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But what's most troubling about the vitriol directed at Roth and his organization isn't that it's savage, unfounded and fantastical. What's most troubling is that it's typical. Typical, that is, of what anyone rash enough to criticize Israel can expect to encounter. In the United States today, it just isn't possible to have a civil debate about Israel, because any serious criticism of its policies is instantly countered with charges of anti-Semitism. Think Israel's tactics against Hezbollah were too heavy-handed, or that Israel hasn't always been wholly fair to the Palestinians, or that the United States should reconsider its unquestioning financial and military support for Israel? Shhh: Don't voice those sentiments unless you want to be called an anti-Semite — and probably a terrorist sympathizer to boot.
How did adopting a reflexively pro-Israel stance come to be a mandatory aspect of American Jewish identity? Skepticism — a willingness to ask tough questions, a refusal to embrace dogma — has always been central to the Jewish intellectual tradition. Ironically, this tradition remains alive in Israel, where respected public figures routinely criticize the government in far harsher terms than those used by Human Rights Watch.
...I didn't know that a reflexively pro-Israel stance has come to be mandatory to the American Jew. I know that there are American Jews who support Israel in general, but who do not support the attacks on Lebanon. I know there are American Jews who support Israel and the attacks on Lebanon. There are American Jews who are anti-zionist.
What will be effective in helping to find a solution to the anti-semite problem? We all know that anti-semitism does exist. We must be allowed to talk about it in an open and truthful environment.
People must be allowed to criticize the political and military activites of Israel, without automatically being labeled as an anti-semite.
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