Claudia Rosett wonders at Forbes.com about whether Barack Obama will take the lead in fighting anti-Semitism:
America has just thrown one of the world’s biggest parties, rejoicing with good reason at the fall of the racial barrier to the White House. But bigotry ebbs and flows on many fronts, and a question for President Obama as he takes up his responsibilities as leader of the free world is whether he will now champion–or at least strive to protect–another minority whose members are today the targets of resurgent prejudice.
I am speaking of a minority that even in the relatively enlightened 21st century is increasingly subject both worldwide, and to a disturbing extent even inside the U.S., to double standards, slurs, threats, arson, bombings, stabbings and other attacks on their persons, shops, homes and places of worship.
It is not unusual in some parts of the world to hear them described, not least by official media outlets, as apes and pigs. In some prestigious quarters, notably the United Nations, it appears acceptable–in practice, if not as a matter of official policy–for member states to promote or even issue calls for their extermination.
As you have probably guessed, I am speaking of the Jews.
After painting a bleak picture of the situation around the world, Rosett ends with a question about Obama: "What will he do about the Jews?"
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