Anti-Semitism

Commenters at strormfront and Little Green Footballs have a lot in common. For instance, they both believe that you're an anti-Semite if you criticize Israel's apartheid government.

My wife, daughters, and grandson are Jewish. We live near a part of Washington State that has been targeted as a new white homeland by the neo-nazis. Many have moved here. We have a Christian Identity church and a militia in our town--that's part of the reason I blog using a pseudonym.

For awhile, the National Socialist Vanguard left their anti-Semitic literature on our doorstep on a regular basis. My daughters were harassed by skinheads when they were in high school. It became so bad we called the ADL. The principal blamed it on my daughters for flaunting their Jewishness by wearing stars of David. He eventually resigned because of it.

It was hard on my daughters. One renounced her heritage for awhile and pretended to be a Presbyterian so that she could better fit in with her peers. It's heartbreaking to see your daughter in that much pain.

More recently, a skinhead, whose family never missed the Aryan Nation's summer gatherings at Hayden Lake, Idaho during their heydey, told my oldest daughter that they were going to burn down our "jew house" and run us out of town. I spent a few nights cradling a shotgun after that. So please tell me more about my anti-Semitism.

The Israeli government does not represent the views of my family or most of the Jews I talk to at the temple. We're Americans. We're liberal. We oppose racism and bigotry in all of its forms. Our opposition to the Israeli right isn't anti-Semitic--it's American, because we cherish notions of equality and ethnic tolerance.

Some also question why I haven't criticized the Muslims who are rioting over the Danish cartoons. I don't see the point in doing so. Their idiocy speaks for itself. Fundamentalists act like fundamentalists. I think that it is more interesting to look at how the cartoons are an expression of Europe's racist attitudes toward its darker citizens.

--The General's Inner Frenchman

Update: I want to thank everyone who expressed sympathy for my family, but the anti-Semitism we've experienced really wasn't the point of my post. I merely wanted to point out how silly it is to accuse me of anti-Semitism because I criticize Israel's apartheid government.

My town isn't as bad as it sounds. The events I wrote about occurred over the last 15 or so years--we're not constantly persecuted. My guess is that although there aren't a lot of us, there are more liberals living here than nazis. I know that sounds like a weak defense of my town, but I suspect that there are places in the Northeast portion of the state where that isn't true.