From Matt Steinglass, on the evolution of Israeli-American relations:

In the old days, when I would break out my rather crummy Hebrew in a conversation with Israelis, I would usually get indulgent smiles and questions about how I'd learned it, which would quickly segue into a discussion about Jerusalem neighbourhoods and so forth. It was a good way to establish a bit of friendly intimacy....But since sometime at the beginning of this decade, I've noticed, this doesn't seem to happen so much anymore....I don't know what lies behind this wariness. But let's put it this way: address a Dutchman in Dutch and he'll wind up asking you what you think of Holland. Address a Vietnamese person in Vietnamese and he'll wind up asking you what you think of Vietnam. Address an Israeli in Hebrew and, these days, I find, he doesn't really want to know what you think about Israel.

Not lately, anyway. More at the link.

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Kevin Drum

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Kevin Drum is a political blogger for Mother Jones. For more of his stories, click here. RSS | Twitter