking on the phone with Netanyahu on Monday, speaks volumes: The president is seen with his legs up on the table, his face stern and his fist clenched, as though he were dictating to Netanyahu: "Listen up and write 'Palestinian state' a hundred times. That's right, Palestine, with a P." As an enthusiast of Muslim culture, Obama surely knows there is no greater insult in the Middle East than pointing the soles of one's shoes at another person. Indeed, photos of other presidential phone calls depict Obama leaning on his desk, with his feet on the floor. [Emphases added]

On the last point, Obama (like countless others, myself included) enjoys the foot-on-the-desk informality--as did his predecessor. Showing shoe-soles is an Arab insult, not an American one or an Israeli one. So what is being broadly hinted at here? Ah, its the "enthusiast of Muslim culture" aka the "closet Muslim" meme, redivivus.

Fist clenched? With his thumb and forefinger forming a circle? Face stern, rather than merely serious? One picture might be worth a thousand words, but Ha'aretz's words have no relation to this picture at all. That such "analysis" would appear in a liberal Israeli newspaper shows just how far things have deteriorated. Maybe the following is more typical of current thinking in Israel than I had, up to now, been prepared to believe:


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