To the editor,
In the year 897 A.D. the caliph of Baghdad, Harun al-Rashid, introduced a law that required Jews to wear distinctive yellow clothing, in order to prevent Jews from being employed by, or marrying, Muslims. Sound familiar? The Nazis would later force the Jews to wear a similar type of clothing in order to degrade them further.
Recently, a swarm of antisemitism erupted on X (twitter) accusing Israel of bloodshed in Lebanon. These antisemites seriously believe that it is the fault of Israel and (somehow) Jews in America that explosive devices purchased by members of a terrorist organization exploded in proximity to civilians. These are/were the same people who cheered on 9/11 when three thousand people were killed by al-Qaeda operatives. These are/were the same people who blamed Israel when the West took out Saddam (a man who, ironically, hated Shias almost as much as he hated Israel) and who blame Israel for virtually every misfortune that befalls those within the domain of Hezbollah, Iran, Houthis, et al. It was not the IDF who told those terrorists to stop using cell phones and instead buy explosive ridden pagers, or to place said explosives within close proximity to civilians.
Antisemitism in certain countries is nothing new. There were mass killings of Jews in Aleppo (1853), Damascus (1848 & 1890), Cairo (1844, 1901), Alexandria (1870 & 1871), Tunis (1869), Fez (April 18, 1912), and Djerba (1864). In 1969, the PLO hired two former Nazi weapons instructors, Erich Altern (Gestapo) and Willy Berner (formerly an SS official at the Mauthausen concentration camp). Neo-Nazi Otto Albrecht, also hired by the PLO, found himself arrested in West Germany with over a million dollars in spending money for weapons, paid for by the PLO. Regretfully, the antisemites ignore all of this, instead choosing to blame Israel, who is merely acting in self-defense against multiple terrorist organizations, spread out in multiple countries.
The next time a rabid antisemite compares Israel to Nazis, remind them that it was the PLO who directly hired Nazi war criminals who served in extermination camps in order to wipe out all the Jews.
Bill Kennedy IV
Bowling Green
