Note to Hugo: philo semites CAN dislike Judaism but they usually dont

Submitted by Shishir (United Arab Emirates), Apr 17, 2013 at 09:18

While Hitchens was more honest than most anti Semites regarding Israel that doesnt actually absolve him of the charge of anti semitism. He was more like the king among among the blind on merit having one eye.

re the Daniel Pearl lecture -Hitchens made no secret of his distaste of Islamist terrorism of whom Daniel Pearl was a victim and more importantly a cosmopolitan fellow traveller and journalist than being Jewish.(it is possible to anti semitic and be against Islamist terror)

As for your comment below

For the record, I am both a philo-semite and a Zionist, but it's this sort of thing that makes it a little difficult at times. And to clarify - the Israel I defend is the Israel of the largest numbers of published scientific papers per head in the world, and also the largest number of per capita nobel prize winners, the only secular democracy in the Middle East. It is absolutely not the Israel of superstitious backwardness and romantic drivel about an ancient and glorious past. The Middle East has plenty of those states already.

Im afraid you are not really a philo Semite but are a Zionist. A philo Semite would imply a fondness for Judaica and the Jewish contribution to theology and poetry namely the Bible and Talmud.

Trust me as a Hindu, I have issues with Judaism's emphasis with iconoclasm and monotheim (Im a proud idol worshipping polytheist and I wouldnt have it any other way) ,however compared to their neighbors such as Babylon,Assyria and Egypt their code of law was far more compassionate to the defeated,to the slave and the foreigner.

Furthermore, apart from Hinduism and Buddhism,it is the only world religion that recognizes that practitioners of other faiths can go to heaven as well.

I also think the Kabbalah is a worthy colleague to Tantra and Sufis in mysticism but your lot probably thinks of that as "superstitious backwardness and romantic drivel".

Just FYI you are in a bit of a catch 22 , if was this "drivel" that kept Jewish culture alive for all these millenia and the culture of learning that this "superstition" fostered made possible for Jewish pre emininence in all the fields you mentioned and admire them for.

Some thing to think about

Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".