A thoughtful and scary article. There is no place for anti-semitism or anti-anything in todays shrinking world.
I do take issue with the following sentence from the aticle, however.
"...and a point of comparison (i.e. comparing Jews with Nazis). Those who make these claims, often with references to apartheid and ethnic cleansing, do not seek to criticise Israel but to demonise it as a fascist regime in order to justify its destruction."
Any nation that uses methods used by Nazis and other totalitarian regimes risks the comparison. I refer of course to group reprisals such as bulldozing the home of the family of those suspected of terrorist acts and the ghetto wall being constructed. To me, these are reminiscent of the Nazi era, but I do not seek the demonisation or destruction of Israel. I do seek justice for all peoples, without exception, and if I am judged to be anti-semitic or anti-zionist, then I suspect that those making the accusation have forgotten their history.

To be anti-Israeli is not to be anti-semitic. It seems to be a key strategy of the Anti-Defamation league to accuse the critics of Israeli aggression and brutality of anti-semitism. Sympathy for the suffering of Jews under the holocaust is being rapidly eroded by the unconscionable behaviour of Israel towards those other semites, the Palestinians. If the world is plunged into WW3 by a US attack on Iran, it will be directly attributable to Israeli paranoia and the amazing power of the AIPAC.

I would suggest that one of the reasons for "the left" having some concentration on Israel is (a) cultural familiarity (b) a desire for success and (c) opposition to colonialism and (d) it's pivotal role in all Middle-East politics.

With regards to cultural familiarity, one of the results of the diaspora is that Judaism is strongly and highly integrated into American and European consciousness and, of course, Israel is in so many ways an Americo-European creation or even satellite state. The Jews have been, as the author points out, targets for the most extraordinary abuse, yet also magnificant contributors to intellectual life (especially, it must be said, the Ashkenazi). It is well-recognised that Israel is the most secular and democratic state in the Middle East, and hence may sincerely wish it to be "a light unto nations". This is also a source of despair when it engages in acts which smack of "hafrada", when it engages in the sort of discrimination which the author notes.

Likewise, the left has always been antithetical to colonialism, even the totalitarian left which split over the Soviet invasions of Hungary and Czechoslovakia and even made genuine effort to ensure minority cultural rights. Israel certainly smacks of being a colonial state to many. The Sephardic (Semitic) Jews are only a modest percentage of the population of Israel and English is spoken universally and is mandatory in the school system. From an Arabic perspective, what does the author suppose they would make of this? Hence the pivotal role in Mid-Eastern politics - it is not just "Israel" that is at stake here, but also the politics of the entire region.

For these reasons, and contrary to the author's claims, criticism (or support) of Israel do not always constitute anti (or pro) -semitism per se, but rather a topic with familiarity.

Funny how Zionism NEEDS anti-semitism in order to survive as a potent political force.

Whenever there is an insufficiency of perceived anti-semitism, the tyres start to go down on the juggernaut.

- uh, oh! Get pumping Manny!

I have no doubt that Australian Jews are sometimes the victims of anti-Semitic discrimination and violence simply for being Jewish, but I am thoroughly disgusted at the continued smear of "anti-semite" against anyone who questions or criticises Israel.

As a non-Christian, I find the basis of anti-semitism laughably crude and primitive, but apparently I reveal myself as a committed Jew-hater if I condemn Israel's frequent land-grabbing and forced relocation of civilians (which has been called, ironically, "the poor man's genocide").

For generations, the struggle against anti-Semitism has been inseparably linked to the battle against all forms of anti-democratic oppression and particularly against fascism. The anti-Semitism of the 20th century was bound up with anti-communism as Hitler and Mussolini alike branded Marxism and socialism as “Jewish.” Opposing anti-Semitism meant upholding universal democratic rights against all forms of racial and religious discrimination and persecution.
In 2003 the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), the organization founded in the United States 90 years ago with the stated aim of fighting anti-Semitism and other forms of bigotry, bestowed its Distinguished Statesman Award on a leading European political figure. The recipient of the award, was none other than Silvio Berlusconi, the prime minister of Italy who made headlines and sparked wide outrage when he came to the defense of the former fascist dictator Benito Mussolini. Berlusconi ruled in a coalition with Mussolini’s political descendants, the “post-fascist” National Alliance. He has consistently denounced his critics at home in terms that are virtually identical to those utilized by the German Nazis and their Italian fascist partners. According to Berlusconi, the judges and prosecutors who have pursued corruption investigations against him are “mentally disturbed,” and communists in disguise. In large part,Israel is a state based on religious and racial exclusivity and oppression, the very same ideology and practices that Jews in America and elsewhere have historically fought in order to defeat anti-Semitism. The Zionist leadership in Israel are based on national and racial exclusivity and they are shifting ground heading to the far right. As well, the Zionists have a real hatred for Jewish workers. Zionism was put forward as an alternative to workers uniting their struggles internationally for socialism.

