Left I on the News

Not a plain old anti-Semite, mind you. A "new" anti-Semite.

Those of us on the left who are critical of Israel in various ways are used to accusations of anti-Semitism; but the fact that the deeply religious Jimmy Carter is now getting the same treatment is indicative of how far this insanity has progressed. But, unfortunately for the Israeli apologists, most people realize that equating anti-Zionism with anti-Semitism makes as much sense as equating being antiwar with being anti-American.

The solution? If the people you don't agree with don't fit the definition of "anti-Semite," change the definition!

Many Jewish organizations are warning of a "new anti-Semitism," a growing phenomenon of prejudice "disguised" as criticism of Israel.

An Israeli politician, Natan Sharansky, first set out three general themes many people now propose to define the new term. Known as the "3-D's," those themes are:

-- Demonization of Israel with comparisons to Nazi Germany.

-- De-legitimizing Israel by saying it doesn't have a right to exist.

-- Double standards that apply one set of moral standards to Israel while ignoring similar failings of other countries.

So pointing out that "a land without people for a people without land" was an out-and-out lie, or that founding a country by expelling hundreds of thousands of its residents isn't acceptable, qualifies you as an anti-Semite. Or criticizing Israeli oppression of the Palestinians rather than something else because your own country is contributing essential military, economic, and political support to Israel, and you take your responsibility as a U.S. (or British etc.) citizen seriously, qualifies you as an anti-Semite.

Of course this is not to be taken seriously, in the sense that anyone who judges someone by this new "definition" would have undoubtedly been happy to accuse someone like me (or Jimmy Carter) of anti-Semitism under the "old" definition as well. What it really indicates is how far defenders of Israel are willing to go to use the very real suffering of the Jews under the Holocaust to justify Israel's more than 50-year oppression of another people who had absolutely nothing to do with the Holocaust. And how far they are willing to go to silence critics of those policies, by branding them with the highly pejorative label of "anti-Semite."