[Buddha-l] anti-Israel and anti-semitism

[Elihu Smith]

I cite at length another view on anti-Israel and
anti-Semitism from a former Soviet dissident who is
now an Israeli politician - 
	
In "Differentiating legitimate criticism of Israel
from the so-called new anti-Semitism, by Natan
Sharansky he proposes "the following test for
differentiating legitimate criticism of Israel from
anti-Semitism. The 3D test, as I call it, is not a new
one. It merely applies to the new anti-Semitism the
same criteria that for centuries identified the
different dimensions of classical anti-Semitism.

DEMONIZATION

The first D is the test of demonization.

Whether it came in the theological form of a
collective accusation of deicide or in the literary
depiction of Shakespeare's Shylock, Jews were
demonized for centuries as the embodiment of evil.
Therefore, today we must be wary of whether the Jewish
state is being demonized by having its actions blown
out of all sensible proportion.For example, the
comparisons of Israelis to Nazis and of the
Palestinian refugee camps to Auschwitz -- comparisons
heard practically every day within the "enlightened"
quarters of Europe -- can only be considered
anti-Semitic.

Those who draw such analogies either do not know
anything about Nazi Germany or, more plausibly, are
deliberately trying to paint modern-day Israel as the
embodiment of evil. 

DOUBLE STANDARDS

The second D is the test of double standards. For
thousands of years a clear sign of anti-Semitism was
treating Jews differently than other peoples, from the
discriminatory laws many nations enacted against them
to the tendency to judge their behavior by a different
yardstick...

DELIGITIMIZATION

The third D is the test of deligitimization. In the
past, anti-Semites tried to deny the legitimacy of the
Jewish religion, the Jewish people, or both. Today,
they are trying to deny the legitimacy of the Jewish
state, presenting it, among other things, as the last
vestige of colonialism..."

Peace,

Elihu