It's quite a nonsense story really because arabs are semitic and if there is an increase in semitism it against arabs and not Jews.

Get a grip Manny. I don't hate Jews or Muslims or christians or any of the other silly religions because they are all based on some imaginary friend and paranoid delusions of higher powers.

What I and the so-called left despise is the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by the Israelis, their utter refusal to set borders, the continual theft of Palestinian land and the incessant bleating about anti-semitism.

Once again we have the specious argument that as Arabs are semites then anti-semitism applies equally to anti-Arab actions. This is the usual dishonest process of changing the well known and accepted meanings of phrases in order to disarm and confuse the real issue. But these arguments are never productive because whenever anyone dares to talk about some real grievances that the Jews or israelis may have (without detracting in any way from the grievances of teh Arabs) we get the arguments that, in effect, the Jews and Israelis are not entitled to grievnaces because of teh terrible thinsg they do to Arabs.
The same people completely ignore the herd of elephants in the room - the egregious behaviour of the Arab States towards Israel since its inception, the utterly barbaric behaviour of many anti-Israel Arabs. All they can see is the Israeli behaviour in isolation. the whole problem shoulkd be seen in its complete context - not just Israeli actions.
The lack of intellectual honesty in many people arguing against Israle makes areally constructive discussion impossible.
Israel's proiblem is that while Jews were losers the left loved it - once the Jews said we are not going to be losers anymore the Left dropped them.
And I know that this posting is likely to result in one or more postings accusing me of all sorts of things but one has to wonder why it is that the Jewish State is subject to such criticism when other non-Jewish States, whose behaviour is much more egregious that that of Israel, are not subject to criticism.
Sure,Israel should be criticised but when people make such extreme and dishonest assessmenst as those I have mentioned above, their claim not to be anti-Semitic rings rather hollow.

The Western world by letting Israel go illegally militarily atomic in the late 1960s and letting her become a US outpost in the Middle East, again illegally, has made it very difficult for historians like myself to justify Israel not being penalised by a Global Court or a genuine UN if the world ever follows the Kantian philosophy of a Federation of Nations rather than dominated by one single unipolar power?

Arabs are semites. So are Jews. Get over it.

Marilyn,
“What I and the so-called left despise is the ethnic cleansing of Palestine by the Israelis, their utter refusal to set borders, the continual theft of Palestinian land and the incessant bleating about anti-semitism.”

But Marilyn that’s not the full Monty is it ?
You and your left are very light-on when it comes to criticising the misdeeds of non-Israelis.

Is this because the Israelis are the font of all oppression, or, do you & your left simply have a blind spot

Though not au fait with the situation between the Palestinians and Jews, I recall reading a biography, and a historical account of life in the 30s or 40s in Jerusalem when Jews and Arabs lived happily next door to each other.

The same source also recalled the black day for Jews, when preparing to visit the synagogue, responded to the knocks on their front doors.

That's when the Arab "visitors" on rampage, knifed the Jew, methodically going from door to door and slaying these people.

Jews have lived in Judea, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip throughout recorded history until the 1948 "War of Independence" when they were forced to flee the the Arab armies.

Perhaps we should also recall that Jews also frequently purchased land from Arabs or landowners - they did not take it and for those who believe in the scriptures, Abraham lived in that area long before the birth of Muhammed (570CE?)

Is Britain also partly responsible for the conflict when they drew a haphazard line in the sand and divided the states in a most imprudent fashion?

Posters, more conversant than I, with that period of history, may wish to enlighten me further?

