Page 39 - Tales the Maggid Never Told Me

Blood Libel

After the peace party in Israel unexpectedly pushed out the
warmongers and American puppets from the Knesset and exposed
the whole sorry scheme bankrupting the United States and destroying
its security for the benefit of the petroleum oligarchs, the rulers of
this country had to find a new enemy. Or should I say an old
scapegoat? Rather than face the music for their treason and treachery,
the rightwing propaganda mill had a script ready for primetime. It
seems the hundreds of millions of Moslems simmering with
resentment against the West were just the unwitting dupes of that
ancient bugaboo, the international Jewish conspiracy. All the very real
links between the neoconservative intellectuals and the Israel lobby
were put on show, and some very high officials in the government
were purged and thrown to the wolves. Would you like to know how
that made me feel?

S: Yes, certainly. Please continue, Mendel.

B: Like I had a big bull’s-eye painted on my back. But I continued to
suffer from the attitude that “it can’t happen here.” In that respect I
was no different from the majority of American Jews who had
become thoughtless supporters of the militarist agenda in the Middle
East on the simple-minded grounds that it was good for Israel. But
when the new Israeli government repudiated decades of
brinkmanship, created a mutual security pact with Egypt, Jordan,
Syria, Lebanon, Turkey and Iran, then kicked out the American
missionaries trying to trigger Armageddon, it became impossible for
our politicians to restrain their superstitious and bigoted supporters
in the churches. Out came the anti-Semitic tracts, the millennia-old
fear and hatred of Jews. And as in past times of turmoil, the people in
power found it quite useful to redirect populist rage at yet another
manufactured enemy and turn a blind eye to any blatantly illegal
expressions of that wrath.

S: So you were afraid?

B: How would you feel if—no, I have already made it clear that I am
not conversing with a civilized human being. I will not fall into the
trap of wallowing in self-pity. After the constitution had been

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