New "Anti-Semites" Week of Oct. 11 - Oct. 17 2007

WHO: The European media
WHY: "Aided by a pre-existing anti-Americanism and anti-Semitism, European media have been willing to demonize the United States and Israel while remaining largely silent on the merger of their continent with the Islamic world."
FOR THE RECORD: "Right at the top of the list four countries share first place - Finland, Iceland, Norway and the Netherlands. These northern European states scrupulously respect press freedom in their own countries but also speak up for it elsewhere, for example recently in Eritrea and Zimbabwe. The highest-scoring country outside Europe is Canada, which comes fifth. ... The 15 member-countries of the European Union (EU) all score well except for Italy (40th), where news diversity is under serious threat. Prime minister Silvio Berlusconi is turning up the pressure on the state-owned television stations, has named his henchmen to help run them and continues to combine his job as head of government with being boss of a privately-owned media group." Reporters Without Borders, "Reporters Without Borders publishes the first worldwide press freedom index," Reporters Without Borders Website, October 2002
SOURCE: 'Fjordman', "Conservative Bloggers Fight for Free Speech," Global Politician, 17 October 2007

WHO: League of Polish Families, polish right-wing political party
WHY: "The 30-second television spot by the League of Polish Families mixes images of Polish troops in Iraq and violence in the Middle East with pictures of President Lech Kaczynski wearing a skull cap on a visit to the Western Wall in Jerusalem. 'This is an attempt to attract people with anti-Semitic views,' said Piotr Kadlcik, the leader of the Jewish Religious Communities in Poland, which released a statement condemning the advert."
FOR THE RECORD: "Roman Giertych, leader of the League of Polish Families, defended the tv spot, saying it was not anti-Semitic while insisting there is a connection between the war in Iraq and Israel. 'One can be against the war in Iraq without being an anti-Semite,' Giertych said. 'This ad shows the cooperation between Poland and the U.S., and Poland and Israel — we have a right to criticize it,' he said. 'The war in Iraq threatens our country, and this is why the Polish troops should be pulled out from Iraq as soon as possible.'" EJP, "Election campaign tv spot by extreme-right party anti-Semitic?," European Jewish Press, 16 October 2007
SOURCE: Reuters, "Polish Jews condemn election ads as anti-Semitic," Reuters, 17 October 2007

WHO: David Himmelberger and his Himmelberger Gallery in San Francisco
WHY: Because the Gallery "has decided to cancel plans to publish an art catalogue of one of its represented artists, noted author Alan Kaufman, who is under contract to the gallery. The decision is due to use of the word Zionism in the catalogue’s title ‘Visionary Expressionism:
A Zionist Art.' ... 'And how this same Zionism, distorted and vilified by one of the most sordid disinformation campaigns in history, became the bete noire of the present day, a refugee of a word, a pariah of an idea, is one of the most sordid instances in the long, cruel campaign to marginalize and, ultimately, to destroy the Jewish People. Let us, then, be perfectly frank about one thing. To vilify, marginalize, suppress or outlaw Zionism politically, socially or culturally, for any reason whatever, is to wish no less then murderous extinction upon every Jewish man, woman and child in the world today.'"
FOR THE RECORD: "Kaufman had solicited brief essays from friends such as David Twersky, a contributing editor for The New York Sun and senior adviser to the American Jewish Congress’s executive director; David Rosenberg, co-author of 'The Book of J' and author of 'Abraham: The First Historical Biography,' and Israeli author Etgar Keret. Kaufman, author of the memoir 'Jew Boy' and the novel 'Matches,' also penned an essay for the catalog. 'His reaction to that was immediate and profound. He pointed to the title of the catalog and said, ‘There’s no way I’ll do that, never,’' Kaufman said. He claimed that Himmelberger told him such a presentation was antithetical to the aims of the gallery, which include fostering international understanding by rejecting nationalism." Josh Richman, "Bay Area Artists Fight Over Framing of Mideast Conflict," The Forward, 17 October 2007 Also, from source cited below: "Himmelberger said that such a presentation was antithetical to the aims of the gallery, which promotes “international understanding” and forswears all forms of nationalism and religion."
SOURCE: 'chutzpaleh' "San Francisco Art Gallery Censors Writing and Art Work as Too Zionist," Oy Bay! 17 October 2007

