September 16, 2009
Opinion: A rising wave of anti-Semitism?
by David A. Lehrer
Los Angeles Times
Earlier this month, James von Brunn, the 89-year-old bigot charged with killing an African American security guard at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, appeared for a hearing in a Washington courtroom.
Von Brunn, who faces charges including first-degree murder, hate crimes and gun violations, "appeared frail and sat quietly in a wheelchair," according to news reports. The hearing presented evidence that he was on a "suicide mission," driven to "send a message to the Jewish community" that the Holocaust is a hoax.
Not surprisingly, the judge ordered a mental competency exam.
In the hours after the Holocaust museum shooting, there were multiple, brazen assertions that American Jews were in profound danger and that the shooting was only the latest evidence of the lurking threats that ought to rouse Jews from their mistaken slumber.
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