“These references to past history are not simply an idle exercise in scholarly interpretation. They are, as the recent debate on the anti-Zionism resolution in the United Nations shows, the weapons of political warfare. Thus the Jordanian ambassador, contrasting European guilt for persecution of the Jews with the good conscience of the Arabs: ‘There was no situation similar to this in the East, particularly with the civilization where for centuries the majority of Jews lived happily and productively and to which they contributed in every way, namely, the Arab civilization.’ And Mr. Al-Sayegh of Kuwait, stressing Muslim hospitality to Jews and reverence for Judaism, charged Zionism with destroying a harmonious relationship: ‘It was only when the Zionists came, and instead of the Jews saying, ‘I should like to live with you,’ the Zionists came saying, ‘I want to live in your place.’ It was only when the Zionists came that our hospitality turned into hostility for the Zionist….’ To which that veteran of the UN wars, Jamil M. Baroody of Saudi Arabia, added that Zionism was not the work of ‘our Jews.’ ‘It was the European Jews who started this movement’–those Khazars ‘whose forebears came from the northern tier of Asia’ and now claim Palestine as their own. ‘If this is not tantamount to racism and discrimination, what is?’

“These compliments to Judaism and to some Jews at least are not the language Arabs ordinarily use to one another on these matters; but they sound good and plausible to many Western ears.”

–David S. Landes, “Palestine Before the Zionists” (yes, I am working up to another big post about Israel, sometime this week)