WHO: Yeted Ne'eman, the flagship journal of Degel HaTorah, the "Lithuanian wing" of the Ashkenazi Haredim and the Israeli "United Torah Judaism" political party.
WHY: "The cartoon showed a man dressed in shorts and sandals wearing a skullcap and trimmed black beard, representing a Shas follower, in cahoots with a secular person representing Kadima. Wearing a big grin, the two were dumping a rock labeled "2008 cuts" on the head of a Haredi man. The symbols appear obvious, lacking sophistication, and according to Shas, loaded with anti-Semitism and racism of the sort Ashkenazi ultra-Orthodox feel about Sephardi Haredim."
FOR THE RECORD: "'I don't see why a cartoon is necessary when the real picture is much worse,' said MK Yakov Litzman, chairman of UTJ. 'I am surprised to hear that they are leaving the religious lobby. I expected them to leave the government,' quipped MK Moshe Gafni, another member of UTJ. Litzman acknowledged that there is bickering every year over the budget, but he charged Shas with 'disgracing us.' 'The budget for yeshivas was NIS 82.5 million last year and all of a sudden it is NIS 4 million,' he said. 'Do you have any other explanation for this except humiliation for the Haredim? Shas does not have so many yeshivas ... and in any case they will take care of themselves [from inside the government].'"
SOURCE: Yair Ettinger, "Cartoon spat prompts Shas to quit Knesset religious lobby," Ha'aretz, 16 October 2007

WHO: Scottish Socialist Party (SSP)
WHY: "Kelvin branch of the Scottish Socialist Party (SSP) has submitted a motion to the 2007 SSP conference calling on the party to support the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and its campaign for a boycott of Israel."
FOR THE RECORD: "The Stirling University Students Association (SUSA) senate have voted overwhelmingly to boycott Israeli goods, in protest at that country’s on-going occupation of Palestine and persecution of Palestinians. As a result of the decision - reached by a 35-1 majority, with only one abstention - a referendum of students is to be held in November, asking if they wish to support a motion to ‘ Oppose Anti-Semitism and Oppose the Occupation’. ... The boycott, disinvestment and sanctions policy is supported by most of the Israel peace movement, a majority of the population of Palestine and has already won support in universities in England Wales and Scotland through it being an official policy of the main university and college lecturers union (AUT). The policy is increasingly being recognised as the most effective and peaceful way of making the Israel government realise that their actions, including ignoring UN resolutions on borders, the construction of the internationally condemned apartheid wall, and the blatant disregard for Palestinians’ human rights, are not acceptable. ... The Scottish Socialist Party agreed at its conference to reconfirm its support for the boycott of Israel. The motion which was passed includes a call for the party to campaign on the issue in all areas, including through the students’ movement." Iain Campbell, "Stirling students’ association vote to boycott Israeli goods," Scottish Socialist Voice, Issue 284, 26 October 2006
SOURCE: Stan Crooke, "The 'Zionophobes' that pushed even the SWP to resign in protest," Worker's Liberty, 14 October 2007

WHO: Officials and residents of Newton Highlands, Massachusetts opposed to the building of a building a 12,000-square-foot synagogue in a residential neighborhood.
WHY: "Relations between the religious group and the city grew tense, with Beth Menachem members suggesting that officials who opposed its interests were anti-Semitic. The fighting roiled the community of Newton, where an estimated one-third of residents are Jewish."
FOR THE RECORD: "Neighbors say the site's lack of parking at its headquarters in a home at 229 Dedham St. has created dangerous traffic congestion at Dedham's intersection with Rachel Road. It is near Countryside Elementary, the city's largest primary school. 'The current level of risk to pedestrians and drivers at this intersection is at the tipping point. Further stress with a huge structure and overflowing parking needs posed danger that is unacceptable,' wrote a group of 10 neighboring homeowners in an Aug. 7 letter to the board. Neighbors Ellen and Charles Lipson echoed the sentiments with an Aug. 9 letter of their own, asking aldermen to delay the project until a solution to the "current and future traffic nightmare" could be found. ... The implication of anti-Semitism was one that Lipof, who is Jewish and the son of Rabbi Emily Lipof of Temple Ohabei Shalom in Brookline, said he found deeply offensive. 'It never has been about religion," Rick Lipof said last week. 'It's about a use of land that is inappropriate for a residential neighborhood.'"
SOURCE: Erica Noonan, "Jewish center wins OK from city," The Boston Globe, 14 October 2007

