(Thanks to Laura Harris for sending this in, though I took the liberty of spiffing it up, using my previous experience as jokes editor at a prominent Jewish newspaper…)
A young man is walking the streets of Paris. Suddenly he sees a rottweiler attacking a young girl. He jumps on the dog, struggles with it and strangles it to death. Both he and the girl escape with minor scratches.
Immediately, a gaggle of excited CNN reporters surround him and wave their notebooks. “What is your name? What a story! All of Paris will hear of you, and the headlines will be ‘Parisian hero saves little girl from savage dog.'”
The man says, “But I am not Parisian.”
The journalists say “OK, fine, so all of France will hear of you and the headlines will be ‘French hero saves little girl from savage dog.'”
The man shifts uncomfortably in his shoes. “But I am not French.”
The journalists scribble furiously. “Sure, whatever, so all of Europe will hear of you and the headlines will read ‘European hero saves little girl from savage dog.”
The man stands up straight and declares proudly: “But I am not from Europe. I am from Israel.”
The journalists put their notebooks away. “OK, so the entire world will hear of you and the headlines will read ‘Israeli kills little girl’s dog.'”
Hey Yenta! Long time eh? Sorry it’s a been while but I’ve been doing by best by working on an IDF base in Haifa- I’m safely back in the states now (or not so safe considering the attack in Seattle)- and I’ve gotta say that this joke says it all. No matter what we do, no matter how much restraint we show, no matter what steps we take be they right wrong or indifferent, the Kofi Annans of the world, not to mention the blatant jew-haters out there will find a way to twist everything we do against us.
Nice to read your stuff again.