In the eyes of the beholder…

Had Barack Obama gone to Israel last year, he would have been accused of election-year pandering. That he did not go to Israel since becoming president was “proof” to many that he was secretly anti-Israel and would come out in the open if re-elected.

Now, he is out in the open. He has no further need for Jewish votes, or for Jewish contributors to a re-election campaign. Yet he went to Israel and made very clear to everyone throughout the Middle East and the world at large that the United States’ commitment to Israel remains as strong as ever.

Monday’s tragic bombings in Boston, in which three people died and 176 wounded, many grievously, must remind all of us here in the United States of something our brethren in Israel have known for the last 65 years: Life is an ever-so-precious gift that can be snatched away in the blink of an evil eye.

It is not clear as of the writing of this editorial who was responsible for this gruesome, cowardly act. The nature of the two bombs that exploded within 12 seconds of each other along the final few hundred feet of the Boston Marathon’s route to Copley Square leaves no doubt that hate is at the heart of the matter.

It’s official. Anti-Semitism is making a comeback worldwide. So said Secretary of State John Kerry earlier this week in announcing the appointment of Ira Forman as the new United States Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism.

The blogosphere came alive at the announcement — not because anti-Semitism is a problem, but because bloggers on the right see Forman as a problem. Why? Because he headed the National Jewish Democratic Coalition for 15 years and spearheaded the successful effort to keep the Jewish vote in President Barack Obama’s corner in the 2012 election.

These bloggers all focus on one thing: Forman fiercely defended Obama against Republican claims that the president was anti-Israel, if not anti-Semitic, referring to such rhetoric as “typical drivel,” among other things.

Once again, the Conference on Material Claims Against Germany is under attack for malfeasance and worse. The organization devoted to seeking justice for the survivors of the Shoah has been a favorite target for more than six decades of some of the very people it has worked unceasingly to help.

In the present instance, there are legitimate questions that need to be answered. The Claims Conference, as it is commonly called, dropped the ball in 2001 when its attention was first directed to possible fraudulent activity involving spurious claims made by ineligible claimants.