Not at all. Go to any bulletin board discussing the Helen Thomas issue and you will find anti-semites galore. Check out HuffPost and Daily Kos. Tons of young American leftist anti-semites and a bunch of Muslims who of course hate Jews.
A few things.
I think the term anti-"semite" is weird one. I've never met a semite, have you? I don't even know what a semite is. That's why I wrote anti-Jewish.
And although Ms. Thomas' comment was pretty bad, I think (my guess) that that was her way of saying there shouldn't be a Jewish nation located where Israel is today. This is, in my mind, a defensible position. I'm not going to say whether I agree or disagree with that position (personally, I don't really care about it too much), but there are millions of people, many of them bordering Israel, who hold that view. I think one can hold that view, and not have a negative view about the members of the Jewish religion.
For example, I can like the Mormons I know, but I don't think there should be a new Mormon nation in Utah.
One can like Puerto Ricans, but still think that Puerto Rico should become part of the USA rather than remain a separate territory.
On can have a positive view of the Druze, but be against the idea of a Druze nation in the ME. Same with Israel and the Jews. |
