More from Amiel on British anti-Semitism
Barbara Amiel, in a post script to her column on the Muslim Gallup poll, writes succinctly on the question of anti-Zionism vs. anti-Semitism in Britain that I was wrestling with much more longwindedly below:
There is a school of thought in the press, exemplified by Deborah Orr at the Independent, who wrote that "according to Ms Amiel, I too have been peddling anti-Semitism. Ever since I went to Israel on holiday I've considered it to be a shitty little country too."Actually, Miss Orr strikes me as muddled rather than anti-Semitic. However, her point, repeated elsewhere, is that I believe anyone who criticises Israel's policies or actions to be anti-Semitic.
For the record, I do not. Yes, it is possible to be anti-Israel both in general and vis-a-vis specific policies without being anti-Semitic. That is so self-evident that the number of Jews, since the days of Theodore Herzl, who were anti-Zionist not only equalled but periodically exceeded the number who were Zionists.
That said, the fact is that these days, when anti-Semitism is not socially acceptable and anti-Zionism is, a number of anti-Semites hide their true colours under this distinction.
I'm dwelling on this idiocy at length because, having worked as a journalist on both sides of the Atlantic, it is my impression that the British public is more likely to take its opinions from the media than either the Canadian or American public.
In the past number of years, the British public, while not necessarily anti-Semitic, has acquired an anti-Israeli bias based on the tendentious and inaccurate information of the British media. (One example: the BBC's decades of letting Resolution 242 pass as demanding Israel's return to the 1967 borders.)
To become anti-Israeli because of persistent misinformation may not be the same as becoming anti-Semitic, but it is still foolish and wrong.