Undounbtedly, antisemitism is rampant in the Muslim/Arab world. And while it can be argued that historically Jews have fared better under Muslim rule such as the Ottoman and Andalusian empires than in Europe and that Antisemitism in the Muslim world has been exacerbated by the establishment of Israel, still there is, as Iblis nicely put it, "a high level of raw and adulterated" antisemitism among Muslims. The fact that this bigotry extends to non-Arab Muslims such as the Mumbai bombers, is sufficient evidence that it's not simply a Palestine solidarity thing.
Even if you, like myself, were raised in a moderate household, you couldn't have possibly escaped the Antisemitic vitriol spoken by our teachers and written in our school books. In this regard, I am thankful to my dear father who, despite being staunchly pro-Palestinian, taught me from childhood that we must differentiate between Jews and Zionists. In fact one of the first books he recommended to me was a biography of the Father of the modern Iraqi state
Sassoon Eskell.
I once had a heated debate with some friends on the topic and I have to say it wasn't the Palestinian issue that my friends used to justify their Jew-hating but rather the verses in the Quran and nasty stereotypes.
Nevertheless, I am sick and tired of Zionists and Israel apologists using the antisemitic card so often. What's even more ludicrous is labeling the likes of Chomsky and Finkelstein as "self-hating Jews". And believe me it's not just one or two JDL types who use it. I've been involved in some debates about the Israel-Palestine issue and MANY Jews resorted to the silly self-hatred defense.
One more thing I like to mention which nobody else did which is the Muslim-hating and anti-Arab racism in Israel. I had the fortune of getting acquainted with a very nice Arab Israeli guy who's a student at an Israeli University. He opened my eyes to something I was completely oblivious about which is how Arabs, even the ones who are Israeli citizens, are depicted in the Israeli media. He told me about nasty Muslim/Arab jokes and stereotypes which are to say the least racist and bigoted. He told me about the bullying he experienced in uni even though he's a third-generation Israeli citizen and not a practising Muslim.
It is also very annoying when Israelis try to reduce
any Palestinian liberation movement to fanatic Islamic terrorism.
Topic: Israel