The Aggravator

Across The Pond

Maybe you missed it last month, choked and muffled as it was in the anti-war din, but the British National Union of Journalists voted to boycott Israel.
This was an interesting development within a key constituency of Britain, one of the Jewish state’s staunchest allies. Or it was just a group of people outing themselves as bigots.

Either way the Ya Libnan newspaper reported that the “vote carried 66-54” and encouraged “a boycott of Israeli goods similar to those boycotts in the struggle against apartheid in South Africa.” They also encouraged the British government and the United Nations to impose sanctions on Israel.

Frankly, I was surprised that the austere British press would have time for something like this when they’re so busy chasing pretend-monarchs around like little kids at Disneyland.

Nevertheless, as long as they took the time to make the statement, we owe it to them to consider its demerits.

We should take note of the fact that they are not boycotting Iraq, or voting down Iran, though madmen there defy the United Nations and split atoms. They are not voting to boycott dictators, human rights violators or terrorists.

In fact, the British journalists aren’t even boycotting the uncivilized Palestinian pseudo-state as one of their own, the BBC’s Alan Johnston, was abducted in the Gaza Strip on March 12 and is still missing.

So why do you suppose the rogue’s gallery of nations gets a free pass, but their national ally, Israel, gets condemned?

The answer is transparently in the part where they play the Jimmy Carter card and liken Israel to South Africa. That’s the dead giveaway that they are textbook Jew haters.

But far from demeaning Israelis and other Jews, the British journalists have debased themselves and demeaned their country. In fact, their act of prejudice may have cost them their very souls and identities.

Instead of behaving as impartial journalists, they’ve officially taken sides in a world conflict. By slamming Jews as violent anti-Semitic behavior in Britain is rising, they’ve behaved more like Nazis than the stalwart British patriots of the past who opposed Hitler. Their philosophical servility to religious fundamentalism makes them reminiscent of Frenchmen welcoming invaders into the Paris of their minds.

Sadly, this is what happens when imbeciles aspire to high-mindedness.

We see it in America all the time, usually when Hollywood actors venture out of the shallow end of the pool. This phenomenon actually defies the laws of the universe, somehow making a Rosie O’Donnell and an Angelina Jolie equally repulsive.

The saddest part is that it is wholly unnecessary. If Israel is truly worthy of censure, journalists have the ability to let the world know through honest reporting and persuasive editorializing. Instead, they turned their backs on such freedom and chose the blunt instrument of hackneyed politics.

In the end and forever that vote will be a black mark against them, a blood oath of their collusion and corruption for the historical record. As bigots, they couldn’t help but reject the free exchange of ideas that is supposed to be their professional responsibility.

Lest we be too hard on the British journalists, stop to remember that these are very confusing times ... at least on the left.

I can almost guarantee that there will be Jews, albeit the intellectual dwarfs among us, who will write this newspaper next week to inveigh that resistance to Israel is not the same as anti-Semitism.

We should nevertheless hold the British journalists accountable for one thing. When they took that vote, they left behind an august profession to butle for the world’s worst ideas.