WHO: Ron Olive, retired foreign counterintelligence agent and author of “Capturing Jonathan Pollard”
WHY: For Capturing Israeli spy against the United States Jonathan Pollard: "Olive is credited with having deciphered much of Pollard’s espionage activity, and then coaxing the confession which led to his arrest in 1985. ... Israeli leaders and several American Jewish groups have continually excoriated the U.S. government for its delivery of the life sentence for Pollard, whose employer, the Israeli government was – after all – a U.S. political ally. Calls persist for Pollard’s release from prison, and criticism – even accusations of anti-Semitism have trickled down to Olive’s own role in the saga."
FOR THE RECORD: "Pollard, a civilian intelligence analyst working at the U.S. Naval Investigative Service’s Anti-Terrorist Alert Center, had stolen what was, by all accounts, a prodigious amount of highly sensitive national security information. Olive says his book is the story of how our national security system, 'totally broke down ... and about the devastation he (Pollard) caused.' ... 'He gave a foreign government our capabilities – that’s like giving the keys to the kingdom to a foreign government,' he says. 'It costs billions and billions and billions of dollars to rebuild a system once it’s been stolen.'"
SOURCE: Nancy Pasternack, "The true story behind Jonathan Pollard," Appeal-Democrat, 12 October 2007

New "Anti-Semites" Week of Oct. 4 - Oct. 10 2007

WHO: Egypt
WHY: Apparently because in the first century CE, Greeks and Romans in Egypt instigated the first anti-Jewish pogrom in recorded history in the Greek city of Alexandria.
FOR THE RECORD: Alexandria was a Greek/Macedonian transplant into Egypt founded after the conquest of the country by Alexander the Great and the cited progrom was between Greeks and Romans and Jews - not Egyptians - in Greek Alexandria under Roman control. "But still conflicts perpetually arose with the Greeks, and although the Roman governors did every day punish many of them, yet the violence grew worse. But at this time, when there were tumults in other places as well, the disorders among the Greeks and Jews became even more violent. ..." Flavius Josephus, Jewish War, 2.487-498. The obvious implication of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs piece is to continue with the vilification of modern Egypt.
SOURCE: Interview with Pieter W. van der Horst, "The Egyptian Beginning of Anti-Semitism's Long History," Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, October 2007

WHO: Europe in general
WHY: For having the audacity to criticize Israeli policies twoard the native Palestinian people: "Oil-funded propaganda combined with latent anti-semitism and large-scale immigration of anti-semitic populations has turned Europe into a cauldron of simmering anti-Israel hate that has led to academic boycotts of Israel, and that hatred and ignorance is manifesting itself on American campuses such as Columbia."
FOR THE RECORD: "Europeans, however, generally view resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as key to reshaping the Middle East, fostering durable stability, and decreasing the threats posed to both the United States and Europe by terrorism and Islamic militancy. The EU’s first-ever security strategy, released in December 2003, cites resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict as a top EU priority. Many European officials charge that Washington has focused too much on Iraq and has an unbalanced, excessively pro-Israeli policy. In this view, the United States is alienating the broader Muslim world, which perceives a U.S. double standard at work. European leaders have clamored for the United States to 'do more' to get Israeli-Palestinian negotiations back on track, precisely because they recognize that only sustained U.S. engagement at the highest levels will force the parties to the conflict, especially Israel, back to the negotiating table." Kristin Archick (Congressional Research Service), "European Views and Policies Toward the Middle East," CRS Web, 9 March 2005
SOURCE: Gamaliel Isaac, "A History Lesson for Columbia," Intellectual Conservative, 10 October 2007

