…Anti-Semitism always wins. Case in point, last week’s meeting in Spain, of the Global Counterterrorism Forum. Previously, the Jewish Voice reported on the Forum’s first official gathering, in Istanbul, to which the Israelis were, brace yourselves now, not invited. Not to fear, our State Department said. We would find a way to involve our ally Israel in the important work that the Global Counterterrorism Forum is to undertake. In the meantime, let’s not step on anybody’s toes. “After the whole flotilla fiasco, the Turks kind of freaked out when it was suggested Israel be allowed to attend. So Israel, just be the bigger man this time, okay?” Sounds reasonable, no?

No. Not really. Excluding Israel from a counterterrorism forum is like banning Stephen Hawking from a conference on theoretical physics. In other words, I don’t care if your building isn’t wheelchair-accessible, or you’re creeped-out by a computer-synthesized voice, he’s the greatest living authority on the subject and if you don’t want to make your whole organization look like a complete joke, you should respect his expertise and show some interest in what he has to say!

The fact that the Israelis were banned from this second meeting in Spain suggests that it isn’t just about preserving the fragile U.S.-Turkish relationship. And the fact that countries like Saudi Arabia, with histories of promoting terrorism, directly or indirectly, shows that this whole organization is flawed from the ground up.

Israel may not be the most popular country in the community of nations, but no one can deny that they wrote the book on modern counter-terrorism. Not seeking their expertise on the subject is enough to cast serious doubt on the whole endeavor. That’s right, you read it here first. The “Global Counterterrorism Forum” was created to combat terrorism the same way the “World Conference Against Racism” in Durban was created to combat bigotry. In other words:

Jews need not apply.