There continues to be an ongoing debate whether criticism of Israel is anti-semitism or anti-Zionists. It is an epithet thrown around regularly by Jewish groups against anyone who even questions, let alone challenges, Israel's actions in the occupied territories, Gaza, et al. For Jewish critics it's even worse. They are labelled self-hating Jews.
It's a subject taken up by Larry Derfner in a piece in Haaretz.
"Gardner’s problem, and that of so many Jews in Israel and in Diaspora Jewish defense organizations, is that they don’t know the difference between attacks on Jews and attacks on the occupation. Some Jews, especially the elderly, can't help but see anti-Semitism everywhere; they are genuinely traumatized. Others, like those who wield power in Israel and in organizations like the British Board of Jewish Deputies and AIPAC, tend to operate out of what I call a calculated paranoia: They turn full-throated rebukes of Israel and its Diaspora Jewish lobbyists into anti-Semitism partly because they really are paranoid, but also because they know that their paranoia serves their interests.
Branding harsh critics of Israeli policy as anti-Semites helps the occupation thrive, and what’s good for the occupation is good for Israel, certainly for Netanyahu’s Israel, and what’s good for Netanyahu’s Israel is good for the Jewish establishment of Britain, the United States and several other countries.
It’s a shame: These people are going to bat for Israel’s subjugation of a people, for Israel’s wars of aggression to defend that practice, and they’re doing it in the name of all the horrors the Jews ever faced and at times still face. I don’t know anything more cynical than that. I don’t know any greater dishonor of Jewish history than that."
It's a subject taken up by Larry Derfner in a piece in Haaretz.
"Gardner’s problem, and that of so many Jews in Israel and in Diaspora Jewish defense organizations, is that they don’t know the difference between attacks on Jews and attacks on the occupation. Some Jews, especially the elderly, can't help but see anti-Semitism everywhere; they are genuinely traumatized. Others, like those who wield power in Israel and in organizations like the British Board of Jewish Deputies and AIPAC, tend to operate out of what I call a calculated paranoia: They turn full-throated rebukes of Israel and its Diaspora Jewish lobbyists into anti-Semitism partly because they really are paranoid, but also because they know that their paranoia serves their interests.
Branding harsh critics of Israeli policy as anti-Semites helps the occupation thrive, and what’s good for the occupation is good for Israel, certainly for Netanyahu’s Israel, and what’s good for Netanyahu’s Israel is good for the Jewish establishment of Britain, the United States and several other countries.
It’s a shame: These people are going to bat for Israel’s subjugation of a people, for Israel’s wars of aggression to defend that practice, and they’re doing it in the name of all the horrors the Jews ever faced and at times still face. I don’t know anything more cynical than that. I don’t know any greater dishonor of Jewish history than that."
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