I have just read an intriguing and beautifully written post on National Review’s Corner blog by Mike Potemra, entitled “Why Do They Hate Israel?”. The question seems presumptuous, since the haters have never experienced a shortage of anti-Semitic justifications. But still.
Potemra, about whom I know nothing, raises a thought I have often had.
As he puts it, “Part of the problem, in the United States at least, has to do with elitist contempt for Evangelical Christians”. I am beginning to believe that much of the global elite’s anti-Americanism stems from just this contempt, which is actually embarrassment with the subject of Christianity. Evangelicals are the ones consistently bringing up God and morality in public discourse, making us all feel awkward since we have nothing much to say on the subject. So we treat vocal Christians as embarrassing redneck relatives, changing the subject when they’re listening, and mocking them when they’re not.
And Israel, since the rise of Likud, with sytrong voices of Russian refuseniks, has seemed to resemble Evangelical Christianity at least as much as it does liberal cosmopolitan European Jewry.
I must write more on this soon. In the meantime, here is the post.
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Why Do They Hate Israel? [Mike Potemra]
Mark Steyn recently reminded us of some European polling from a few years ago, showing that the public consensus was growing on the Continent that Israel is the greatest threat to world peace. Continue reading ‘Reasons to Hate Israel #123 and #124.’
