Following publication of my first article in our series on anti-Semitism, in which I argued that protests against Israel are often interpreted as an expression of anti-Semitism, a reader reminded me that the Holocaust took place before the establishment of the State of Israel and decades before the occupation of the territories. Quite true. Anti-Semitism, just like other forms of racism and hatred for “the other,” including blacks, gays and Muslims, is an age-old phenomenon.
The Zionist movement and those Jews identified as its supporters were always the punching bag of neo-Nazi movements on the right and of anti-Zionist Marxists on the left. Unfortunately, it does not appear that these despicable phenomena will pass from the world in the foreseeable future. They are deeply rooted in the European past and continue to serve extremists on the left and right in their current attacks.
