Overuse Of The Anti-Semitism Accusation
Thu, 03/18/2010 - 10:34
By GARY BAUMGARTEN
Paltalk News Network
Some people are too quick to use the term anti-Semitism. So quick that - when it actually occurs - people sometimes turn a deaf ear.
Such is the case of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's brother-in-law's accusation that President Obama is an anti-Semite.
To his credit, Netanyahu has distanced himself from his wife's brother's imprudent comments.
Hagi Ben-Artzi apparently believes that Obama's criticism of Israel's decision to build more apartment units in East Jerusalem smacks of anti-Semitism. But if Israel is to be taken seriously as a sovereign nation, it must be prepared to take criticism without dismissing it out-of-hand as anti-Semitism.
There are other phrases - mostly uttered by Israel's opponents - that are also overused. Like genocide. Holocaust. Nazism.
Israelis - and many Americans - are not pleased that Obama remained silent, for example, when Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the president of Iran, talked - once again - about eradicating Israel. But jumped all over this decision to build more apartments in an area of East Jerusalem that's predominantly Jewish already.
It's fair to criticize Obama for this inconstancy. But calling Obama an anti-Semite is about as fair as accusing Israel of being Nazis.
The article concludes:
But calling Obama an anti-Semite is about as fair as accusing Israel of being Nazis.
Is it accurate to describe any of President Obama's PLO-supporting friends as anti-Semites? Perhaps they actively support the PLO textbooks which are full of antisemitic and anti-Israel, and pro-terror, teachings.
Could it possibly be accurate to describe any representatives of Israel today as having been friends with nazis?
In fact the leaders of the current and past governments of Israel, as well as citizens, are the intended victims, and survivors, of nazi genocide.
Perhaps the fallacy in this analogy should be seen by a concluding analogy:
Accusing Israel of being Nazis is about as fair as calling the president's father one of the leaders of the KKK.