I have a very good friend who is Jewish and one thing I have learned is that he is completely irrational on the subject of Israel. I can make any kind of facetious "anti-Semitic" remark and he'll respond with a joke, but if I dare to suggest Israel is less than squeaky-clean, he gets mightily upset and I usually get a rant of the same nature as one of those above - basically: "Whatever Israel does, the Arabs are worse". I now don't discuss the topic with him because he is not capable of doing so rationally, which is, it seems, the case with many Jews. What he and they don't seem to grasp is that there is no exclusivity in that criticism. I'm equally as likely to criticise any other Government (of a democratic nation, especially) that behaves appallingly. What I cannot do is give "carte blanche" to Israel to bahave badly simply because the Jewish people of a couple of generations ago in a different part of the world were treated appallingly by some other group or because it faces a threat from those who its creation dispossessed. A hallmark of a civilised country is proportional response and the rule of one law for all: Israel has too often failed that test. It's a tragedy.

Good on you, Antiseptic, it is the way I feel as a retired old guy now with a Post-Grad and trying to make sense of modern history by going back as far as the Ancient Greeks.

Would you say the formerly cruelly treated Jews are now being spoilt by America, especially letting them build up an arsenal of the most modern nuclear weaponry.

Is such for America's benefit in the Middle East, or just for Israeli protection from the Arabs?

Cheers - BB, WA.

Lev
"The Sephardic (Semitic) Jews are only a modest percentage of the population of Israel"

Totally untrue. The Jewish refugees from Arab countries, Sephardic (Spanish not Semitic) and Mizrahi (Iraq Yemen etc) roughly equal in number the Israeli Jews of European origin. Up to a million were forced out of countries where they had lived sometimes for over two thousand years when the Arab populations stole their property. Their numbers exceeded that of the displaced Muslim Palestinians.

Antiseptic

"I have a very good friend who is Jewish and one thing I have learned is that he is completely irrational on the subject of Israel."

Find a few more Jewish friends. I think your sample of one person is totally irrational. And read a bit of Israeli history, not just the version pushed by hostile nations.

Marilyn Shepherd

I am not accusing you of anything but a one eyed blindness. The only ethnic cleaning going on in the Middle East is the disappearance of Jews, Druze, Baha'i, Samaritans, Zoroastrians, Christians, homosexuals and women's rights from extreme Islamist lands. Many found refuge in Israel. Look at Saudi Arabia where religious buildings other than mosques are illegal. In Israel, by contrast they all exist, and gay pride marches are held with full police protection, do you know of anywhere else in the region where this happens?

Why do all of you consistently ignore these issues?

And Anti-Semitism, to all but the intellectually dishonest, means anti Jewish and has many notorious historical exemplars. Anti-Arab behaviour may be reprehensible but it is not anti-Semitism except, as I said, to the intellectally dishonest or those who are blind to anything in this debate except criticism of the Jewish State - I emphasise the fact that it is a JEWISH State - because if it was an Arab State, a Zimbabwean State, a Peruvian State doing what Israel does there would not be a peep of criticism.
Get used to the exposure.

Manny’s article falls into the standard Zionist narrative which seeks to deflect any criticism of Israel as a matter of anti-Semitism. Let us be clear here. As a Jew living in Australia, Manny is able to become a citizen of Israel while, at the same time, Israel refuses to recognize the equal rights of the indigenous non-Jewish population. There is not one reference to this fact, a highly relevant factor in understanding anti-Semitism, anywhere in Manny’s article. This reflects a racism that is far worse than the anti-Semitism Manny describes. For Manny, the Palestinians do not even exist.

Not once once does Manny mention the Occupation, the indiscriminate bombing of Lebanon, or the fact that Israel functions as an apartheid state excluding its non-Jewish citizens from much of its opportunities. I can’t think of anything more likely to stoke anti-Semitism than to avoid any critical analysis of what Israel does. Israel is not like any other state that commits atrocities. It is a settler state that unashamedly excludes non-Jews. Israel gets unprecedented billions in military and economic aid from the US, EU and the UK along with unprecedented political support. I am not aware that Sudan has a lobby in Washington that routinely has lunch meetings with the Vice President. I don’t believe Russia receives extra deliveries of ordinance exactly at the time when it escalates its bombardment of heavily populated civilian areas as was the case with Israel when it indiscriminately bombed Lebanon last year. I don’t believe George Bush was speaking of the President of the Sudan, or Russia or Burma, when he described a known war criminal as ‘a man of peace’. (I, of course, refer to Ariel Sharon. A man whom Israel’s own commission of inquiry held to be personally responsible for the slaughter of thousands of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon in 1982).

