The Exception Clause, again

Imagine that two molotov cocktails were thrown at the home of a representative of a Muslim organization. Imagine the outrage, the news articles, the media notice.

Now imagine that two molotov cocktails were thrown at the home of a representative of an African-American organization. Imagine the outrage, the news articles, the media notice.

Now imagine that two molotov cocktails were thrown at the home of a representative of a Jewish organization. Imagine the outrage, the news articles, the media notice—or not.

PROVIDENCE — A Molotov cocktail was thrown into the apartment of a graduate student from Israel but did not explode and a second liquid-filled bottle landed in the yard outside the apartment building, exploded and burned itself out early Saturday, triggering an intensive investigation by several agencies including the FBI.

Targeted in the 1:15 a.m. episode was the second-floor apartment of Josef Knafo, 25, at 122 Camp St., a Brown University graduate fellow who also works at the the Brown University/Rhode Island School of Design Hillel House, on the city’s East Side. Knafo was home at the time, said Deputy Police Chief Paul J. Kennedy.

“At this point, we just don’t know whether to call this a hate crime because we don’t know the motivation,” Kennedy said yesterday.

Funny how they’re so quick to call a firebombing of any other minority a hate crime, yet they hesitate, and hem and haw and insist they have to find out the “motivation” behind the crime before they can even think about whether or not it’s a hate crime.

Kennedy said Knafo was in the kitchen of his apartment when he heard a bang. After looking out the window and seeing the fire on the ground, he came upon the unexploded bottle inside his bedroom, Kennedy said.

So what’s the Jewish agency?

The Jewish agency has hundreds of envoys worldwide that engage in all manner of educational, Zionist and PR endeavors. The agency furthermore organizes numerous solidarity rallies with Israel, including a recent rally following the shooting attack on the Mercaz Harav yeshiva in Jerusalem.

Uh-huh. No idea if it was a hate crime. Because it’s so normal to throw molotov cocktails into apartments in Rhode Island. Happens every week or two, right? To everyone. Really. Nothing to see here. Move along.