Cossacks on Wall Street

I long ago accepted that the Wall Street Journal oped page took a Lear jet to Bizarro World, but this contribution on the possible rise of antisemitism in the wake of the financial crisis irritated me nonetheless:

So will the Jews come under attack? The existence of the Jewish state guarantees refuge for Jews around the world, but it carries with it its own risks. Hezbollah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, has said that if the Jews “all gather in Israel, it will save us the trouble of going after them world-wide.” It’s a comment all the more chilling as Nasrallah’s Iranian sponsors are on the brink of making a nuclear bomb.

As for the idea that Jewish professional, political, and economic success in America is a guarantee of security, that, too, has its risks. As Yuri Sleskine recounted in his book “The Jewish Century,” in 1900 Vienna more than half of the lawyers, doctors and professional journalists were Jewish, as were 70% of the members of the stock exchange. In Germany, after World War I but before the Nazis came to power, Jews served as finance minister and as foreign minister. Such achievements have a way of being fleeting.

I couldn’t help but notice in his byline that the author had recently published a book on the great patriot entitled “Sam Adams: A Life.” Perhaps in retrospect he should have called it “Sam Adams: Recessive Nazi.”

(Hat tip: AIP)