If we conflate criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism, then only two things are certain. Israel will continue to commit its atrocities, and real anti-Semitism, as an irrational racist response to these atrocities, will continue to increase.

Logic:"Find a few more Jewish friends. I think your sample of one person is totally irrational."

Why? It's an anecdote I used to support an expression of an opinion. Perhaps you should try finding a few friends and you might have some of those yourself? Get out of the synagogue occasionally and some of them might even be *gasp* gentile...

" And read a bit of Israeli history, not just the version pushed by hostile nations."

I have. I'm not impressed, on the whole, especially with the history of the last 25 years or so, just as I'm unimpressed with the flood of hysterically pro-Zionist propaganda or flaming that occurs anytime a critique is offered. Why are you people so scared of impartiality?

Plaza-Toro: "I emphasise the fact that it is a JEWISH State - because if it was an Arab State, a Zimbabwean State, a Peruvian State doing what Israel does there would not be a peep of criticism."

Thanks for illustrating my point above

Bushbred:"Would you say the formerly cruelly treated Jews are now being spoilt by America, especially letting them build up an arsenal of the most modern nuclear weaponry.

Is such for America's benefit in the Middle East, or just for Israeli protection from the Arabs?"

Now aren't those some large cans of worms? It seems fairly obvious that the US is basing much of its Middle-East policy on appeasing the pro-Zionist lobby at home, just as Australia does. Is there anyone who believes that we sent troops to Iraq just because Howard wanted to be friends with Bush and that the influence in the Liberal Party of such prominent pro-Zionists as the Pratts and the Myers had nothing to do with it?

Quite understandably given their history, Jews have made a point of being almost entirely cohesive on the subject of Zionism (notwithstanding the recent outbreak of independent thought among high-profile Jews in Britain and Australia)and have used that cohesion to become a strong voice influencing Governments. Nothing wrong with that, except that this powerful voice is and has been all too often used to drown dissent, leading to bad policy through lack of proper debate. The support of Israeli interests has become a political norm for politicians - one I suspect they rarely question.

Antiseptic

"Perhaps you should try finding a few friends and you might have some of those yourself? Get out of the synagogue occasionally and some of them might even be *gasp* gentile..."

How little you know. I am fourth generation in Australia. The first Jews arrived on the first fleet. I rarely attend synagogue and am an agnostic. I never attended a Jewish school and few of my friends are Jewish. So you have one Jewish friend.

I do know of the lies circulated by the Palestinians and of the fake press photographs and videos. The one that says that the Temple in Jerusalem was built by Muslims not by Jews. Have you been following the recent court case in France where according to evidence a video showing an Arab boy shot by nasty Israelis allegedly finished with the dead boy sitting up and smiling? The last part was left out by the international media, no wonder so many are angry with dishonest reporting. After all western journalists have been captured and threatened by Palestinians, but never by Israelis, perhaps that affects Press reportage.

Your recent comment about a Jewish lobby, there are only 100,000 Jews in Australia compared with 300,000 Muslims, says it all.

MANNY if you want to know where anti semitism comes from.... you could explore the following:

Sasoons...that highly respected family which sold 100s of TONS of opium to the Chinese, and spread networks of family members across china to facilitate the near moral genocide of a population. Yet, in spite of this, they are lauded in Jewish publications as 'luminaries and visionaries and wonderful examples to follow'

It reminds me of some south American Indian tribes who call themselves 'human' and all non-them 'sub humans'.

If they had simply been a "company" employing 'any' one.. it would be different..but because they made it a 'Jewish' enterprise.. people would be forgiven for tarring other Jews with the Sasoon brush.
I'm reminded of how this worked out with a "High Profile Retailing Identity" in Melbourne who sought to chanel the public company's purchasing through his own family companies.. to enhance his own (Jewish) families wealth.

"Anti" semitism cannot exist without 'Semitism' .. so said Inky Stephenson.. in a well argued essay on the origins of this issue.
Were it not for the deliberate 'Jewish' promotion of Jewish interests within other communities, there would be nothing to be 'against'....

