I Guess It's a Step

Via (Engage), the NYT has an article about the Bahrain government's efforts to secure the state's Jewish population (right now standing at 36), and attempts to get emigres to return. I feel bad reading it with such a cynical eye, but I am. Between the head of the Bahrain Human Rights Society, who believes "America is governed by the Zionist lobby," and "The media and the money are all in the hands of the Jews", and the university professor who says it is easy to like one of his Jewish friends -- so much so that "I don't feel he is a Jew", well, they may have come a long way, baby, but they still got quite some space to go.

(And that's aside from whether this whole thing is a facade to distract attention from the state's continued repression of its Shi'ite population).