Whereupon Wiesel, very excited, said, “Give me one example of the Jews ever persecuting anyone.” Of course, I was ready for him. I said, “Under the Maccabean kingdom in the second century B.C., John Hyrcanus of Judea conquered Edom and gave the Edomites a choice—conversion to Judaism or the sword. The Edomites, being sensible, converted, but, thereafter, they were in any case treated as an inferior group, for though they were Jews, they were also Edomites.”
