Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Christopher Hitchens is an Anti-Semite?

I heard Hitch mock the Jewish ritual of circumcision in he recent religious debate with Tony Blair.  I didn't know what to make of it -- I did wince -- for I do like to dabble in Jewish religious thought on the Internet.

The debate came to mind as I read an article, on a Jewish ideas site, accusing Hitchens of being an Anti-Semite.  Part of the article's claim rests on his atheism which, of course, would detest religious or orthodox Jews.  The article did not go as far as to make Hitchens as bad as Hitler, it instead says he has Jews he likes and doesn't like -- Good Jews and Bad Jews.  And, of course, the Bad Jews for Hitchens, are Zionists.  

So the article ultimately boils down to the question of whether anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism.  I would say it is.  To me, the Jews are ancestors of Moses.  But, at the same time, I don't suggest Hitchens advocates Holocausts and Pogroms.

No comments: