How to create trouble for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—Insist he’s Jewish!

Dear friends, I know the story is one month old. Originally, I wrote this piece for an adult ed class. As an afterthought, I decided to later post the material.

On October 3, 2009, the Daily Telegraph of London printed an article claiming that the world’s greatest anti-Semite, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has a Jewish background. But wait, it gets better yet! The article purports that Iranian dictator comes from a line of weavers–yes, tallit-weavers–who changed  their names recently, to prosper in the Islamic Republic. Apparently, it is alleged,  Ahmadinejad converted to embrace Islam after his birth.  At first the story seems to make sense. Jewish history is full of famous “Jewish anti-Semites”

One the surface, such a case would not be unusual for Jews. Noam Chomsky is one obvious example of a  modern-day Jewish anti-Semite, but he is hardly alone. Jewish liberals often  identify with the enemies of Israel. Such news is hardly an epiphany, but we–as Jews–are often our own worst enemies, as seen by the Neturei Karta and anti-Zionist Rabbi Yisrael Dovid Weiss, who describes  Ahmadinejad as “a man of peace and a friendly leader.” Continue reading “How to create trouble for Mahmoud Ahmadinejad—Insist he’s Jewish!”