President Barack Obama's decision to bestow the Presidential Medal of Freedom on Mary Robinson, who headed a United Nation Commission that condoned suicide bombing against Israelis and who also was in charge of the Durban Conference Against Racism that became an anti-Semitic hate-fest reminiscent of Nazi Germany (and that the Unites States and Israel boycotted, to Robinson's consternation), has elicited some measure of controversy. Jennifer Rubin at Commentary has been doing outstanding work detailing the history of Robinson; columnist Melanie Phillips has also responded while Eric Fingerhut of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency has tried to minimize the controversy (as is the wont of the JTA whenever a Democrat seems to take actions that would strike many Jews as offensive). This treatment by Fingerhut is especially striking because leading Jewish Democrats have been highly critical of Robinson in the recent past: these figures include Richard Holbrooke who currently serves in the...(Read Full Post)