When it comes to Zionism, I find myself more sympathetic. I don't begrudge Jews from having the Biblical homeland... and waving the 'anti semitism' red rag to garner support for it has no impact on me.

CHRIS.. you were in good form there mate.. your conspiracy theory madness had got the better of you mate :) "See how they NEED 'antisemitism' for Zionism to survive as a potent political force"

It could equally be argued "See how Arab/Muslim/Palestinians NEED 'the Zionist entity' to survive as a potent political force"

see it now ? :)

I can't figure out why your bias always comes down on the side of our ENEMIES. grrrr

Marilyn Shepherd you claim that Israel is guilty of "ethnic cleansing".

In 1948 the Arab population of mandated Palestine was about 700,000.

In 2006 the Arab population in the Palestinian territories was about
2 million.

In 2006 the Israeli Arab population was about 1.2 million.

In Israel the fertility rate for Israelis is 2.75 on the West Bank it is 4.17.

Never let facts get in the way of a bit of Israel-bashing.

Logic,

re: Sephradic and Mizrahi Jews. You are right and I am wrong. In my defense I meant to cut-n-paste Mizrahi, and ended up with Sephradic referring to the Judaic practise rather than Arabic Jewish (Musta'arabim et al) cline and language group. An error on my part, and please accept my apologies.

Plaza-Toro,

To my understanding the term "anti-semitic" was coined by Moritz Steinschneider in opposition to Ernest Renan's claims of how "Semitic races" were inferior to "Aryan races" and prior deriving from von Schlüzer's use of the "Semitic nations" in 1787. There can be no doubt whatsoever from reading his works Renan (or von Schlüzer for that matter) was referring to all Semitic peoples. The use of anti-semitism by Europeans against Jews was always a claim that because those of the Jewish religion were of Semitic origin, they were sufficiently impossible to integrate with Indo-European cultures; and with all the tragic consequences that such racism results with. If anything the practical use of the term should encourage a sense of solidarity between Jews and Arabs.

Manny, why do Jews think that they are the only ones to have suffered discrimination and racism in the world, have they/you not heard about the Russians and Chinese losses during the WW2 each lost 20 million or more and yet you don't see them complaining.

Here in Australia whole Aboriginal "language groups" disapeared, as a result of the illegal occupation of our land. This is equlivent on a percentage basis to all french speaking people in the world being suddenly eradicated from the face of the earth for good.

Whilst some isolated incidences of hate crime happens to your people occassionaly its is not supported by the state. For Indigenous people discrinmination on the basis of race is embodied in the constitution of Australia, meaning we have no property rights and the Gubberment can make decisions for us on the basis of our race as in the case of the NT intervention.

As for Jenin in the IDF's own account of the incident it admits to the fact that its soldiers used civilians in the town as human shields, this had the support at the highest level of command and was designed to protect its soldiers against those armed people in the camps trying to protect their famlies.

Why was the IDF comanders not punished as war crimminals like the german commanders in charge of troops during the Warsaw Uprising, could the comparison between Jenin and Warsaw Uprising be lost on the IDF? .

During my last visit to Israel just before the wall went up I personally witnessed the way the Arabs are treated by the IDF at the checkpoints into Israel. They are regularly mistreated including being beaten and humiliated especially the women and elderly, they have guns pointed at their faces or hit with rifle butts and they have no avenue to complain about their treatment.

If people in Australia are going to be called anti semitic for having an opinion on the double standards of Israel, then Jews might find themself being labled anti Australian and being activly encouraged to leave for Israel.

Boaz

You suggest the Sassoon family with dealings between India and China as a possible cause of antisemitism. I think not. Those two countries had Jews living within them for over a 1000 years, with no trace of antisemitism. In fact antisemitism started with Christian Rome and was a mainstay of the Catholic and Eastern Churches. It was also practiced by the Muslims with the forcing out of nearly a million Jews from Islamic countries.

Antisemitism literally does not exist outside of the Christian and Muslim worlds. Perhaps because those two faiths, as far as I know, uniquely preach that their adherents are the only ones in heaven. Nazi Germany just followed a grizzly path laid out by the Church.

Extreme Islam is now the main offender, where Christians are as despised as Jews. Christians are leaving Lebanon and Egypt because of their treatment by Islamists, Jews are no longer to be find in either of these lands.

