The Laughing Wolf

A powerful eulogy indeed.

I am amazed at the canonization of Said. I did not know him as a human being, but loathed his politics. This Palestinian "Saint" was anything but. Reading his book "Out of Place" you learn that his hero in terms of US Presidents was none other than Dwight Eisenhower(because Eisenhower pressured Israel out of Sinai and Gaza after the 1956 Sinai War). Of course he despised Truman for recognizing Israel. He had contempt for Eleanor Roosevelt (she was sympathetic to the Jews and Israel); thought Martin Luther King Jr. had it coming to him, since he supported Israel during 1967 Six Day War; and bemoaned the media for failing to "understand" the political context of Palestinian Sirhan Sirhans murder of RFK.
Once at a lecture at Columbia he mentioned that his books were banned in Israel. I caught him in this lie, since his books were published in Israel, and in fact I bought one of his books at a Steimatsky book store in Eilat. His books are banned in every Arab country and the Palestinian territories, and Israel is the only Mideast country that publishes his books.
I found Said to be a pompous boor, and his bi-weekly rantings in Al-Ahram (the Egyptian governmental paper) showed him in his typical form. One week he calls Clinton a war criminal, the next week he is ranting about something else.
I won't be sitting shiva for him.