> So, if someone criticizes Israel's policies and
> conduct in Palestine,
> how can you tell whether they're anti-semitic or
> not? This is not a
> rhetorical question.
In addition to the points made by Michael Givel and Joel Schalit, I would add one more.
Any criticism of Zionism as such which isn't based upon a principled opposition to nations and states as such, I would characterize as anti-semitic. Leaving aside the right-wing manifestations of Zionism, Zionism in the most literal sense means a movement for a Jewish nation-state. Anybody who opposes such a movement among Jews, but has no problem with other self-defined national groups having their own respective nation-states, I would view as being anti-semitic.
> Also, why are Zionists never charged with
> anti-semitism even though they
> regularly call the semites in the middle east
> cockroaches and
> vermin...and treat them as such?
The first groups to use the phrase "anti-semitic" were anti-Jewish political parties in 19th Century Germany.
As Henryk Broder points out, "anti-semitism" as an ideology refers to anti-Jewish sentiment.
I also don't like the anti-Arab racism of right-wing Zionists, but I would not use the term "anti-semitic" to describe it.
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