WHO: Sir Kingsley William Amis, Wiki: "(April 16, 1922 – October 22, 1995) was an English novelist, poet, critic, and teacher. He wrote more than twenty novels, three collections of poetry, short stories, radio and television scripts, and books of social and literary criticism. He fathered English novelist Martin Amis."
WHY: "Professor Terry Eagleton, a Marxist professor of cultural theory at the University of Manchester, had made the accusations a preface to his new book Ideology: An Introduction. He called the Lucky Jim author 'a racist, anti-Semitic boor, a drink-sodden, self-hating reviler of women, gays and liberals'."
FOR THE RECORD: "However, Sir Kingsley's second wife, the novelist Elizabeth Jane Howard, and his homosexual brother-in-law Colin Howard have sprung to his defence. In a letter to the Daily Telegraph, Ms Howard wrote: 'Kingsley was never a racist, nor an anti-Semitic boor. Our four great friends who witnessed our wedding were three Jews and one homosexual.' She added: 'I never heard him behave in a racist manner towards Jews, nor when he was teaching in Nashville did he accept the prevailing attitude of the racist whites against the black people there.' And Mr Howard, who lived with Sir Kingsley and Ms Howard for 17 years, explained: 'During that time, we became very close and affectionate friends. Prof Eagleton is, at the least, careless in his description of Kingsley as homophobic.' He continued: 'Calling him anti-Semitic should be actionable were it not so absurd.'"
SOURCE: "Amis family denies 'racist' allegations," InTheNews.co.uk, 10 October 2007

WHO: Archbishop Desmond Tutu [Generally speaking, once the accusation is thrown once it is repeated over and over again, so once we list a victim of this libel one time we usually do not bother to do so over and over again. However, this particular charge against Desmond Tutu, we just couldn't resist listing him twice.]
WHY: "Also attending the Conference is anti-Semite Desmond Tutu (Tutu not an anti-Semite because he is anti-Israel---he is an anti-Semite because he hates JEWS. ... Boston conference participant, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, is another major contributor to the Durban Strategy. In a speech at a 2002 Sabeel conference, Tutu repeatedly labeled Israel an "apartheid state," and compared the Israeli government to Stalin and Hitler. Following criticism of Tutu's anti-Semitic and anti-Israel statements, the University of St. Thomas (Minneapolis-St. Paul) revoked his invitation to their spring 2008 conference."
FOR THE RECORD: "Archbishop Desmond Tutu will speak at a Minnesota university after all. Less than a week after it was revealed that Tutu's appearance at the University of St. Thomas was nixed over comments deemed offensive to Jews, the university's president announced Wednesday he had made a mistake by disinviting Tutu. ... Jewish critics pointed to a speech Tutu delivered in 2002 in which he compared Israeli practices to those of the apartheid regime in South Africa. The university's decision to rescind the invitation to Tutu, a Nobel Peace Prize winner and internationally recognized humanitarian, prompted an uproar and revived claims that U.S. Jews seek to quash public criticism of Israel. On Tuesday, Anti-Defamation League National Director Abraham Foxman wrote to Dease urging him to reconsider his decision about disinviting Tutu. University officials did not say whether Foxman's letter affected Dease's decision, but they said Dease received a steady stream of phone calls and e-mails when the story broke last week." "Tutu reinvited to Minnesota college," JTA News, 10 October 2007
SOURCE: Yid with Lid "Boston to Host Sabeel's Israel Hatefest on Oct. 26/7," 10 October 2007

WHO: Ashkan Dejagah, 21, a German-Iranian soccer player for Bundesliga club VfB Wolfsburg
WHY: For withdrawing from an upcoming match against Israel to be held in Tel Aviv citing "personal reasons," that is, not wanting to play Israel or violate Iranian law by going to Israel. To quote the source: "Surely this nasty little anti-Semite should be shown up for what he is, rather than indulged for his SO CALLED "plausible" reason? If he had said he wasn't going to play against a Muslim team, or of he said that he wouldn't play against a homosexual team (Chelsea, for example...joke) then I bet he would be castigated for his intolerance. But when it's Jews...."
FOR THE RECORD: "An Iranian-born player in Germany's under-21 national soccer team has withdrawn from an upcoming match against Israel citing "personal reasons", the German Football Association (DFB) said on Monday. ... "He came to us citing personal reasons that seemed very plausible," DFB spokesman Jens Grittner said. Dejagah could not be reached for comment, but tabloid daily Bild quoted him as saying his motive was political. 'It has political reasons. Everyone knows that I am German-Iranian,' he said of the decision to withdraw. Since the 1979 Islamic Revolution, Iran has refused to recognize Israel's right to exist and Iranian citizens are forbidden from travelling to Israel." Catherine Bosley, "Soccer-Iran-born German player withdraws from Israel match," Reuters, 8 October 2007
SOURCE: David Vance, "BLOWING THE WHISTLE ON ANTI-SEMITISM," A Tangled Web, 10 October 2007

