Paul McCartney has emerged in recent weeks as something of a hero, refusing to bow to the demand of those who believe in boycotting Jews to pull out of his concert there.

Much the best piece I've read on this is by Calev Ben-David in today's Jerusalem Post:

As McCartney touched down in Israel to bring his musical message of peace and love to a part of the globe where those qualities are too often in short supply, Ahmadinejad was making his own appearance at the opening of the UN General Assembly, singing his usual tune of violence and hate - especially directed to the Jewish state.

In deciding to perform here in the face of protests by those who think like Ahmadinejad, McCartney told The Jerusalem Post last week: "I think that most people understand that I'm quite apolitical and that my message is a global one and that it is a peaceful one."

Not everyone. That McCartney's belated appearance here spurred threats against the former Beatle by those who call for Israel to be singled out for exceptional condemnation, is merely a less serious, but no less troubling, sign of a time in which an Ahmadinejad is feted at the UN and given use of the General Assembly podium as stage for his anti-Semitic Holocaust denials and threats against the very existence of the Jewish state.