Like Zeke, I also recognize the danger of a certain “Zionist” philosophy that says a certain area belongs to a certain group by birthright and/or religious decree, and that it’s therefore acceptable to take that land by any means possible. But unlike Zeke, I recognize that it’s only a few isolated settlers who take that attitude; the majority of people within Israel are perfectly content live at peace with non-Jews, to acquire land by buying it rather than fighting for it, and so on. Complaining about the dangers of the first sort of “Zionists” is akin to complaining about the influence of “Christians” like Fred Phelps — using a small number of mostly-harmless and totally powerless nutjobs to paint an unflattering view of a much larger group.

And like Zeke, I recognize that classical Antisemitism still exists in the form of skinheads, white supremacists, and religious radicals. But unlike Zeke, I recognize that a new form of Antisemitism has become widespread, and that it’s important to understand it for what it is, and to call it what it is. Those who treat Israel as totally illegitimate, who hold it to ridiculous standards, who justify its enemies actions as “the logical response”, who want to hamstring it so it can’t defend itself, and who generally maximize Israel’s faults while minimizing its virtues — who, in short, are offended by Israel’s very existence and want to see it destroyed — are antisemites and should be treated as such. (Though I think the appropriate response is ridicule, rather than hatred — I don’t want to see Zeke “rot from the inside”, I just want to point out that he’s utterly wrong and utterly foolish, and not at all worth directly addressing.)

So – I don’t care anymore if I’m being provoked on the thread. I have much more serious reasons to be provoked: by actions of various antisemites, not mere words of a cowardly “zeke”s.

So, what I said above: a thousand times. And that’s not a threat – just a statement of fact: karma is what it is. When they start rotting from inside, they’ll remember why.

I would add that a commenter who opens with a reasonable statement and says that he loves Judaism, but who also complains about the “Israel lobby” and Zionism and Israeli settlements is more likely trying to provoke other commenters than to have a reasonable discussion.

When another commenter writes things that seem intended to get under your skin, think twice before you reply. He may want you to reply because he is trying to start a big fight between commenters. Don’t allow yourself to be manipulated.

This one is easy. Because Iran obligated itself to adhere to the NPT.

“How can one deny Iran what one has permitted Israel or Pakistan?”

This argument is structurally identical to the argument made by a British newspaper editorial at the time of the Nazi incursion into the Rhineland:

“There is no more reason why German territory should be demilitarized than French, Belgian, or British.” (The Observer, quoted by historial James Pool)

…and is also related to an earlier assertion by Lord Lothian:

“If Germany were allowed to rearm, this would give her an “equality” that would enable her to sit without any sense of weakness or inferiority at the Disarmament Conference.”

But I also think that anti-semite should be called his proper name in his face. And that being polite played a joke on us, many times over, in the past: people like zeke think they are free to insult us.

zke: your black blood will poison you from inside. your plazma will boil. you’ll stink so much your own mother will turn away from you. no Jewish doctor will touch you. you will rot alive.

The people at these demonstrations usually look more like archetypal hippies than like skinheads.

Zombie has an extensive collection of photographs taken at demonstrations.

Let me remind everyone of the Chicago Boyz policy on personal attacks in comments.

I don’t know who I hate more – out-in-the-open arab Jew-haters or people like Zeke. Probably the latter.

I wish you all the worse, Zeke. you, and 7 generations of your family. slow painful death is the least of what will happen to you – and it will start soon.

I love Judaism and recognize its massive, ongoing contributions to the intellectual strength of Western society and, really, every society where it has been allowed to flourish. Where would we be without Freud, Marx or Einstein, just to name three Jewish men whose ideas did so much to shape the past two centuries?

Yet I recognize the disproportionate power of the Israel lobby in America and I oppose Zionism in general, on philosophical (not geopolitical) grounds and, specifically, I oppose Israel’s occupation of the West Bank on both moral and geopolitical grounds.

I wonder if Broder thinks that makes me anti-semitic?

There are bigots of all stripe in academia, but, then again, there are bigots in all walks of life — no line of work seems immune.

I think we can all agree that there are the classic anti-semite is still represented in the classic ways, e.g. the skinhead, the White Supremacist, the radical Christian, the radical Muslim and so on.

The suggestion that the debate about Israeli geopolitics has somehow created a class of people that are displacing these long-known anti-semetic groups is entirely without foundation.

Anti-semitism is where you find it. Attempts to redefine it as a geopolitical stance are highly suspect.

Thank you, David.