Jewish scapegoating never really goes out of vogue. Last month, a South Korean professor was criticized for an edition of his popular comic series that could have been cribbed from The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, a century-old anti-Semitic text that claims to be a Jewish playbook for world domination. This drawing was translated by the Simon Wiesenthal Center as saying, "The final obstacle (on the path to success) is always the 'fortress of the Jews.'"

Europe has a rich history of purging its Jewish population, either through mass expulsions or mass exterminations. You decide whether Tony Blair has settled on a convenient explanation for his problems.