Let me add, if and when such happens (Anti-Israel Personality Disorder, or AIPD), the chances of being given, gratis, the opinions of self-hating Jews like Lowenstein or Finkelstein also approaches 1.

The amusing thing is, how many self-hating Palestinian's can you name?

Dear Custard,

You're asking the wrong question.

You should ask yourself - why do you describe
Loewenstein and Finkelstein as "self-hating"
Jews?

Antony Loewenstein tell us in his
book, "My Israel Question,":

" From the moment I first entered public debate
over the Israel-Palestine conflict. I discovered
it wasn't possible to tread carefully - people
got upset. I had simply suggested, in an article
in the "Sydney Morning Herald," that the Israeli
occupation of Palestinian land must end if there
was to be any chance of a comprehensive peace.
In response, I was accused, often by Jews who
chose to remain anonymous, of being a self hater
and antisemite... The message was clear.
Anyone who dared to criticise Israel would receive
threats and abuse. You were either with us or
against us."

Some statistics on the extent of IOD (Israel Obsession Disorder)

Online Opinion posted pieces on six topics on Thursday 3 June. The number of comments at the time of writing is shown in brackets:

--Flotilla sailed for confrontation, not for aid: (67)

--Tough talk about a return to the Pacific Solution: (51)

--The closet is the enemy: (57)

--Has Obama changed the world in 18 months? (4)

--RSPT is not some weird tax invented by Ken Henry: (6)

--The Cheonan attack: torpedoing the chance of peace? (0)

Two of these, the treatment of asylum seekers and the RSPT are of direct importance to Australia. Between them they do not command as many comments as the one about the "Gaza Flotilla."

But that does not tell the full story of the extent of IOD. In subsequent days there were no follow up pieces on these two important topics. However today there are two more pieces about Israel.

--Gaza: conveniently ignoring the truth (16 comments)

And

--Unions must boycott Israel (15 comments)

At the time of writing these two between them command more comments than those all other pieces posted today put together.

But this STILL does not show the full extent of IOD. Irfan Yusuf's piece, "Legacy of a whingeing bogan" has two posts discussing Israel / Jews.

In other words, for posters on OLO as a group questions about Israel / Jews appear to be more important than the treatment of asylum seekers, a tax that may alter the entire course of Australia's economy and racism in Australia all COMBINED.

On 28 May Claire Mallinson had a piece called "Obstacles to justice".

http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=10486&page=0

It included comments about the arrest warrant for Sudan's President Al-Bashir. I hope I need not remind OLO posters that even if ALL their allegations about the never to be sufficiently damned Israelis were proven correct it would not begin to match the twin genocide attempts of Al-Bashir's regime.

This piece attracted a mere 9 comments.

I rest my case.

IOD is a real disorder. I wonder if it will make it into DSM V

I think you're being a tad hypersensitive, Steven. Most of the relevant discussion I'm seeing at OLO presently is about Israel's appalling recent actions. Some people conflate that with Jews in general, but I and others have argued against them.

There's certainly a bit of Antisemitism about at OLO, but there's also plenty of bigotry routinely expressed here about all sorts of people. I can't see that Jews are inevitably vilified in irrelevant discussions.

There's lots of hatred expressed here. There's hatred for Muslims, hatred for women, hatred for gays, hatred for boat people, hatred for Greens, hatred for Indigenous people, hatred for Christians, hatred for environmentalists, hatred for feminists, hatred for just about any category of people you could name.

Yeah, Israel and Jews come up fairly often, but no more so than anybody else. Personally, I rarely comment on them unless it's relevant to a particular discussion, but I agree that some people seem to be able to work a disparaging allusion to Jews into just about any thread - indeed, in much the same way that a few trolls inevitably blather on about Islam, homosexuals, feminists or environmentalists.

I'm afraid it seems to be part of the OLO culture. Imagine how victimised you'd feel if you were gay or Muslim (for example) and reading some of the filth that's routinely posted here about homosexuality or Islam.

Oooh myy...CJ...

//There's lots of hatred expressed here. There's hatred for Muslims, hatred for women, hatred for gays, hatred for boat people, hatred for Greens, hatred for Indigenous people, hatred for Christians, hatred for environmentalists, hatred for feminists, hatred for just about any category of people you could name.//

CODE :) what he means is.. "there is disagreement about"..which for poor old CJ..means 'HAATTTREEEEDDDD' (at this point imagine that gory horned satan like creature rearing up in the background, snarling at all and sundry in that deeeeep voice.)

Mate.. you mentioned someone else needing medication.. you need something stronger...

Just out of curiosity..do you hate your father ? Have you always been this way ? When did the symptoms first become noticable ? (the 'disagreement is hatred' syndrome)

Awwww c'mon.. u need a big hug :) that'll save ya.

STEVEN.. interestng observations.

I think I'm going to be sick.