WHO: Jeff Halper, Israeli founder of ICAHD. Wiki: "The Israeli Committee Against House Demolitions (ICAHD) describes itself as 'a non-violent, direct-action group originally established to oppose and resist Israeli demolition of Palestinian homes in the Occupied Territories.' It was founded by Jeff Halper, a former professor of Anthropology at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev. ICAHD opposes what it calls the 'matrix of control' that Israel has established over the West Bank and East Jerusalem and sees the dismantling of this control as the only path towards peace. They also actively campaign against what they believe are Human rights violations and an emerging apartheid."
WHY: "Israeli human rights activist and author Jeff Halper argues that in the Israel-Palestine conflict the two-state solution is dead and that apartheid has taken over. ... 'We use apartheid in a very precise way. We don't use it as a slogan. We have been very careful about it. Apartheid is a system that can't be exported,' Halper told a group of about 40 people during a talk Sunday at Memorial United Church of Christ in Fitchburg. An apartheid system is one of separation in which one population separates itself from the others, Halper said. 'And that's what Israel calls its policy.' The other element of apartheid is domination, he said. 'One population separates itself from the others and then dominate them. Permanently and institutionally.' Israel's offer to withdraw from 95 percent of the West Bank will create not peace, but rather a Palestinian prison state, said Halper, who has been called 'a Jewish anti-Semite.'"
FOR THE RECORD: This is just another example of smearing people that are critical of Israel and Israeli policy with the "anti-Semite" label.
SOURCE: Samara Kalk Derby, "Activist/author calls Israel-Palestine conflict apartheid," The Capital Times (Madison WI), 8 October 2007

WHO: The Washington Post and its contributior, Geoffrey Wheatcroft (also a regular contributor to The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Wall Street journal, and The Guardian)
WHY: "Bernard Lewis once noted that an anti-Semite is a person who criticizes Israel while refusing to acknowledge other countries have similar flaws. The same may be said for Mr. Wheatcroft and the Washington Post."
FOR THE RECORD: "Former literary editor of London's Spectator, Wheatcroft describes himself as "a genuine neutral or agnostic" on the Arab-Israeli conflict, seeing right and wrong on both sides. In this dispassionate yet opinionated history, which sweeps from Theodore Herzl's Zionist dream to Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin's assassination in 1995, Wheatcroft condemns the 1975 United Nations resolution equating Zionism with racism as gravely malicious, a reflection of the Arab states' malignancy. While praising Israel as "a unique island of constitutional government in the Levant," he echoes the observation of U.S. journalist I.F. Stone that Zionism involved a psychological act of denial along with a physical act of displacement of Palestine's Arab population." From the Publishers Weekly review of Geoffrey Wheatcroft's "The Controversy of Zion: Jewish Nationalism, the Jewish State, and the Unresolved Jewish Dilemma" as presented on the Amazon.Com page for the book.
SOURCE: Mark Graber, "Double Standards at the Washington Post," Balkinization, 8 October 2007

WHO: The play "Jewtopia" and apparently its authors, Bryan Fogel and Sam Wolfson
WHY: "But that's Jewtopia in a shell-free nut for you: a series of clichés and worn-out jokes about, for and written by Jews that is meant to honour Yiddish humour and resilience to atrocities but comes dangerously close to self-inflicted racial profiling and internalized anti-Semitism."
FOR THE RECORD: "There's nothing here that Jackie Mason and Mel Brooks haven't milked for comedic effect either in a stand-up routine or onscreen. Fogel and Wolfson's only contribution to the cause of Borscht-belt humour is introducing the gross-out sensibility of a Ben Stiller or an Adam Sandler to the mix in a desperate attempt to appeal to a younger, urban audience."
SOURCE: Kamal Al-Solaylee, "Clichéd stereotypes. Yeah, we get it. Ha Ha ... not," Toronto Globe & Mail, 6 October 2007

WHO: The Google Search Engine, the Oxford English Dictionary, and Rudyard Kipling
WHY: Google: Because its search engine pulls up particular anti-Semitic websites when the search term "Jew" is entered. Oxford English Dictionary: because it included these definitions under the word "Jew:" "The first was the noun - 'Person who drives hard bargains, usurer' and the second the verb 'to Jew' - 'cheat, bargain with (person) to lower his price.'" And Rudyard Kipling: "I read Rudyard Kipling's brilliant teen novel 'Stalky & Co.' for the first time and was perplexed by this passage: 'Pay me my interest, or I'll charge you interest on interest. Remember I've got your note-of-hand!' shouted Beetle. 'You're a cold-blooded Jew,' Stalky groaned.'"
FOR THE RECORD: Google: "special explanation written by Google insists that while the company in no way agrees with the content of such websites, they have no plans to remove it or others. Google they claim, simply reflects what is up there on the web, without issuing judgment." The Oxford English Dictionary: "the Oxford University Press's position that the dictionary was there simply to record the use of words and their history, not to act as a guardian by keeping language clean." And Rudyard Kipling: "I know that Kipling, like a number of other famous late-Victorian writers, was more than a little anti-Semitic, but that doesn't stop me from enjoying his writing, or that of Graham Greene, Evelyn Waugh and even the sainted George Orwell, who all displayed similar tendencies at one stage or another of their careers. We will gain nothing by posthumously sanitizing their works, just as trying to censor dictionaries and search engines won't help us to understand and confront mankind's most ancient hatred."
SOURCE: Anshel Pfeffer, "Moves to censor the dictionary may not help fight anti-Semitism," Ha'aretz, 6 October 2007

WHO: State Rep. Marlin Schneider (D-Wisconsn Rapids) and others asking for a full investigation of the USS Liberty incident in 1967
WHY: "Schneider became interested in the matter in 1998, when he got an e-mail from an Oshkosh man asking whether the federal government could be petitioned about an investigation of the attack. 'I thought it was a no-brainer, an attack on an American ship in which a young sailor from Fond du Lac, Duane Margraaf, was killed,' Schneider said. 'But someone warned me that this would be viewed as an assault on the nation state of Israel. As soon as you say something about it, the Jewish lobby crawls all over you, and they call you an anti-Semite.'"
FOR THE RECORD: "His resolution went nowhere, and the Assembly decided not to petition the federal government about anything, after which Schneider's fruitless resolutions asked other states to petition Congress for an investigation. The men who served on the Liberty believe that the attack was deliberately carried out by the Israelis. 'I talked to some of the guys who were on the ship who said that Israeli planes flew over for hours on a sunny day when the American flag was clearly displayed and even tipped their wings,' Schneider said. 'But all the sudden they launched a violent attack. A distress signal was sent to the Sixth Fleet, which sent planes to intercept the planes attacking, but Lyndon Johnson and Robert McNamara literally called the planes back. They were not allowed to defend the ship.' Despite the Tribune investigation, Schneider doesn't think that Congress will do anything about the matter."
SOURCE: Anita Weier, "'67 spy ship affair resurfaces: State pol pursued probe of attack," The Capital Times (Madison, WI), 4 October 2007

New "Anti-Semites" Week of Sept. 27 - Oct. 3 2007

WHO: Israeli elites: Israeli "barons of the press," "capitalists" and of course the Israeli "academic world"
WHY: For questioning - in any way whatsoever - any of the founding myths of Israel or the nationalist ideology of Zionism or in any way voicing sympathy for the legitimate grievances of the indigenous Palestinian people.
FOR THE RECORD: This is just a standard reiteration of the tired canard that "anti-Zionism" = "anti-Semitism," that is, if you question the nationalist ideology of Zionism or any of its founding myths, you must by extension be a Jew-hating Nazi lusting after the Jewish blood. The whole "anti-Zionism" = "anti-Semitism" is a creative reversal and adaptation of the traditional Christian blood libel against Jews, now converted in a similar blood libel directed against anyone who questions the ideology of Zionism, the state of Israel (or its ethnocentric basis), or any Israeli policy or practice. By Gadi Eshel's definition, most Israelis are in fact raging anti-Semites.
SOURCE: Gadi Eshel, "In other words, anti-Semitism," Ha'aretz, 3 October 2007

