Generally, I ask the question when there's an unusually pro-Israel speech from someone whose policies aren't quite on that level. But here with Obama's National Security Advisor James Jones, the speech began with an antisemitic "joke," which was well-received by his audience.
We all know what would happen if that sort of joke or even something much milder or more innocent had been made about blacks or Muslims. The protests, threats and violence would be vicious. But unfortunately we Jews brush it all under the rug.
Please don't get me wrong. I'm not promoting riots, but I do think that Israel should officially protest, send some American defense official packing. And I think that we should have sent the British Ambassador back to London when they pulled the ad about the Kotel, Western Wall, claiming it wasn't in Israel. Our being nice and accommodating just causes more insults.
Let's show some pride and self-respect for a change.
4 comments:
"Who Wrote The Speech?"
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Jerry Seinfeld.
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Actually, Yid With Lid says that Bob Newhart used the joke 40 years ago. The only difference was the way Jones shoehorned in the Taliban and kept blathering. I have heard it with an Arab in the Sahara finding a Jew. However, I have also heard it set in the Nevada desert (outside Las Vegas - gambling casino territory) with no ethnic references at all. The thirsty traveler tries to get into the restaurant and is stopped by a snooty Maitre D'. In all versions the punch line is always, "He said I couldn't come in without a tie".
It's definitely an old joke. Jones has a strange sense of humor and human relations to say the antisemitic version in public.
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