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Anti-Semitism: The Old Hatred Returns

(The Age-Australia) Pamela Bone - In the Arab world, hatred of Jews pours out of television, newspapers, and mosques: Israel is to blame for every wrong that besets Arab countries; the Holocaust is either a lie or didn't go far enough. And in the West, suddenly a new anti-Semitism has become widespread, acceptable, even politically correct. It is of course possible to criticize Israel without being anti-Jewish; Jews do it all the time. It's the one-sidedness that raises suspicions. It's a nice thing to side with the victim; but five million Jews in Israel, a country one-third the size of Tasmania, surrounded by 300 million Muslims whose governments have made clear their desire to eliminate the Jewish state, might also be seen as victims. There are many people who would never discriminate against individuals because they are Jewish, who nevertheless feel entitled to hate the Jewish state. But when the world's only Jewish state - the collective Jew - is criticized disproportionately and unreasonably, Jews cannot be blamed for fearing the old hatred is back; or that it never really went away.
2004-08-04 00:00:00
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