Tim Worstall

Much depends on what gets classified as “an antisemitic incident” these days.
I’ve been contributing to online message boards for more than 10 years now and in that time some evidently regarded the slightest criticism of the state of Israel and what its politicians and the IDF got up to as blatant “antisemitism” – “in . . effect, if not . . intent,” to quote Lawrence Summers on 17 September 2002, when he was President of Harvard:
“But where anti-Semitism and views that are profoundly anti-Israeli have traditionally been the primary preserve of poorly educated right-wing populists, profoundly anti-Israel views are increasingly finding support in progressive intellectual communities. Serious and thoughtful people are advocating and taking actions that are anti-Semitic in their effect if not their intent.”
http://president.harvard.edu/speeches/2002/morningprayers.html
Apparently some consider it “antisemitic” to note that veteran Labour politician Simon Peres has just had to take on the presidency of Israel at short notice because President Moshe Katsav has “formally submitted his resignation, a day after agreeing to plead guilty to several sexual offences. This was part of a plea bargain that removes two rape charges against him.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6252340.stm
There was also the recent case of Haim Ramon, justice minister in the Israeli government at the outbreak of the Lebanon war last summer. He had to resign after a conviction on charges of sexual harrassment of a subordinate:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6316563.stm
And we mustn’t overlook Ariel Sharon’s son, Omri, who was jailed on corruption charges:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/4712698.stm

Stephen

Well, Bob B, an antisemitic incident is defined as:
“The CST classifies as an antisemitic incident
any malicious act aimed at Jewish people,
organisations or property, where there is
evidence that the act has antisemitic
motivation or content, or that the victim
was targeted because they are (or are
believed to be) Jewish. Incidents can take
several forms, including physical attacks on
people or property, verbal or written abuse,
threats or antisemitic leaflets and posters.
The CST does not include the general
activities of antisemitic organisations in its
statistics; nor does it include antisemitic
material that is permanently hosted on internet websites.”
So I think it’s safe to say that criticism of Israel is not part of it. In fact, if you want to come to London and observe some antisemitic incidents yourself, you’re welcome to stand on Golders Green road on a Friday night to hear the “Hitler was right” screams from passing cars with your own little ears.

john b

“In fact, if you want to come to London and observe some antisemitic incidents yourself, you’re welcome to stand on Golders Green road on a Friday night to hear the “Hitler was right” screams from passing cars with your own little ears.”
*cough*my arse*cough

Philip Thomas

Last I heard, most of these antisemitic incidents were prepetrated by Muslims. Makes quite the humdinger for the PC industry when you haven’t got whites to side against.
That said that classic EU report (notably suppressed) a few years back still identified young white males as the major problem in the summary despite the internal pages identifying Muslim males as the key actors. The contemporary PC industry’s mantra: when in doubt, accuse.

Andrew Ian Dodge

How about die you f***ing jew yelled at me by two muzzie men on the Picaddilly line? I am not even Jewish and I got this shit. Bob B is talking out of his arse. Its pretty bad for Jews in London right now just ask one who lives here.

Bob B

“Bob B is talking out of his arse.”
– Thanks for that, Andrew, as it says more about your (in)capacity for objective commentary than it does about me. Note that I was quoting, with links, recent BBC news reports about Israeli politicians who are jews and members of the governing coalition in Israel.
– I’m not only a Londoner but I’ve been taken for a jew on several occasions over the last 40 or so years both in Britain and abroad. Boyhood friends were German refugees and later girl friends.
– As for prevalent antisemitism in Britain, I’d rather take the word of Sir Jonathan Sacks:
“Sir Jonathan Sacks, the Chief Rabbi, told the committee that Britain was manifestly not an anti-Semitic society: ‘It is one of the least anti-Semitic societies in the world.’”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2346373,00.html

JuliaM

Look, Stephen and Andrew Ian Dodge, there’s no point you recalling actual incidents of anti-semitism that happened to you or you witnessed.
Bob B has ‘recent BBC news reports’ and a speech by the Chief Rabbi to refute you with (god knows what john b has, probably nothing as usual).
I mean, what are you going to believe, your own experiences, or some blog commenters..?

Bob B

Those posted links to recent BBC news items about leading Israeli politicians are bound to antisemitic, as was the BBC in reporting that outrageous speech of Gerald Kaufam when he called Ariel Sharon a war criminal:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/1933309.stm
And the BBC report on the Khiam Prison in South Lebanon really was beyond the pale:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/correspondent/1002463.stm
The fact that it won an Amnesty International Award in 2001 only goes to show how pervasive the conspiracy is.

john b

Meanwhile, I like the way Julia seems to think the Chief Rabbi knows less about antisemitism in the UK than two randoms in a comments box.

JuliaM

Not at all, just pondering why you pop up here simply to pooh-pooh Stephen’s account and add nothing else to the debate.
To be fair, perhaps you pooh-pooh all accounts of racist abuse.
Shall I go pop over to ‘Pickled Politics’ or ‘Ligali forum’ and see if you show up in the comments telling people that they are talking rubbish when they claim they have had racist abuse directed at them?

Bob B

Of course, antisemitism is rife among UN staffers. Look at this despicable comment by the UN humanitarian chief on the use of Cluster Bombs by the IDF:
“The UN’s humanitarian chief has accused Israel of ‘completely immoral’ use of cluster bombs in Lebanon. UN clearance experts had so far found 100,000 unexploded cluster bomblets at 359 separate sites, Jan Egeland said.”
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/5299938.stm
I mean, what does it matter how many Lebanese children get killed when they pick up the bomblets?