Why is it that Israel is branded as an apartheid state when it gives its non Jewish citizens equal rights, while no critique is made of Saudi Arabia which does not allow any religious places of worship other than Mosques, or Iran which forces Jewish schools to open on the Sabbath? Or why the case of 700,000 Palestinians are given more space than 900,000 Jewish refugees from Arab countries? Or why Muslims can fire thousands of rockets at Israel and threaten it with annihilation without criticism but Israel is not even allowed to build a security fence to contain the hideous epidemic of child suicide murders?

On the question of whose land it is, why are Turkish and English records of occupation ignored and only the Palestinian ones believed? Perhaps the Jewish view of history is more correct than the Arab one.

And don't cast me as an ethnic, my family arrived here four generations ago, I am as Australian as any non-aborigine, and in religion I am an agnostic but I see bias when it occurs.

If criticising Israeli behaviour means I'm anti-semetic...well then I'm loudly anti-semetic and bloody proud to be labelled so.

Stuff all you whinging pro-Israeli bigots.

I am not objecting to criticisms of Israel. I am objecting to total inaccuracies and one sided comments. I am the last person to cry antisemitism, I personally have never experienced it and neither have my sisters, but I do wonder about the motives of those who claim that Israel has apartheid which is patently false, who fail to criticise the Islamic extremist world for bringing up children as suicide murderers with TV programs venerating their deaths, who ignore Israeli democracy and the plightsof non-Muslims including Jews and Christians in Muslim lands.

Why is it that someone who challenges the lies of the Islamist world, or a journalist who run blogs criticising the one sidedness of the press in covering the issues is accused of being emotional or irrational and assumed to be Jewish and Zionist, even if they are neither?

Logic,

By way of introduction let me state that Israel is the most advanced, most secular and most democratic state in its region with many Muslim states falling far behind even the most minimum standards of decency towards non-Muslims. I am however, not so critical of those who engage resistance against the continuing military occupation of the West Bank and Gaza.

By the same token there is much within Israel that constitutes apartheid-like practises, especially in the occupied West Bank where the 'hafrada' policies has created bantustans for the Palestinians. I also refer to the many and various laws which make strong differentiate citizens and residents according to "nationality", which are almost invariably most discriminatory towards non-Jews. Land policy in particular sticks out as a bit of a sore thumb.

OK No problem there. But the occupied territories are not part of Israel. They are considered separate countries which Israel occupies for its own security regions. The land that I think you are referring to is reserved for Jews because it was bought here by Jewish agencies for the use of Jews. That is a difficult one because there is a lot of it, but is it any different in principle from land bought by say the Anglican Church for the exclusive use of elderly Anglicans?

Would you agree that Hamas and the other Palestinian and Arab groups should accept the presence of other religions in the area, and accept states where Muslims are a minority, and that they should accept a state with a majority Jewish population being Israel? Also should they not accept that there was an exchange of populations in the area with Muslims moving out of Israel and a greater number of Jews moving out of Muslim land?. Also that the Arab states should accept these displaced Muslims in the way that Israel accepted the displaced Jews.

I would also like to see Jihad and the glory of martyrdom no longer taught in schools and justuce for Christians, perhaps that is asking for too much.

After all Arafat was not born in Palestine but in Egypt. With commonsense on both sides, and with extremists under control in BOTH there could be a chance of peace.

Nice neat little discussion Lev and Logic but would either of you like to tell me how isolating Bethlehem and turning into a prison fosters any sort of respect by christians for Israel and it's 'free and just' attitudes and practices.

Is Bethlehem also to be regarded as a separate 'Christian country' within Palestine because Israel has decided it should be such? Or is Israels building of Bethlehem's encircling fence with watch towers and checkpoints merely a stratagy to force the Christians out of lands Israel wants to eventually steal.

You know what's worse than the excluded middle fallacy?

The stolen middle fallacy. Calling anti-Zionists anti-Semitic is quite transparent and weak at that.

Likudniks, PNAC Colada drunks, neo-libcon-mercantilists are grateful for your confusion of terms.

Keith

Bethlehem has no encircling fence. Israel has built a protective barrier between itself and the west Bank as a successful means of stopping its citizens being murdered.

