"This leads naturally to the question, And just what has Israel done for *you* lately, Joe & Jane Citizen? Why should you be asked to back up these creeps on every occasion?
Wouldn't it be nice if more Americans started asking themselves that question, and wondering whether the war drums they keep hearing were really being sounded on their behalf, or on Israel's?
I sense in this discussion a certain squeamishness about the topic because people are worried about appearing, or being ' made to appear, anti-Semitic, or about encouraging anti-Semitism."
I'm not sure it's anti-semitism that's driving U.S. popular support for Israel.
My ex went on a cross-country drive a few years ago, and he said it was really striking how ever local newspaper he came across inevitably carried some story about Israel/Palestine. Our 51 state, he calls it.
So I think popular support for Israel is a combination of things: racism against brown-skinned people (Arabs), the belief that Arabs are terrorists, the perceived continuity between OT and NT (the fear of Islam), the barely concealed admiration for the thuggish conduct of the Israelis, and the identification with the troubles of a white settler state.
I think it would be more productive to talk about all those things rather than anti-semitism.
Joanna