Daniel Greenfield / Sultan Knish Articles at DanielGreenfield.org

For most Purim is a joyous holiday, a time of celebration, a carnival for kids and a time to eat, drink and be happy. Even with the reading of the Megillah and the well known story of Purim, many don't properly appreciate what Purim really is. Purim is a holocaust. A holocaust didn't happen, a genocide deferred. We know that intellectually, but we often forget it emotionally. It's easier not to think of such things. To focus on the salvation, the downfall of Haman, rather than what could have been and what has recurred throughout Jewish history. It is easier to be merry and look away from the abyss. For Western Jews in some ways, every day is Purim. Whatever difficulties our lives hold, they are still an incredible festival compared to the lives of our ancestors in exile for the last two thousand years. It's easier to celebrate, to shop and work and live our lives, looking away from the horror. The horror comes from understanding how close to the knife's edge we rea

The title of Megilat Esther, might literally be "The Scroll of the Hidden." It is a holiday in which no great miracle seemed to occur and no forces of nature were overturned. The sea did not swallow the enemy, a light did not burn for eight days and G-d did not appear on top of a mountain. It is a holiday of a hidden miracle. It is a story of people being confronted by a crushing people determined to destroy them and yet emerging victorious from it. The Jewish people are often compared to the moon. The moon is mostly hidden and yet it appears revealing its light, no matter how often it disappears, it always reemerges again. In the story of Purim, each arrogant force of power stand counter-opposed by one that is hidden and humble. Vashti is counter-opposed by the self-effacing Esther (whose name itself means hidden) and who wins the hearts of those around her with her humility and lack of adornment. She even conceals her heritage and people completing her hiddeness. Haman, wh

Out of Dallas comes a story about a 60 year old woman who wrestled away a gun from a 19 year old teenager trying to steal her car and shot him. The story's closing paragraph contains the cautionary note that has become obligatory for postmodern America. "We don't recommend it," Sgt. McFarlin said of the woman's decision to confront her attacker. "Always the safe thing to do, unless you're in fear of imminent bodily injury, is to comply." Complying is indeed the recommended option these days, whether it's with criminals or terrorists. Follow orders and hope you don't get hurt. How many women have been forced into cars at the threat of a knife or a gun, only to be taken away and raped and murdered. When people are taught to comply, imminent injury ceases to be a risk but a consequence. Complying was the standard recommendation for airplane hijackings. This cultural programming was only broken on Flight 93, when the consequences of compliance ha

For the last few decades, apologists, the weak-minded and Palestinian sympathizers have had a ready made excuse for Palestinian terrorists. Israeli oppression and the supposed "helplessness" of the Arabs justified any atrocity. When a mob tore to shreds two Israeli reservists who had taken a wrong turn, when Palestinian Arab terrorists killed a mother and her children in a drive by shooting, when suicide bombers blew themselves up in cafes, pizzerias and shopping malls; that same mantra was always trotted out, don't blame the murderers, blame the victims. Now a gang of six serial rapists from a Bedouin village has been arrested, who assaulted girls as young as 13, in their words; " We are raping Jews because of what the IDF is doing to the Palestinians in the territories. " The world has willingly gone along with justifications that began with, " We are murdering Jews because of what the IDF is doing to the Palestinians in the territories ." Will it d

"Perhaps the greatest short-term threat to world peace, Edwards remarked, was the possibility that Israel would bomb Iran's nuclear facilities. Edwards criticized the Bush administration on Sunday for failing to engage directly with Iran to resolve problems with the Iraq war and Iran‘s effort to develop nuclear weapons. "What we should be doing with Iran, both on the Iraq issue and the nuclear issue, is being much smarter than we‘re being now." Edwards said Bush‘s reluctance to open diplomatic lines with Iran and Syria was costing the United States in its efforts to stabilize Iraq. Edwards said the United States should offer a serious package of economic incentives and make it public. He said Washington can encourage Tehran to give up its nuclear enrichment program by promising to give Iran nuclear fuel." * * * "The challenges in your own backyard – represent an unprecedented threat to the world and Is

The following is video footage of Mickey Levi מיקי לוי , now Deputy Chief of Police's infamous assault on Nadia Matar נדיה מטר at a Women in Green rally against the Oslo Accords during the Rabin government in March 1994. Partial audio follows: " We came here for one thing. To remind the world and the government of Israel of the names of Israelis who were murdered from the beginning of the Oslo Peace Accords. No one in the world mourns for them, not Arafat, not the UN David Misrati murdered in October 2003, Efraim Ayubi 30 years old, murdered on November 7th, 2003 Shalom Lapid, 19 years old..." At this point Nadia Matar is seized and dragged away. Later Mickey Levy accused Matar of attacking him. Nadia Matar was put on trial, which was only halted after this tape was released. Despite committing perjury, Micky Levi, a close associate of Ehud Olmert went on to be promoted and will now be Deputy Chief of Police. Update: I dug this clipping out of my collection. I think it s

I predicted this back during Coral Ridge Ministries' "Darwin's Deadly Legacy" documentary that claimed Darwinism was the real source of Nazism and the Holocaust. I pointed out then that most such historical revisionism winds up taking a snake's turn and then pinning the whole thing on the Jews. The left did it by claiming that the real source of the Holocaust and Nazism, was nationalism and then proceeding to identify Zionism with Nazism. Now we're seeing it done by claiming that evolution was invented by the Jews. Since the Jews now "invented" evolution and the Nazis were Darwinists, then the Nazis were really the Jews. The second most powerful member of the Texas House of Representative, Warren Chisum passed on a memo from a Georgia House of Representatives member claiming that teaching evolution means teaching "Jewish religious beliefs." This particular idea comes from a hate site Fixed Earth, which claims among its other ravings, that t