Consider a 2005 article in Ecumenical News International, Pope Benedict warns of growing anti-Semitism during German visit, in which Benedict XVI warns of "a rising wave of anti-Semitism."

Consider also this, in which French comic, Dieudonné, says: " It is the Jews, or Zionists, who have created racism by forming such an effective lobby for one ethnic group and for the state of Israel, which illegally occupies the land of another people."  Dieudonné has announced his intention to run for the French presidency and at least one informal poll has shown him to have substantial support.

And this. And this, saying "What we did not expect was a widespread association of economic problems with support for Israel." And this, "Israel's destructive and expansionist policies are primarily to blame for the seemingly perpetual ‘Middle East crisis."

Or simply Google "Israel anti-Semitism" and enjoy. You will soon agree that little imagination is required to envision the eventual and complete isolation of the Jewish (or Zionist, for those of you who are encouraged by the trend) state.

But the answer to the second question, should we as Americans care? is not so straightforward . There is the familiar Judeo-Christian prophetic argument to persuade us to embrace Israel to ensure our landing on the right side of the line come the last days. But let's ignore that and weigh the merits in the traditional and proper American perspective, that of self-interest.

Many say, and I agree, that World War III is imminent or has already begun. "We are on the eve of war with the Islamic world... You must look at it from this angle and treat it wider, not as a problem of terrorism here and there..." says Meir Amit, former director of Israel's Mossad intelligence agency. Our enemy is Orthodox Islam (a phrase I prefer to Radical Islam because it is clear from the Qur'an that terrorism against infidels is not only acceptable, it is mandated). That is not to say that all devout Muslims are willing to bomb, behead, terrorize and work to subjugate all non-Muslims; it is to say that those followers of Mohammed who would not do so are guilty of ignoring lengthy and unambiguous instruction, sprinkled generously throughout their holy book, to do just that.

Terrorism is not the product of a few deviant misfits miffed at George W. Bush.
 
It is the work of millions of increasingly emboldened (by the West's weakness and indecisiveness) pious Muslims who have chosen to precisely follow the Qur'an as they did in the past glory days of the Ottoman Empire. Those of us who doubt this will know the truth soon enough, I fear.

If in fact we shall soon awaken to the reality that we are at war with Orthodox Islam, how much more difficult will it be for the United States to defend itself if we A, fail to prevail in Iraq and B, allow Israel to be isolated and destroyed by her enemies? Answer: very difficult if not impossible.

It is important to get past blaming the current crisis on George W. Bush and "the anger he caused" by invading Iraq. Would anyone deny that Osama Bin Laden was fairly angry on September 11, 2001, before Afghanistan and Iraq, and Bin Laden is no more than an (overachieving) product of the teachings, at both high-school and college levels, of the Muslim Brotherhood, which advocates the creation of a worldwide Islamic government. (Thus, of this writing, they have not applied for third-party political status in the US.) Joe Lieberman, Democratic Senator from Connecticut, for example, at the risk of his political future has gotten past blaming Bush for terror, and so should we.

We must persevere in Iraq and we must stand by Israel, not because of prophecy or our need to protect our access to oil (not bad reasons in themselves) but because our survival as free human beings depends on it.