Letters to the Editor
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"Islamophobia" - a recently invented term of political disparagement
Just as the term "Islamophobia" is used to discredit critics of Muslim ideology, suggesting that thier criticsm stems from irrational hatred and fear, so is "homophobia" used to suggest the same about, say, people who oppose gay marriage and proponents of illegal immigration accuse anti-illegal immigration people of "racism"
Its certainly possible, even likely, that some people accused of "Islamophobia" really do harbor foul prejudices about foreigners with different cultural habits, that some critics of gay rights are motivated by an emotional distress about homosexuality, and that some anti-immigrant activists are racists.
But you need to examine their argument before you dismiss it as "Islamophobic", "homophobic" or "racist"
Many leftist critics of Israel complain that they are accused of "Antisemitism" in order to silence them. As with people given the other labels this may or may not be true. I do think that criticsm of Israel crosses the boundary into antisemitsm when old antisemitic tropes are revived (such as the "Protocols of The Elders of Zion"-like assertion that Jews exert a secret, conspiratorial control over govenments and world events)
The term "Antisemitism" is different from, say "Islamophobia" because "Islamophobia" is a very recent political neologism invented by Muslims to describe the source of perceived bigotry against them, but "Antisemitsm" was actually coined by a 19th century "Antisemite" (Wilhelm Marr) to give a more 'scientific' feel to the older term "Judenhass", which meant "Jew-hate".
Although Arabs are also "Semites", you rarely hear them complain of "Antisemitsm", because "Antisemitsm" never meant opposition to all "Semites", it was meant to identify Jews and Jews only as "Semites", in contrast to "Aryans"