Andrew Klavan, writing in the Los Angeles Times, posits that anti—Semitism is part of the reason God made the Jews His Chosen People.

THERE IS ONE good thing about anti—Semitism: It lets you know who the bad guys are....

...there's something about this particular form of prejudice that is weirdly reliable as a sign of deeper wickedness. Perhaps it's because the Jews contributed so much to humanity's moral code that to hate them as a race is to despise the restraints of morality itself....

Whatever the reason, true, virulent anti—Semitism is such a good indicator of the presence of evil that I'm tempted to believe that when God made the Jews his chosen people, this is what he chose them for: to be a sort of Villainy Early Detection System for everyone else.

Klavan then draws the obvious conclusion:

Thus, when Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad says the Holocaust is a "myth" or that Israel "must be wiped off the map," you would hear a loud honk and words would appear in the air below his face: "Hello. I am an evil madman. Please stop negotiating with me now and proceed to cripple my nuclear capability by any means necessary."

A witty and provocative piece of writing from a mystery novelist.

Hat tip: Michael Medved via Sally V.

Thomas Lifson  1 19 06