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Mahmoud Ahmadinejad got a huge pre-election boost from the Washington Post.

No, it was not an endorsement of Ahmadinejad's candidacy. It was better. It was practically an endorsement of his views of U.S. politics.

On Wednesday, June 10, 88-year-old James W. von Brunn opened fire inside the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C., killing security guard Stephen T. Johns.

Post columnist Eugene Robinson -- echoed almost word for word by the N.Y. Times's Paul Krugman -- defiled the memory of those lost in the Holocaust by hailing the attack as, essentially, a victory for the Department of Homeland Security, which warned in April that "right wing" Americans -- such as pro-lifers or strict constitutionalists -- were part of a network of potential homegrown terrorists.

"What we don't know is whether all the blast-furnace rhetoric coming from the right is giving validation and encouragement to some confused, angry man or woman with a rifle or a truck full of fertilizer -- the next ‘lone wolf,' preparing to howl," Robinson, echoing Ahmadinejad's conspiratorial attitude toward the American right, wrote.

Unfortunately, Krugman, who is Jewish, joined in the pile-on, as did the National Council of Jewish Women, who chose to mark the murder by equating von Brunn with opponents of unrestricted abortion.

Of course, it was later discovered that von Brunn's hit list included Bill O'Reilly, the conservative Weekly Standard's offices, and Jews and "neocons" in general. (The Standard's editor, William Kristol, is Jewish.) So, is Robinson willing to admit that his own newspaper -- which ran a column by Mary Alice Carr stating that O'Reilly "cannot claim to hold no responsibility" for the murder of abortionist Dr. George Tiller -- is responsible for O'Reilly being targeted by von Brunn? After all, according to Robinson himself, "words have consequences."

And should we blame Time magazine's Joe Klein, who has a disturbing obsession with "Jewish neoconservatives," with von Brunn's targeting Jewish neoconservatives? How about Jeremiah Wright, who recently said "Them Jews ain't going to let [President Obama] talk to me"?

Some more time went by before we found out that von Brunn believed "Socialism represents the future of the West," Christianity is fraudulent, George W. Bush perpetrated the Sept. 11 terror attacks, and that Jews have too much control over U.S. policy. So is von Brunn then a resident of anti-Semitic far-left? Is NBC to blame? How about Time?

The quite obvious answer here is "no." This whole argument is a victory for anti-Semites and Holocaust deniers everywhere. How do we look right now? When someone shoots up a Holocaust museum, we're busy blaming television pundits, magazine columnists, bloggers, or radio hosts. The Jews who work for the Weekly Standard were targeted by von Brunn, and people like Robinson blame... the Jews who work at The Weekly Standard.

On June 3, Newsweek ran an article about Ahmadinejad's re-election chances titled "Iran's President Bush". That so well encapsulates our media coverage. Who's the enemy? George W. Bush, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, influential Jews, James W. von Brunn, talk radio, cable news, etc. -- it's all the same, right?

I hope the rest of the Jewish community doesn't make this mistake. (As it is, Krugman and the National Council of Jewish Women must stop using Jewish tragedies to score cheap political points.) Anti-Semitism has been around as long as the Jewish people have existed. People like von Brunn aren't created by Jews, but what they do is motivated by a hate that we still experience every day. We reported last issue that New Jersey had the highest number of anti-Semitic incidents in 2008.

Thankfully, they're not all murders, but they do provide frequent reminders about the prevalence of anti-Semitism. I live in Highland Park, and soon after moving to town I had rocks thrown at me on a Friday night on Raritan Ave. When I lived in Lakewood, my close friend was pelted with raw eggs while walking over to my house one Shabbat.

I assure you, he didn't blame The Weekly Standard.

We ran a column by Janet Hughes in March in which she recounted the story of discovering her close friend was an anti-Semite. While covering an event recently, I was seated next to someone who told me similar stories -- anti-Semites lurking beneath the smiles of his friends and associates.

Ahmadinejad is a genocidal anti-Semite in hot pursuit of his own final solution. I can just imagine the sickening smile across his face as he opened up mainstream American newspapers after the Holocaust Museum shooting to read that we were blaming the victims. Robinson should be ashamed of himself. He and other newspaper columnists acted as if the Oldest Hatred wasn't to blame, but rather talking heads who aren't in line with the mainstream media's political agenda.

But we know better. Right?

Seth Mandel is the managing editor of The Jewish State.