They say we shouldn't conflate anti-Zionism and anti-Semitism . . .

There are countless examples of criticism of Zionism, Israel policy, and the actions of the Jews of Israel that are not anti-semitism. Many Jews in Israel criticise Zionism, Israel policy, and the actions of Jews in Israel.

But there are also countless examples of criticism of Zionism, Israel policy, and the actions of Jews in relation to Israel that are anti-Semitism. As in the example above, attacking Jews in the United States because of the actions of Israel is anti-Semitic. Criticism of Israel combined with Holocaust denial is [i]per se[/i] anti-semitism.

Distorting historical facts or using actual historical facts to attack Israel in support of traditional anti-Semitic views of Jews is anti-Semitism. A black and white view of the Israel-Palestinian conflict is paranoid and tends to be anti-Semitic. (Jews who have a black and white view of Palestinians are also paranoid). Use of traditional anti-Semitic tropes to attack Israel is anti-Semitism, as in this example.


(Here's an example of using historical facts and factual oversimplification to support a racist agenda. Someone says, "I'm not at all racist, but just look at the facts. Who populates the prisons? Look at the black school performance -- black kids can't compete with white kids. Test scores prove that. As I say, I'm not at all racist, but look at the facts. Facts don't lie."

Compare:

"I'm not at all anti-Semitic, but just look at the facts about Israel . . .")

An interesting phenomenon coming from the left is "anti-Semitism denial."

[quote]When directed against the (radical) left, charges or criticisms of judeophobia tend to be indignantly, defensively, if not fiercely rejected, given the left’s anti-racist self-identification. Moreover, such charges are often viewed as being made by powerful Jews with hostile intentions.
Yet it is exactly this self-immunization and self-exculpation mechanism—tabooing discussions about antisemitism, refusing any willingness to investigate one’s prejudices, and blaming the (Jewish) messenger—that enables leftist antisemitism to flourish. Due to their anti-racist credentials, as presumed opponents of discrimination against minorities, leftist actors have been crucial in broadening the legitimacy of anti-Jewish tropes—often primarily directed against Israelis and the Jewish state—and in rendering the dissemination of such tropes socially and publicly acceptable.

[There are those on the political left who believe that if anyone] problematizes the demonization of Israelis and Israel, he or she does so inevitably in bad faith, purposely conspires in a secret plan to silence criticism of the Jewish state, and automatically belongs to the camp of the right wing or the oppressors. Moreover, this presupposes that the ‘real’ problems are always unjustified antisemitism charges by Jews, rather than expressions of antisemitism against them; it categorically takes side with those who are allegedly “unjustly accused of antisemitism,” rather than with the victims of antisemitism. This common reaction pattern does not just fail to recognize antisemitism, but is in itself entrenched in antisemitic tropes, as it is implicitly based on the assumption that Jews who address antisemitism are dishonest, slanderous, conspiratorial, manipulative, and use their (alleged) discrimination for their own political or material purposes. It also a priori presupposes that “criticism of Israel cannot be construed as antisemitic,” insinuating that as long as “Zionists” and Israel are the target, rather than Jews “as Jews”, it can by definition never be a case of antisemitism. Such antisemitism denial is, in fact, part of a “racializing discourse” on the left that enables all kinds of anti-Jewish stereotyping. [/quote]