WHO: Agatha Christie, the world's most successful author of murder mysteries who died in 1976.
WHY: No specific instances are cited, just "the casual anti-Semitism and xenophobia found throughout the early novels."
FOR THE RECORD: "She [Laura Thompson] defends Christie against charges of snobbery and racism, arguing that the novels only reflected the views of their day, though she prefers to consider a passing remark made in a letter – 'Like all Dagoes, he couldn’t swim' – rather than address the casual anti-Semitism and xenophobia found throughout the early novels. Raymond Chandler, Michael Dibdin and Ruth Rendell are quoted as critics of Christie’s plotting and characterization; T. S. Eliot, A. L. Rowse and Michel Houellebecq are marshalled for the defence. But Thompson does not engage with the novels themselves."
SOURCE: Lindsay Duguid, "Agatha Christie's anti-novels," The Times Literary Supplement, 3 October 2007

WHO: Conservationists and residents of Manchester (UK) who want to maintain the historic 600-acre Heaton Park
WHY: For opposing the destruction of the park to construct a new school, King David's Juniors, when the school could - and did - remain in its current location. "Now this highly-sensitive issue has been resolved I hope the local community will unite and condemn a small minority who have sought to use it as an excuse for ill concealed anti-Semitism." No one else mentioned in the article appears to have noticed any racism or anti-Semitism.
FOR THE RECORD: "The 600-acre park was bought from the Egerton family in the early 19th century. It is one of Manchester's most popular nature spots and recently underwent an £11m restoration. Local MPs Ivan Lewis and Graham Stringer held talks with the council and school bosses over the summer to agree a compromise. Mr Lewis, MP for Bury South, said the decision to refurbish the entire King David campus would be in the best interests of pupils and green groups."
SOURCE: Yakub Qureshi, "'School in the park' scrapped," Manchester Evening News, 3 October 2007

WHO: Archbishop Desmond Tutu, South African Nobel Laureate and famous anti-Apartheid activist
WHY: "During that speech, titled 'Occupation Is Oppression,' Tutu lambasted the Israeli government for its treatment of Palestinians in occupied territories. While a transcription clearly suggests his criticism was aimed at the Israeli government ('We don't criticize the Jewish people,' he said during the speech. 'We criticize, we will criticize when they need to be criticized, the government of Israel'), pro-Israeli organizations such as the Zionist Organization of America went on the offensive and protested campus appearances by Tutu, accusing him of anti-Semitism."
FOR THE RECORD: "Hennes says the input officials received from 'the Jewish community' in this case was confined to Swiler and a few rabbis teaching within St. Thomas's Center for Jewish-Christian Learning. 'I think there's a consensus in the Jewish community that his words were offensive,' Swiler reiterates.That was news to Marv Davidov, an adjunct professor within the Justice and Peace Studies program. 'As a Jew who experienced real anti-Semitism as a child, I'm deeply disturbed that a man like Tutu could be labeled anti-Semitic and silenced like this,' he says. 'I deeply resent the Israeli lobby trying to silence any criticism of its policy. It does a great disservice to Israel and to all Jews.'"
SOURCE: Matt Snyders, "Banning Desmond Tutu," City Pages (Minneapolis), 3 October 2007

