<< The criticism in Europe is criticism of Israel's military aggression against the Palestinians, and has nothing to do with anti-Semitism. Is there any chance of pro-Israel Americans as a group ever becoming able to actually make that distinction, instead of simply equating criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism? >>
I would like to believe this, except that those same Europeans do not voice with anything remotely close to the same volume criticism of far worse regimes, governments, dictators, etc., doing infinitely worse things anywhere else. Those same Europeans do not demonstrate or protest against the murderous government of the Sudan, or Iraq. When Hafez al Assad murdered 20,000 Syrians in the city of Hama in 1982, nobody (basically anywhere) said a thing. It has been the USA that has most protested the massacres in the Sudan; where have the Europeans been? Indian Hindus are butchering Muslims; where are the European protests? Not that the Palestinian cause doesn't have some validity, but why is that the only cause that seems to galvanize Europeans? (And yes, that is very much how it seems over here to Americans. Undoubtedly my view is 100% wrong because I, like all Americans, know nothing about anything and Europeans know everything about everything; but that is how it seems over here: like hypocrisy tinged by if not motivated by anti-Semitism.) In any case, this thread is about the contrasting ways the sides in the Middle East teach their children about the other. Israel seems to make an attempt to be fair to the Palestinians and Islam; the Palestinians clearly are making great efforts to lie about Israel, Jews, and Judaism. And you Europeans expect the Israelis to trust people who spread filthy, horrible lies about them? Not that all Israelis are perfect. Some of the more militant settlers are definitely prejudiced against the Palestinians. But that is not the official position of the Israeli government (even the Sharon government); anti-semitism *is* the official position of the Palestinian Authority, at least in its educational program. Tom Beck "I always knew I'd see the first man on the Moon. I didn't realize I'd also see the last." - Jerry Pournelle
