if you criticise israeli policies you are anti semetic...true or false??

Answer 1

"An anti-Semite used to mean a man who hated Jews. Now it means a man who is hated by Jews"

Answer 2

Not necessarily, and probably not.

1. It is perfectly legitimate to have a personal opinion on the Israeli government. As long as your opinions are reasonable, you are not antisemitic. For example, if you disagree with the use of even carefully targetted airstrikes near civilian areas, that is fair enough. Do note that "Israeli policies" is probably not the best phrase to use, since public opinion in Israel is as diverse as in any other free democracy.

2. However, if you are veering into existential issues - especially legitimising or defending attacks on innocent Israeli civilians, or denying *any* right to self defence (/defense - I'm not sure which spelling is used in Canada) may be getting dangerously close to it.

3. The problem is that many antisemites do disguise their antisemitism by hiding behind a facade of anti-Zionism. This is especially true in the Arab world, although a British peeress was also recently accused of it. Classic examples of this are using antisemitic stereotypes and replacing "Jew" with "Zionist". Few supporters of Israel are fooled by this any more; however, it has had the negative side effect of meaning that some legitimate criticism is accused of antisemitism.

To summarise, chances are that if you're against a particular Israeli government policy, you're fine, but watch out if you're advocating killing people. As a supporter of the existance of the State of Israel, I freely admit that it does things wrong (although it sometimes doesn't get fairly represented in the British media), but likewise condemn those who express any kind of support for attacks on civilians.

You should feel free to express your own views - preferably constructively - and you might want to look at the (free and open - unlike many Arab countries) Israeli media (e.g. www.haaretz.com - more left-wing/www.jpost.com - more right-wing) for both sides' views there.

Answer 3

No. Just because a person does not support Israeli agression in the Middle East, does not make them antisemitic.

The Jews are not the only 'semitic' people on this planet. There are the Arabs who outnumber them millions to one. Therefore being anti Jewish or anti Israel, is not specific enough, because the person who holds such views and opinions, may themselves be an Arab, a semite. So, to argue, as the Jews always do, that Arabs who call for the downfall of Israel, (for example), are antisemitic, is pure hokum or balderdash!

"I am opposed to the creation of the State of Israel. It will lead to endless war in the Middle East."
LAWRENCE OF ARABIA.

Answer 4

False, in my opinion. The present Israeli government (and its immediate predecessors) have done a good deal to alienate ordinary opinion about how a civilised state should behave. One wise commentator (himself a Jew and well-known as such) said that the Israeli government is behaving as if the Holocaust gave them an unlimited overdraft of public goodwill (and other resources) on which to draw. It's a great shame; they're treating the Palestinians in many ways similar to how they were treated in pre-Final Solution Europe: that is, they're establishing ghettos, making it difficult for them to earn a living, generally stigmatising them... it's a crying shame when you think of how much goodwill there was towards them before they took this sad turn to the right.

Answer 5

False. Some people have to link the two but I say if you do the right things you have no fear of criticism. Also some shout "Holocaust" every time they hear people criticise Israel, but people must do the right thing. If the holocaust was deemed too bad then the Palestinian issue should be addressed so others cannot say it is similar to the holocaust.

Answer 6

Why is it that there are more beneficial people complaining about being accused of being anti semitic for expressing anti Israel sentiments than there are fairly people accusing them of anti semitism for expressing anti Israel sentiments? Do the persons who submit those type of rants disguised as questions comprehend that complaining about such concerns is a touch of the "doth protest too a lot" form? And at the same time as you've delivered up the problem, why is it that Fox information is delivered up once more beneficial as a "you disagree with me hence you need to be a Fox information watcher" non-argument?

Answer 7

FALSE. Israel is political group. Judaism is a religion of God. I disagree with Israel's policies but love Judaism as I love Islam.

Unfortuanately, if you publicly say you're against Israel, then people will assume you're anti-semetic. However, there are many Jews who are against Israel/zionism. Orthodox Jews, especially, often critisize Israel.

http://www.jewsagainstzionism.com/

http://www.jatonyc.org/UNresolutions.html

www.nkusa.org

Answer 8

False. Anti-Semitic means Anti-Jewish. You can disagree with Israel's policies without hating Jews (although Israel loves to play the anti-Semitic card to try and get away with illegal activities. You can't make a movie about Jesus or Hitler anymore without an anti-Semitic uproar.). You musn't confuse politics with religion.

Answer 9

Unfortunately, I think it has politically come down to this. Not all will accuse you of such, but many will in order to discredit you.

But guess what? Criticize the Bush administration and suddenly you are anti-American!

Go figure ..........

lol

Answer 10

It's false,I mean it should be false...but unfortunately if you criticize Israel's policies you will be called antisemitic...
Criticizing the policies of a country does not make someone racist...