Peace Pipe for the anti-Semitic Roald Dahl -- 30 Years Late

Roald Dahl, the beloved, BELOVED author of children's books, skated off this Giant Peach of a planet back in 1990, stubbornly sticking to his anti-Semitism. Back then, as now, hating Jews is pardonable. You don't see any "Jewish Lives Matter" banners anywhere. 

In fact, crimes against Jews are played down. When an Orthodox Jew is beaten up in Brooklyn, the perp is never identified by race and "hate crime" is rarely charged. Stats show that more bias crimes are committed against Jews in New York City than any other race, color or creed. All around the world (if you care to check any issue of the Wiesenthal newsletter, Jewish people and their businesses are targeted, and violence and deaths practically ignored. Some countries cheerfully allow posters of Hitler and offensive caricatures, if not outright lies from people or the press that would be an outrage if it was against a minority group more prone to violence and protest. 

But back to rotten Roald, who, perhaps to his credit as an honest man, spouted his "logical" hatred of Jews in various interviews. Most notoriously in 1983: “There is a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity, maybe it’s a kind of lack of generosity towards non-Jews. I mean, there’s always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere. Even a stinker like Hitler didn’t just pick on them for no reason.”

Seven years later, the year of his death, Dahl doubled down: “I’m certainly anti-Israeli and I’ve become anti-Semitic in as much as that you get a Jewish person in another country like England strongly supporting Zionism.”  

Fast forward 30 years, and out of nowhere, the Dahl website now has a little apology for grandpa's nasty comments. So don't boycott buying a Dahl book, or look too closely at whether there are anti-Semitic characters with over-sized noses in any of the illustrations or movies. Just what prompted this caveat is unknown, but certainly over the years anti-Semites have seized on Dahl's words to help justify their hatred. But here it is, and it's welcome: