Greetings and welcome to this week's edition of Laura's Links.
As I put the final touches on this column, it's an unusually mild November evening here in southern Ontario within what Mark rightly and regularly calls the Deranged Dominion. And within the Deranged Dominion lives a consistent feature of the last eight years – an utterly moronic prime minister, whose latest predictably imbecilic utterings on the Middle East earned him a public rebuke from Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu.
I guess he just wanted to add another alienated ally to the list: India was a doozy. I also note that there's been little scolding of Netanyahu from any world leaders. Especially nothing from the Arab world. It seems like there may be some kind of consensus that Hamas is actually evil and that Israel may be right about this. Dunno.
Anyway, I'm going to take a break from commenting directly on the war in Gaza, but for those who are interested, there are a bunch of links on that topic below. There is something related that I've been thinking about for a few weeks, but I haven't really completely formulated my thoughts so let's just say I'm making observations now. I think there's a new, great sorting going on. Where the most virulent pockets of antisemitism were obviously centred in the political left and in the form of Muslim antisemitism, I'm now seeing small and worrying sprouts of that on the political right. The backlash against liberal Jews and the extreme left causes they wrong-headedly supported for decades seems now to be being expressed in an anti-Israel fashion, a curious and sudden concern for the Palestinians of Gaza (as opposed to the suffering of the Palestinians at the hands of Assad of Syria for example, or their miserable plights in Jordan, Lebanon and Kuwait).
There are many, many leftist Jews who need to man up and take the very big L on the things they were absolutely wrong about – most particularly making alliances with the people and causes (BLM, refugees, etc) that actually hated them, the West, and Judeo-Christian values.
Leftist Jews should also acknowledge their misguided and awful (and often snobbish, elitist and class-based) stereotypes about Christians. They could simply say "I was wrong about this. I apologize." Actual acknowledgement and recognition of error and prejudice and sincere apologies would go a long way in my opinion.
But the thing is, these terrible, damaging leftist causes and policies and schools and universities have obviously been supported and generously funded by great numbers of non-Jews as well. Are they being targeted too or is it a Jew thing?
Dr. Norman Fenton pointed out a couple of weeks ago that many members of the "freedom movement" have suddenly turned on their Jewish members ostensibly because of Israel. I have certainly seen that among "freedom movement" personalities here in Canada and throughout Europe. That was upsetting enough. Now I see some kind of something: again, I can't really say exactly what it is, emanating from the American political right. It's more on social media than in real life, but people under 40 in the world "live" on social media and are currently celebrating the writing of Osama Bin Laden.
I really hope I'm wrong about these things. As I often say, I love being right, but I'd really like to be wrong about this. Like I said, I realize I haven't fully articulated what I'm thinking, but my Jewlepathy is running a little high on this right now. Given the current climate of antisemitism, it may well be that I'm overly jumpy about certain things. But antisemitism, shape-shifting as it always is, is just never good for any society. It never ends well.
I'll leave you now with two pieces that are especially compelling so I don't want them to get lost in the crowd of links below. One is from the great Liel Leibovitz at Tablet Magazine and the other "Confessions of a Former Antisemite".
I would like to thank everyone for praying for the peace of Jerusalem, for reading Psalms along with me (I was just reading Psalm 23) and especially to those of you who have contacted me personally with such kind messages of support and concern.
See you in the comments as I'm able.
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North America:
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The Great Walkbackening, Reckoning and Accounting:
"My New Normal", this is a heartbreaking first-person account of the descent into Covid tyranny inspired suicidal despair. This is why there can be no forgiveness. Never, ever, ever forget what was done to us.
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Israel and Jews:
Israel must remember: America has not won a war in 80 years.
The book that can change your life.
Buyer's remorse. So cringe. "I'm ashamed I invited you to my birthday party.
From the "force them to stop doing the wrong thing" file.
Hot Off the Presses From the Fatwa HQ
"The choice is whether to kill for the sake of killing or for the sake of saving."
Bridging divisions during wartime.
"Being Vaccinated Against Antisemitism"
This is an unredeemable culture.
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Jewish Wisdom:
"The hallmark of evil is selfishness.
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The Formerly Great Britain:
It's always the people you least expect.
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Europe:
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Down Under:
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Kooks:
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Human Grace:
Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Why I Am Now A Christian
More from Sam Harris via The Free Press: "...we all live in Israel now.
The Tribute to a Little-Known Soldier
You Are the Last Line of Defense
"Passive voice is the first sign of a guilty conscience.
It's open thread time! Log into SteynOnline and let Laura know what you think of these stories or other happenings from week that was. Commenting privileges are among the many perks of membership in The Mark Steyn Club. While going off topic is permitted on Laura's Links, do stick to the other rules as you engage: no URLs, no profanity, and no ad hominem attacks.
