All of my life, I’ve heard that the Israel lobby stifles criticism of Israel. And all of my life, I’ve heard criticism of Israel — nonstop. Something is wrong here.

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George Soros — as you can see in this article — is the latest to say, “The pro-Israel lobby has been remarkably successful in suppressing criticism.” Oh, yeah? Obviously not successful enough.

I’m tempted to use the old line (which I’ve never much liked) “What planet are you living on?” Are there any pro-Israel professors on campus (anywhere)? More specifically, is there a pro-Israel professor in a Middle Eastern Studies department (any of them)?

I don’t believe there’s any country more despised and assailed by our elites than Israel — with the possible exception of the United States.

About two seconds after reading about Soros, I read this article: “Third of Israeli youth fears second Holocaust.”

No, I don’t think Israel is a coddled, pampered nation. I think it is a pariah nation, and one marked for extinction — the only such country in the world. That is a rotten distinction.

David Pryce-Jones reminds me that the U.N. Human Rights Council has passed eight resolutions against Israel, but none against any other country. (And on that council, of course, sit Cuba, China, Zimbabwe, Sudan, Saudi Arabia . . .)

Taste Soros, again: “The pro-Israel lobby has been remarkably successful in suppressing criticism.” To me, that line is not only false, but obscene.

I bring you good news from Sweden, and it is reported by David Ibison of the Financial Times, in this article:

Sweden’s centre-right government’s plan to scrap the country’s wealth tax will remove one of the most powerful symbols of seven decades of almost uninterrupted leftwing rule.

Fredrik Reinfeldt, prime minister, who won elections last September, said a proposal to eradicate the 1.5 per cent tax on personal wealth of more than SKr1.5m ($200,000, €160,000, £109,000) would be included in next month’s budget.

The symbolic move was an affirmation of the youthful premier’s rightwing credentials and sent a powerful message that the accumulation of wealth in egalitarian Sweden was no longer taboo, experts said.

“This is another step towards Sweden becoming a normal country,” said Maria Rankka, president of Timbro, a rightwing think-tank.

So that is good news, indeed: Sweden has apparently discovered about economics what other countries have known for ages.

But that word right-wing was thrown around quite a bit in that FT article, wasn’t it? What do they mean by that — classical liberal?

“Right-wing” used to mean Mussolini (or just possibly Frank Rizzo). Now, I’m afraid, it means merely . . . not socialist, or worse.

Kind of sad, huh?

One of the pleasures of being alive these last ten years has been the opportunity to hear John Howard as prime minister of Australia. Isn’t he a wonder (from Down Under)? (Sorry about that.) A couple of weeks ago, he gave it to the Euros, for their environmentalist scolding. I’ll let an FT article tell the tale:

Stavros Dimas, the EU environment commissioner, on Monday accused Canberra of undermining efforts to reach global agreement on capping greenhouse gas emissions by refusing to ratify the Kyoto protocol.

John Howard, the Australian prime minister, hit back Tuesday, accusing the EU of hypocrisy since 12 EU members were in danger of missing their Kyoto targets while Canberra was on course.

“You’ve got the spokesman for a group of countries lecturing us about not having signed Kyoto, yet the great bulk of the countries on whose behalf he speaks are falling well behind their Kyoto targets and are doing less well than Australia in meeting them,” he said. “Our answer to the spokesman for the European Union is look to your own affairs, get your countries complying with the targets you’ve proclaimed.”

Mr Howard said countries including Portugal, Denmark, Ireland, Spain and Italy were all in danger of missing their Kyoto targets.

Beautiful, just beautiful, this guy. Best thing to emerge from Australia since Olivia Newton-John. (But why did she have to turn slutty in Grease?)