Zev Charets (not shown above), the author of “A Match Made in Heaven: American Jews, Christian Zionists and One Man’s Exploration of the Weird and Wonderful Judeo-Evangelical Alliance”,  weighs in on the firestorm of criticism leveled at suspended Albany Patroons coach Michael Ray Richardson in today’s LA Times (link courtesy Joe Gaer).

Richardson was suspended by the Patroons, forbidden by team owner Ben Fernandez to even attend practice. Predictably, Abe Foxman, the national director of the Anti-Defamation League, praised this punishment and demanded an apology: “Micheal Ray needs to understand that when he suggests that all Jews are crafty, that Jews have a lot of money and power, he is conjuring up classic anti-Semitic stereotypes¦. We hope that Micheal Ray will realize the pain his words have caused to many people and make clear that he understands why his remarks about Jews were so inappropriate and offensive.”

Excuse me, but Richardson didn’t say anything offensive (and while we’re on the subject of offensive, what’s with the “Micheal Ray”? Are he and Foxman first-name buddies?).

In fact, Jews, as a people, are smart, in my experience. And they’re proud of it (especially the dumb ones). Wake up a Jew in the middle of the night and he can rattle off the Jewish Nobel Prize winners in alphabetical order. Believe me, I’ve been a Jew for 59 years, and I know what I’m talking about.

What other hurtful things did Richardson supposedly say? That Israel has the best airport security in the world? This is both true and something Israel itself brags about. That Jews are hated and need to protect themselves? That’s the founding premise of the Anti-Defamation League itself.

Sure, Richardson exaggerates when he says that Jews own most sports teams. As far as I can tell, Jews (about 1% of the population) only own about half the teams in the NBA (and a pretty fair proportion in baseball and football too). So what?

As to the observation that Jews run a lot of successful businesses, no kidding. Jews are very likely the most economically successful ethnic group in the U.S. What’s the matter with that?

Other than adding a voice to the chorus of those who think the Jews control everything, very little. But Chafets (not the first to try and put the coach’s remarks in context) neglects to address the accusation (denied by Richardson) that he referred to a heckler as a “fucking faggot.”