Umoo (Uncle) S. (a dear friend of my family) had an import-export business in Iraq. He was a Christian, and his business partner and trusted friend was a Jew. What eventually became of his prosperous business and this sincere friendship? It was destroyed by anti-Semitism.
He was eventually jailed, and his partner was hanged. He lost several other Jewish friends during that time – all hanged. And he lost his business. My paternal grandmother worked at a Jewish school in Mosul for many years before she married my grandfather and became a stay-at-home mom; her closest friend was Jewish. She lost her best friend because of anti-Semitism. Like so many Jews from all over Iraq after 1948, her friend was forced to leave Mosul. All across the Middle East, Jews were either killed or driven out.
Arab anti-Semitism is real and deadly.
On Friday night, August 11, and Saturday, August 12, our country was shaken by the events in Charlottesville, Va. A clash between protestors and anti-protestors. That neo-Nazi rally that ended with a political murder did not bode well for our country. Although Police Chief Al Thomas said that the chaos and violence involved “mutually engaged attacks” fueled by “mutually combative individuals,” the anti-Semitism was palpable and should have been condemned outright without equivocation.
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