Speaking as an American Jew, a conservative and an Israeli, the following video (below all the text) insults my intelligence.
The woman in question, Pamela Pilger, yelled “Heil Hitler!” at Samuel Blum. Mr. Blum is an Israeli who has lived in the United States for 21 years. Much is being made of this confrontation – conveniently picked up by Las Vegas TV – on YouTube, but what people who are commenting on it are failing to notice most of the time is that Ms. Pilger is wearing an Israeli Army shirt.
Yes, that’s right:
When the camera pans over to her, you can clearly see she’s wearing an “Israel Defence Forces” shirt. Most folks might miss it (and her earrings, which are – surprise, surprise – crosses). Whoever staged this event – and by “event”, I mean the video – at KLAS must not have done their research, because as I will point out again later, you don’t usually visit Israel – or buy such a shirt in a souvenir shop and then wear it – if you’re an anti-Semite.
You may or may not have heard that polls show support is flagging amongst American Jews for Obama’s Mideast policies. It’s still strong for him in other areas, but not that one. “So what?” you might say. Well, the way I see it, someone could be attempting to bolster Jewish support for this particular issue – health-care reform – by portraying Obama’s opponents as bigots. After all, if support for your policies is waning on one front, it’s possibly eroding elsewhere. Best to cover all your bases.
Don’t think it’s possible? Well, go to YouTube, read the comments for yourself, and you’ll see that there are plenty of useful idiots who would buy into such a ploy. What’s more, for all of the hatred one generally intends to be imparted to another when those two little words, Heil and Hitler, are combined these days, it is remarkable – when reading the aforementioned YouTube comments – to see so much…hatred for conservatives on display as a direct result of this video. Ironic, isn’t it?
As for the woman, Pamela Pilger, there are many people posting her contact information on YouTube. One person said to me, after I was the first to point out that something about the video “ain’t kosher“, that “You can easily find out online that she and her husband were McCain/Palin supporters.” This same person continued, “It really isn’t a stretch to think that the ignorant lady doesn’t realize screaming ‘Heil Hitler’ to an Israeli Jew is a bad idea.”
But the problem is, that it really is something of a stretch to think such a thing. At least, for me it is.
See, Israeli Army souvenir shirts aren’t just sold everywhere. And you don’t generally visit Israel, or buy or wear such a shirt, whilst being (or remaining) ignorant about the relationship between Jews and “Heil Hitler!”. In any case, whether you’ve been to Israel or not, and whether you’re Jewish, Gentile, a philo-Semite, an anti-Semite, college educated or a beauty-school dropout, you probably know “Heil Hitler!” is not something said by people who are ignorant of its probable emotional impact on a Jew.
Am I blowing this out of proportion? Is my imagination running wild? Isn’t it just possible or likely that the confrontation in this video is legit, and represents a unique display of an ignorant form of anti-Semitism by a “known” conservative who has been to Israel and opposes President Obama’s liberal agenda?
If so, then I’d have to say it was also mighty convenient that Pamela Pilger – sporting an Israeli Army shirt and cross earrings – happened to be standing right where she was (so close to the camera), and that she said what she said within earshot of Samuel Blum (Jew and yored), as he was being interviewed by KLAS at a so-called “town hall” in Las Vegas. Mighty convenient, yep: She’d been interviewed earlier, and thus were established her conservative credentials.
I’m telling you, something about this just doesn’t sit right with me. It smells fishy. But not like thinly-sliced cured salmon on a bagel with cream cheese.
