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Espying the Jew
MARK STEYN  Earlier this year, I chanced to be at a public meeting with the great Caroline Glick of the Jerusalem Post. Afterwards, a gentleman from the audience casually made some allusion to some or other aspect of the Jewish calendar, at which I looked momentarily befuddled. And so Caroline helpfully explained to him that Marks not a Jew, but he plays one on TV. By which she meant that, as I publicly defend Israel (which is, in itself, a curious formulation, implying that the issue is the legitimacy of the Zionist Entity) and as I have a suspiciously Jewish-sounding name, Ive been routinely assumed, at least since 9/11, to be a Jew. Im honored to be so mistaken. And, in truth, even if I werent, theres not much I could do about it. Someone asked me on the radio in Australia, two-thirds into a long, long discussion, about how Jewish I was, and I answered that the last Jewish female in my line was one of my paternal great-grandmothers and that both my grandmothers were Catholic. I then filled in a bit of remaining family background for the two or three Aussies who hadnt yet expired from total boredom. And, of course, Id only been off the air for ten minutes before I was deluged with e-mails triumphantly announcing, Ah-ha, something to hide, have we, Steyn? Or should I say Stein? Or is it Goldstein? Why so defensive about being Jewish, eh? How come you dont have the guts to declare your Jewishness every time you write about Israel? Or do your Jewish media masters encourage you to lie to your readers? Posted by: Fred 2006-08-25 |
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