Bethlehem once had a predominantly Christian population, no longer, due to pressures on the Christians to leave. Why do you defend the Islamists so much and completely ignore the plight of the Christians, Baha'i, Samaritans, Druze, the Muslim women and the Jews from ancient Middle Eastern communities. I don't think you realise what is really happening in the region.

milligence

I think it is often the other way round. Branding anyone who tries to correct misinformation about Israel a Zionist propagandist is a common trick. If the debate continues a common ploy is to claim that the defender of the Israeli policy is using antisemitism as a tool even when they have not mentioned the word.

being anti-israel does not imply being anti-semitic. but does anybody here really deny that many anti-semites hide under the respectable cloak of anti-israeli-ism?

here's a clue: chances are, if you use the word "zionist" you're anti-semitic. the word is meaningless as used, except as code for "jew".

Merry Christmas Logic,

You didn't answer my question... which was very direct.

Instead firstly you made the false claim Bethlehem has no encircling fence then you went on to say it is a protective barrier. Make up your mind will you. Either there is a fence around Bethlehem or there isn't...regardless of purpose.
The reason the Christians left was economic. The towns business was strangled and people couldn't easily drive, due to Israeli checkpoints, 10 minutes up the road to work in Jeruslem.

Then secondly you tried to avoid exposure of the Israeli criminality by trying to equate the treatment of Christians by Israeli's and Muslims.
Sick logic Logic.

Don't you realise what six year old liberal democratics know and are routinely taught... two wrongs never make a right.

It's only you who introduced Zionism here... is that because of guilt or a Freudian slip?

I loved the little lecture about anti-semitism but did you mean branding anti-Semitic's anti-Zionists is common or did you mean an anti-semitic 's trick is to call those supporting and justifiying the land stealing expansionism of the Israelis Zionists ?

NB To cap it all off didn't you see the author of the work use the dreaded 'a-s' word in describing anyone who criticises Israeli land stealing?

logic, you said "I do wonder about the motives of those who claim that Israel has apartheid which is patently false, who fail to criticise the Islamic extremist world for bringing up children as suicide murderers with TV programs venerating their deaths, who ignore Israeli democracy and the plightsof non-Muslims including Jews and Christians in Muslim lands."

I guarantee this is a misperception. There is, of course, a handful of blind lefties who believe that terrorist muslims are poor souls who deserve sympathy, and it's that loony fringe which makes the papers because its extreme views stick out like a sore thumb.

Trouble is, when someone criticises Israel, Jews demonstrate absolutely no interest in establishing whether the critic condemns Islamic behabour equally. Instead, they prefer to chalk it down to one-sided anti-semitism and cry foul. Strategically, it's an effective tactic, but it's morally bankrupt.

The motive of critics is usually to stamp out injustice and pointless violence, no matter who the perpetrator is. Of course, the perpetrators always believe that their crimes are necessary and justified, while their opponent's are immoral war crimes, therefore any criticism must be based on hatred.

keith

I meant that it often happens that someone who defends Israel is accused of shouting antisemitism at the other side when that has not been mentioned. I am not accusing anyone on this site of anything.

Apartheid means separating different groups, treating them differently not allowing them to live together, giving them different laws, treating them differently.

This is not the case in Israel. It has been however throughout the Arab Muslim world, have you read about dhimmies? Have you heard about a death penalty for Muslims who convert to other faiths? This does not happen in Israel.

There is a security barrier between Bethlehem and Israel, it does I understand not surround (encircle it). The number of tourists this Christmas in Bethlehem has increased this year, despite (or perhaps because of) Israeli security.

Bethlehem is not the only region that Christians are leaving, Egypt, West Bank, Lebanon, etc. Druze, Baha'i Samaritans, Jews all left other Middle Eastern countries, and many went to Israel, including refugees from Darfur. There is a lesson to be learnt somewhere.

And what about the statistics from the Turkish and British occupations showing populations in the 19th century. They don't support the stolen land theory that well. The majority of the population in Jerusalem during the 19th Century according to official figures were Jewish.

And what about the 900 000 Jews who left property behind in other Muslim lands because of real Apartheid. Can't you shed a few tears for them? And how many Middle Eastern Christians have you spoken to?

I am all in favour of criticism of any group, but make it fair and two sided. I am not happy with the situation with the Palestinians but the others deserve some thought. The unevenness in the debate makes me a tad uncomfortable,