[Alon]

Yusuf Irfan has written a few interesting articles and runs a blog (Madhab al-Irfy), on which the following interesting quote appears:

The New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman responded: "Criticising Israel is not anti-Semitic and saying so is vile. But singling out Israel for opprobrium and international sanction, out of all proportion to any other party in the Middle East, is anti-Semitic and not saying so is dishonest."

It's the double standards by which Israel is judged that incenses Jews and their supporters ...

Selective indignation, dear readers, is anti-Semitism.

Which he then uses to call out Muslim phobics who focus only on the "threat" of Islam. It's an interesting parallel, which I agree with.

What do you all think?

[Jay Pan ROKK]

Difficult and loaded matter sense Semite means Jews, Arabs and many other people in the region.

[Darwinist]

I hereby propose we take the term "anti-semitic", put it up against a wall, and execute it quietly and painlessly.

Criticizing Israel can never be anti-semitic. Never.

Because as much as Israel and Israelis would like to think so, they do not speak for all of the world's jewry. They need to realize that they are a country like any other, not some kind of special place with special rules that needs to be treated with kid gloves.

I criticize Israel a lot, and I have NOTHING against jews. In fact I think they are teh awesumness by and large. I´d criticize Israel if it was populated by christian europeans, asians, black or whoever...as long as they kept doing what Israel does today.

[Saith]

I think there are bigger issues than what religion one follows or what race one is.

Can't we grow up and deal with real problems instead of wallowing in this miasma of race baiting politically correct bullshit?

[TapSD]

All crazy middle easterners to me

[Jay Pan ROKK]

Here is one example of how complex this issue is:

I am Zionist in a sense that I approve a state for the Jews.

However i dont agree to what Israel is doing (imo, they are ruining Zionist movement), then many people call me anti-Zionist.

These terms should be clear.

[JSN]

it's just a dumb misleading statement. israel is not the only country to face international sanctions (hell they've never had to face any- just UN resolutions that officially say they're naughty) and they deserve special attention just like egpyt because their entire infrastructure is based on foreign aid.

[Alon]

Originally Posted by Darwinist

I hereby propose we take the term "anti-semitic", put it up against a wall, and execute it quietly and painlessly.

Criticizing Israel can never be anti-semitic. Never.

Because as much as Israel and Israelis would like to think so, they do not speak for all of the world's jewry. They need to realize that they are a country like any other, not some kind of special place with special rules that needs to be treated with kid gloves.

I criticize Israel a lot, and I have NOTHING against jews. In fact I think they are teh awesumness by and large. I´d criticize Israel if it was populated by christian europeans, asians, black or whoever...as long as they kept doing what Israel does today.

What does Israel speaking for world Jewry have to do with anti-Semitism? The claim is that people's obsessive focus on Israel, without any actual connection to it, stems from a reason - in this case suggested to be anti-Semitism.

I've always struggled to understand why people who've had no connection to the country could focus so much hate and anger on Isreal, yet ignore some of the horrors of Burma, Darfur, etc - why is that?

[Alon]

Originally Posted by JSN

it's just a dumb misleading statement. israel is not the only country to face international sanctions (hell they've never had to face any- just UN resolutions that officially say they're naughty) and they deserve special attention just like egpyt because their entire infrastructure is based on foreign aid.

Israel's infrastructure is in no way based on foreign aid. The aid has been useful, but often is only allowed to be spent on Military items, and by no means has impacted it's economy in the same way as Egypts.

Of course Israel isn't the only country to undergo condemnation, however the number of resolutions against Israel has been huge! How many resolutions on Darfur or Burma? The point is that the condemnation and the focus are greatly disproportionate to the humanitarian concerns.

[Jay Pan ROKK]

Originally Posted by Alon

I've always struggled to understand why people who've had no connection to the country could focus so much hate and anger on Isreal, yet ignore some of the horrors of Burma, Darfur, etc - why is that?

I know more about Jew history than any other country, including my own.

I learned at every sunday school since i was 4 years old.

People world wide read the bible.

We get attached to the saga.