Yes, "Death to Jews" bothers me. It is however the intended result of Zionist policies which are either indifferent to the Jews outside of Israel or seek to endager them in order to enforce the ingathering.
To whine about the sad fate of the Jews while looking at a nation that has been starved, bombed, invaded, tortured ...in the name of "liberation" is, well, disgusting doesn't half cover it. This isn't a bear joke anymore.
Joanna Joanna - Your response is, to say the least, shortsighted, ahistorical, and simplistic. Jews bombed in their synagogues in Istanbul are every bit as bombed as Iraqis bombed in Iraq. Daniel Pearl is every bit as murdered as any other murder victim. Israeli children murdered by suicide bombers are every bit as dead as Iraqi children bombed by American bombs in the name of Bush's horrific war based on lies.
It is oh so simple to blame it all on Zionism, without taking a look at the role that the history of anti-Semitism continues to play in vastly complicating international struggles against all of the other evil isms; including racism, sexism and imperialism. Anti-Semitism is a form of racism, and a pervasive one at that.
No, "death to Jews" is not "the intended results of Zionist policies." It's the intended result of Jew hating policies.. Blaming anti-Semitism on Zionists is anti-Semitic in and of itself.
I support the Geneva Accord, I am critical of Israeli human rights abuses, and I wish that Sharon had lost the last election in Israel. But I am sick to death of people on the left who see Zionism as a monolithic entity, ignore organizations such as Rabbis for Human Rights, Mapam, Hashomer Hatzair, B'Tselem, and JFREJ (Jews for Racial and Economic Justice-composed of Jews on the left who variously call themselves Zionist, non-Zionist and anti-Zionist or none of these; but who all want an end to the violence and justice for the Palestinians. I am not arguing that all anti-Zionists are anti-Semitic, although I must say that given a number of negative experiences with doctrinaire anti-Zionists I am sorely tempted to. I am saying that those who call themselves anti-Zionist and deny being anti-Semitic need to do a better job at distinguishing between their anti-Zionism and the anti-Semitic anti-Zionism of the currently existing governments of Saudi Arabia (with which Bush is crony capitalism close), Syria, and yes Hamas. The Hamas Charter includes several complimentary references to that classic anti-Semitic screed - "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion." So how do you distinguish your anti-Zionism from that kind of anti-Zionism? You know, the kind that results in murdered Israeli children who were too young to vote for Sharon or any other Zionist. European anti-Semitism insinuating itself into the Palestinian Hamas Charter in the form of praise for "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion" is an insidious form of imperialism in and of itself.
Oh, and by the way, I never thought of anti-Semitism (or racism or sexism or imperialism or homophobia) as "a bear joke" or any other kind of joke, and concern about innocent civilians being murdered (whether Jewish or not, whether in Iraq or Istanbul or Pakistan) is hardly "whining." And as a Jewish mother (and a feminist and a democratic socialist) I find it extraordinarily cruel (and reactionary) that you seem to think there's a trade-off here (i.e. either care about Iraqis dying or care about Jews dying, and don't be bothered "too much" about Jews dying unless Zionism goes away.). The murder of Daniel Pearl . . . the synagogue bombings in Istanbul . . . the beating up of Jewish teens in France . . the elderly Israeli holocaust surviver suicide bombed at a Passover seder.". .disgusting does not half cover it."
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