The Jews are the most persecuted people in history. They often blame Christianity for their troubles, but they were persecuted long before Christianity came to prominence. The Egyptians, the Babylonians, and the Romans all persecuted the Jews, and none were Christian. The Jews fought with the Canaanites and the Philistines, and these were not Christian peoples.

In medieval times, Christian England and Spain expelled their entire Jewish populations. Many European countries made the Jews wear yellow badges. There were regular pogroms against the Jews in Russia. Most European nations experienced outbreaks of extreme violence against Jewish communities. Then came the Holocaust - the most terrible persecution in history. Many people were ashamed of what was done to the Jews. The Jews attracted widespread sympathy. They were allowed to create a homeland in Palestine, a land already inhabited. War erupted. Arab countries tried to wipe out the new nation, but it was supported by America, the greatest power in the world, and survived. Now, many countries are again reporting rises in anti-Semitism. Israel is probably the most disliked nation on earth.

The Zionists continually refer to sinister anti-Semitic forces gathering against them. Never once have the Zionists asked themselves why their religion has attracted so much trouble. Always, others are to blame. No blame ever attaches to Zion.

There are only 13.2 million Jews in the world, 0.2% of the world's population. There are 5.6 million Jews in Israel, and 5.3 million in the USA. This is one of the least successful religions ever, yet Jews seem to have a disproportionate influence on world affairs. Why?

Ironically, in the Book of Genesis (Gen 22:17 & 18), Jehovah says, "I will surely bless you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky and as the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will take possession of the cities of their enemies, and through your offspring all nations on earth will be blessed, because you have obeyed me."

So much for that. The Jews are hardly numerous, and the Israelis seem to spend a lot of time killing children in Gaza in Palestine. Are Jews blessed? World history might suggest that "cursed" is more accurate. Being a faithful servant of Jehovah seems to lead to little but misfortune.

The Jewish claim to Israel is based on the idea that it was promised to them by God. But 99.8% of the world's population do not believe in the God of the Jews. And we know from the Old Testament that the Jews had to fight a savage war for the "Promised Land", in which "God" actively participated on the side of the Hebrews. Why did this all-powerful, benevolent "God" not send his Chosen People to a land of milk and honey that did not contain other people, and did not necessitate a violent struggle to win the land? Why did he fight on behalf of the Jews? What sort of God takes part in battles and wars? Doesn't this sound more like Satan than God?

Would not the history of the Jews be more comprehensible if instead of being the Chosen People of a benevolent God, they were something quite different? Why do Jews continue to believe in their God when trouble has dogged them wherever they have gone? Why did God help them in Biblical times, but raised not a finger on their behalf during the Holocaust? This is one very odd God. No wonder Jews stand at the Wailing Wall to worship him. Wailing is all you can do when you worship such a capricious creature. There is no evidence that God loves them.

Who would want to enter into a sacred Covenant with such a God? What would be the point? He delivers no joy, just trouble, persecution and ever-declining numbers.

But perhaps there was no Covenant between the Hebrew God and his people. Perhaps the real Covenant was between the Hebrew God and certain Jewish families, not all Jews. There are a small number of well-known Jewish families - notorious might be a more apt description - who have avoided all of the troubles that have afflicted their race. Instead, they prosper to a bewildering degree, and they have done so for millennia. They posses huge wealth, power and influence. Governments bow to them.

They, not the Jews as a whole, look like they have been "blessed" by a higher power. Is this then the true Covenant? Is it a Faustian pact? Did these leading Jewish families sell their souls to Satan?

The Jews, as a people, are not conspiring against the world. Such a thought is crazy. And if they go out of their way to help each other, so what? Wouldn't you if you had suffered the persecution they have endured over the centuries?

But when a small cabal of elite Jewish families exerts undue control over world affairs - that is a quite different matter. Then all sympathy must be shed. Anti-Semitism is disgraceful and must be condemned, but that does not mean that the eye of suspicion should not fall on a small number of Jewish families whose machinations affect us all. We have every right to examine the affairs of these families, and let no one brand such an exercise anti-Semitic.