Via Dhimmi Watch, I see that the Presbyterian Church has apologized for the anti-Semitic tirade delivered by an anti-Israel speaker, Samir Makhlouf, sponsored by the “Presbyterian Peacemakers” at Wooster and reported in this blog recently. The president of the college has also apologized.
Meanwhile, a student, Danny George, the “chief staff writer” of the school newspaper, the Wooster Voice, has written an editorial defending the tirade. Having “taken copious notes” during the presentation, he found it to be “without the slightest trace of bigotry or hate.” Apparently, comparing Israelis to Nazis not only doesn’t reek of anti-Semitism (why is it always Nazis?), it conveys no hate. I hate Nazis; most Americans hate Nazis; why compare Israelis to Nazis if you aren’t trying to convey hate? Even more impressively, this young journalistic prodigy apparently could discern no “bigotry” in the speaker’s invocation of the notorious Protocols of the Elders of Zion, perhaps the leading anti-Semitic work of all time.
Amusingly, Mr. George was particularly impressed with a riff of the speaker on the word “Israel” that started from the premise that “Israel” means “family of God” in Hebrew and Arabic. I don’t know about Arabic, but in Hebrew “Israel” means “fought with God.” Jacob was renamed Israel after his battle with an angel in Genesis.
You can let the Wooster Voice know what you think of its journalistic standards (politely, please), at voice@wooster.edu.
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