‘The criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic.’ – What That Usually Means

What most people mean when they say that ‘the criticism of Israel is anti-Semitic’ is not that all those criticisms are in and of themselves anti-Semitic. They are saying that Jew-hatred often – nearly always - underlies and determines those criticisms. In fact it’s also often the case that a pre-existing Jew-hatred fully determines the criticism of Israel.

This means that many critics of Israel begin life as Jew-haters and only then do they express that Jew-hatred through their criticisms of Israel. Nonetheless, and again, when criticisms of Israel are taken on their own (if that is even possible!), then they are not in and of themselves anti-Semitic.

The most obvious example of this can be seen with the English National Socialists (Nazis) who have become fierce critics of Israel and even - believe it or not! - vocal defenders of (brown) Palestinians. These are of course blatant cases of Jew-haters finding yet another target for their already-existing hatred of the Jews – Israel!

But what of all the many cases where it’s not that obvious because the critics of Israel aren’t outright Nazis? What about the legions of Leftist critics of Israel, for example? Well, considering the fact that there was a history and practice of Leftist Jew-hatred that predated the creation of Israel by around ninety years (at the least), and which even predated the beginnings of Zionism in the late 19th century, then perhaps the Left, or at least the Marxist Left, is not too dissimilar to the Nazi example just discussed!