Anti-Semitism Devalued

Christina Patterson in The Independent wrote that she had been getting some hassle for holding forthright views on the misbehaviour of Israel towards its Palestinian neighbours:

http://www.independent.co.uk/opinion/commentators/christina-patterson/christina-patterson-how-i-was-smeared-as-an-antisemite-2167310.html

… prompting this letter:

Sirs,

Christina Patterson highlights an issue that as been bothering me for some time. It seems to me that the greatest devaluation of the phrase “Anti-Semtism” these says is the hyper-sensitivity of the Jewish community to criticism.

It is impossible to comment on Israel’s illegal land-grabs, or their ethnic cleansing of Palestinians without being called anti-Semitic. If Israel were a perfect society, then they might have a case, but it is a long way from that. Hiding behind a made-up phrase which does little but trade off the events of some seventy years ago is starting to wear thin.

Sorry, but I am three generations moved on from that, and I don’t do generational guilt. Racism is racism and does not deserve a special name for a ‘specal’ group. Criticising uncivilised behaviour is not racism.

The Jewish community need to move on from the 1940s like the rest of the world has.

Yours,

Paul Harper