[lbo-talk] Adam Hanieh, "Canadian Union Takes Important Step against Israeli Apartheid"

[Bill Bartlett]

At 5:16 PM -0700 3/6/06, Angelus Novus wrote:


>But that was not the intent behind my post.  As I
>stated before, criticism of Israel is anti-semitic
>when Israel is singled out for special treatment for
>simply acting as any nation-state would in a similar
>situation.

Criticism of Israel's "apartheid"-like policies could only be 
"anti-semitic" to the extent that support for apartheid is an 
intrinsic part of being semitic. Are you arguing that support for 
apartheid is an intrinsic being semitic? I must say that it isn't a 
notion that would have occurred to me, but if you can convince me 
that its true then I would have to acknowledge that it would make me 
anti-semitic.

Merely singling out Israel for criticism, for policies carried out by 
every other nation state, is not necessarily anti-semitic. It would 
merely be hypocritical. However, to be fair, I hardly think that 
genocide is the normal policy of "any nation-state would in a similar 
situation." That is to say that I think describing Israel's policies 
as merely "apartheid" is (even if understandable) entirely too 
generous.

Bill Bartlett
Bracknell Tas