I walked past a bookstore in DC today and saw the latest Commentary in the window, featuring an essay by Amir Taheri on “regime change” in Iran. (It was paired with another about “military options” for Iran.) The essay starts with a canned history of US-Iranian relations since the fall of the Shah, which is all about how Democrats are wimps while Republicans have big, swinging dicks. It somehow never mentions “arms for hostages.”
When I got home, I found an email from a Jewish friend in LA, forwarding an email message that has obviously been making the rounds, reporting that Iran was going to require Jews to wear yellow stars. It had all the markings of an Internet hoax: no date, no link, no signature. I vaguely recalled having seen the same story before, so I checked it out on Snopes.com. Sure enough, it’s pure bunkum, based on a completely false story in the Canadian National Post, which the newspaper itself has utterly disavowed.
The author of the original story? Amir Taheri.
Three questions:
1. Who decided to revive this hoax just now?
2. Is there anything at all that can discredit a right-wing commentator in the view of right-wing editors?
3. With 87% of American Jews voting Democratic this year, why are central Jewish organizations still under reactionary management? (Commentary is published by the American Jewish Committee.) Is there no way to create Jewish organizations that represent the views of the overwhelming majority of Jews?