The New York Times is puzzled over a dramatic rise in the number of French Jews buying property in and emigrating to Israel. It reports (without scare quotes incidcating any skepticism) that

the Israelis and the French are debating whether the trend is a result of a surge in anti—Semitic attacks in France or just a cyclical oddity.

"Oddity" strikes me as a very peculiar word to attach to the spectacle of people fleeing religious oppression and violent street attacks. But the New York Times has always had a strangely detached view of percesution of Jews. During the Holocaust, the Times dodged a charge of covering—up the genocide by burying reports of it as small articles on inside pages on low circulation days such as Saturdays.

To be fair, the Times does quote a few people describing the real terror they feel as French Jews. But the idea that this upsurge of refugees is an oddity that might be related to cycles of the moon, or some other random factor is nearly obscene.

Posted by Thomas  07 04 04