"Anti-Semitism means hating the Jews more than is necessary." Ever heard that one? No, neither have I. But the President of Israel maintains that it is an English commonplace. The rationale for the Zionist State is such that it cannot really admit of alliances, since every other country is by definition a potential or actual enemy of the Jews. But raw hatred is reserved for Britain.
I think that the phrase was invented, and certainly it was popularised, not in Britain but in the States: by H. L. Mencken.
ReplyDeleteIt seems to be of Hungarian origin. Perhaps the old nuclear partner of apartheid South Africa, and friend of every nasty regime in yesteryear's Latin America, cannot tell the difference?
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