I've labeled two commenters in here anti-Semitic. The first accused Jews of fictionalizing and exaggerating the tragedy of the Holocaust. The second believes in a grand international Jewish financing conspiracy that controls the United States.

I've stated repeatedly that there is tons of room for legitimate criticism of Israel, but when people are cautious in parsing their words (like over at HuffPo), this is done not due to some fear of hidden Jewish power about to hammer their heads, but due to sensitivity. The same sensitivity when white people start talking about, say, African-American issues.

But over here, no worries. Anti-Semitism is way overblown, and can be dismissed as simply a canard used to silence people

Who's being silenced? I have no idea.

All I hear are whiny victims of this mythical sledgehammer of anti-Semitism. The amount of people playing the "people keep playing the anti-Semitism card" card far outweigh anyone actually citing anti-Semitism.

I don't want to get into a tit-for-tat on what is or isn't anti-Semitic because there is no way to win. In the fevered minds of the Israel haters, no criticism of Israel, of Jewish "financing" networks, of hidden global media power, could ever veer into anti-Semitic cliche. It's all "truth to power" being spoken by the fearless against the giant Jewish silencing machine (that somehow never actually silences anyone).

It's so sad to see this type of rage against Israel, yet not a peep when Gaza militants are shelling Israeli towns for months. Not a peep during the Second Intifada when nail bombs went through the heads of Jewish children at school yards and in pizza shops, after Israel had offered to give back land it gained in a war it didn't start.

Israel's attempt to return land to the very people who started the war in which Israel gained that land may be a first in recorded history.

Has the victor of a war ever given back land it claimed in a territorial dispute it didn't start?

We still have Texas. Should we return it to Mexico?

The expectations the world has for Israel remain at a level no other country is asked to meet. Does Israel fail? All the time. Is Israel just? Often times it is not. Have the Palestinians suffered greatly? Undoubtedly.

But to listen to the whining in this thread that people are being "silenced" is a total fraud. The wilful ignorance (or turning a blind eye) to the real dangers of anti-Semitism, a shredding of any credibility of a legitimate Israeli critique.

One can and should critique Israel. One should also critique the Palestinians' utter self-destruction and descent into terrorism the past 10 years. One should also critique Palestine's Arab neighbors, who perpetuate the isolation of the Palestinians as pawns against Israel in a global media campaign.

3 billion a year to Israel buys us two weeks in Iraq. If America is this loyal supporter of Israel, we must be dry humping the people of Iraq on a daily basis with love.

Also we give 2 billion a year to Egypt. You know, the country that pretty much hates us and provided a few terrorists on 9/11.

You okay with your tax dollars going to Egypt?

Our support of the House of Saud?

Because I'm not.

If we're going to start listing who we should and shouldn't support, I can think of dozens of despots and fascists we aid every year we should cut off before we even start talking about money sent to Israel.

Glenn, you are right that we are more complicit in the actions our government takes.

But your logical fallacy is arguing that by providing planes to Israel, we are complicit in how they use those planes.

That's like arguing we're complicit in a terrorist car bomb going off if that terrorist used a car made by General Motors.

We are as complicit in what Israel does with our financial support as we are in what Egypt does, or the House of Saud, or dozens of other countries we have financial entanglements with.

As to your claim we don't fund Palestine, you are only very recently correct:

During fiscal years 1993 through 2005, the United States provided more than $2 billion in assistance to Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, including nearly $275 million in fiscal year 2005, to help achieve this goal. In particular, the 2005 assistance was provided to support the president of the Palestinian Authority, elected in January 2005, and to facilitate the Israeli disengagement from parts of the West Bank and Gaza, among other things.

It may be far less, but America has given plenty of financial assistance to Palestine, especially during the Arafat years.

http://www.americanchronicle.com/articles/view/14515

Thanks for the comment! It added much.

And by much, I mean crap-all.

Do you have any clue how many military planes we've sold to some of the nastiest thugs in the world? Heck, we armed Iran throughout the 1980s. You keep acting like we only provide military materials to Israel. Sadly, this country has been making a tidy profit arming just about half the countries in the world. If you want to critique America for this, I'll support you, but don't be naive and pretend we simply arm Israel and no one else.

Heck, Saddam Hussein was using our old helicopters in the war 2003.