This cartoon showing a jackbooted Zionist rolling over Gaza might be offensive, or unfair, but it doesn’t strike me as particularly anti-Semitic. Abe Foxman, somewhat predictably, disagrees. “Pat Oliphant’s outlandish and offensive use of the Star of David in combination with Nazi-like imagery is hideously anti-Semitic,” he railed. “It employs Nazi imagery by portraying Israel as a jack-booted, goose-stepping headless apparition. The implication is of an Israeli policy without a head or a heart.”
But implying that Israeli policy lacks head and heart is not anti-Semitic. It’s not an assertion of an intrinsically Jewish trait. Jack boots and goose steps are not traditional anti-Semitic tropes. Foxman appears to be confusing anti-Semitism with criticism — even extreme and offensive criticism — of the Israeli government. And it’s really not a good thing to be forcing critics of Israel to decide whether they are also anti-Semites. In some cases, you’ll intimidate the critic into silence. And in others, you’ll normalize anti-Semitism.
Related thoughts here.
Warning: I’ll be keeping an eye on this comment thread. Keep it civil.
