When we look back on 2006, will we be able to say, 2006 was a good year for the Jews?
Let's face it, how many years can we honestly expect that answer to be yes? This one though, has been an unusually difficult one. And not for the usual reasons. Yes, there was the coma of Ariel Sharon that swerved an unlikely peace off its bumpy road. Yes, Iraq plunged even deeper into chaos, bloodshed and anarchy. And, yes, Hezbollah managed to become the most popular gang of villains in the Middle East, thanks to, well, Israel.
But the real event that caused Jews everywhere panic, fear and terror was much more serious than the events outlined above. The single most important event in the Jewish world in 2006, the incident that had Jews up all night debating with each other in huddled, frightened corners, was of course the altercation between Mel Gibson and a Californian Law Enforcement Officer last summer.
Yes, Mel, the son of an outspoken Holocaust denier (expect to see Mel Senior ? Hutton Gibson ? in snapshots from the conference on Holocaust denial held in Tehran last week), Mel the auteur of the most virulent piece of violent porn since The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (The Passion of the Christ); Mel the Munificent, Mel the Money Maker, Mel Gibson, or as we know him in the UK, Meshuggeneh Max III.
To be fair to him, in a transcript of his recent AA meeting (Anti-semites Anonymous), he was revealed to have categorically denied his anti-Semitic outburst against Deputy James Mee, the arresting officer in Malibu. I wasn't so shocked by his accusations that Jews started all the wars as the fact that Mr. Mee was Jewish! You have Jewish Law Enforcers in America? In England that is no job for a nice Jewish boy. Law, yes. Enforcement? No.
Now that he has revealed his true self (him and Iranian President) Jews can smile and breathe out knowing it is not hidden or being fuelled into vicarious projects. However, being blackballed by Hollywood (his ABC series on, yes you guessed it, the HOLOCAUST, has been shelved) might make people rehash the old conspiracy theory that the Jews run Hollywood. So not good. Also, the poor 81-year-old Dutch woman whose story ABC was going to tell is now "no longer in development," so this is not good for this Jew. Therefore, Mel's welcome expression of his inner true feelings is, ultimately, Not Good for the Jews.