WHO: Ken Livingstone, Mayor of London
WHY: Not many of examples are given in the article, just a lot of ranting: "'[Livingstone] is a bad guy, he's a miserable guy, he's an anti-Semite, he's a racist,' says Assemblyman Dov Hikind (D-Brooklyn). 'He believes the state of Israel shouldn't exist, never should have been created.' ... 'The man is an anti-Semite. The man compared a reporter to a nazi concentration guard,' Hikind says. ... Last year the Simon Weisenthal Center even blamed Livingstone's past remarks for increasing anti-Semitism in London, saying last October: 'Ken Livingstone has made it crystal clear that he is more interested in embracing terrorist proponents than dealing with anti-Semitism.'"
FOR THE RECORD: "Racism is a uniquely reactionary ideology, used to justify the greatest crimes in history - the slave trade, the extermination of all original inhabitants of the Caribbean, the elimination of every native inhabitant of Tasmania, apartheid. The Holocaust was the ultimate, "industrialised" expression of racist barbarity. ... As mayor, I have pressed for police action over anti-semitic attacks at the highest level, and my administration has backed a series of initiatives of importance to the Jewish community, including hosting the Anne Frank exhibition at City Hall and measures to ensure the go-ahead for the north London eruv. ... Throughout the 1970s, I worked happily with the Board of Deputies in campaigns against the National Front. Problems began when, as leader of the Greater London Council, I rejected the board's request that I should fund only Jewish organisations that it approved of. The Board of Deputies was unhappy that I funded Jewish organisations campaigning for gay rights and others that disagreed with policies of the Israeli government. Relations with the board took a dramatic turn for the worse when I opposed Israel's illegal invasion of Lebanon, culminating in the massacres at the Palestinian camps of Sabra and Shatila. The board also opposed my involvement in the successful campaign in 1982 to convince the Labour party to recognise the PLO as the legitimate voice of the Palestinian people. The fundamental issue on which we differ, as Henry Grunwald knows, is not anti-semitism - which my administration has fought tooth and nail - but the policies of successive Israeli governments. To avoid manufactured misunderstandings, the policies of Israeli governments are not analogous to Nazism. They do not aim at the systematic extermination of the Palestinian people, in the way Nazism sought the annihilation of the Jews. ... All racist and anti-semitic attacks must be stamped out. However, the reality is that the great bulk of racist attacks in Europe today are on black people, Asians and Muslims - and they are the primary targets of the extreme right. For 20 years Israeli governments have attempted to portray anyone who forcefully criticises the policies of Israel as anti-semitic. The truth is the opposite: the same universal human values that recognise the Holocaust as the greatest racist crime of the 20th century require condemnation of the policies of successive Israeli governments - not on the absurd grounds that they are Nazi or equivalent to the Holocaust, but because ethnic cleansing, discrimination and terror are immoral." Ken Livingstone, "This is about Israel, not anti-semitism," The
Guardian, 4 March 2005
SOURCE: "Bloomberg's London Visit Incenses Jewish Leaders," CBS News, 2 October 2007

WHO: Gerald Schiller, author of a Letter to the Editor to the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, "('Abandoning Israel,' Sept. 21 and PghTrib.com)"
WHY: "Letter-writer Gerald Schiller thinks that Israel's Mossad might be feeding us fabricated intelligence to keep us in Iraq ... What's next? Discovering that Elvis has been flipping burgers at a McDonald's in Detroit all these years? Excessive liberalism and a bad case of anti-Semitism obviously have altered Mr. Schiller's ability to think clearly."
FOR THE RECORD: "Israeli intelligence overplayed the threat posed by Iraq and reinforced the U.S. and British assessment that Saddam Hussein had large amounts of weapons of mass destruction, a retired Israeli general said Thursday. The Israeli assessment may have been colored by politics, including a desire to see the Iraqi leader toppled, said Shlomo Brom, who was a senior Israeli military intelligence officer and is now a researcher with Israel's top strategic think tank. Brom stopped short of accusing Israeli intelligence officials of intentionally misleading Britain and the United States. His assertions could, however, undermine the reputation of the Israeli intelligence service, one of the most respected in the world. The Israeli military declined comment, while other experts said Brom was exaggerating. ... Brom told The Associated Press in an interview Thursday that 'Israeli intelligence was a full partner with the United States and Britain in developing a false picture of Saddam Hussein's weapons of mass destruction capability.' He said Israeli intelligence 'badly overestimated the Iraqi threat to Israel and reinforced the American and British belief that the weapons existed.' Brom said the Israeli assessment may have been influenced by politics. 'Israel has no reason to regret the outcome of the war in Iraq,' he wrote, noting Saddam was an implacable enemy." Associated Press, "General: Israelis exaggerated Iraq threat," USA Today, 4 December 2003
SOURCE: Darlene Walter, "Defending Israel," Pittsburgh Tribune-Review, 2 October 2007

WHO: University of California - Irvine
WHY: "UC Irvine routinely hosts events at which speakers inaccurately call Israel an apartheid state, blame 'the Zionist Jews' for the Sept. 11 terror attacks and other problems in the world, and accuse 'the Zionist Jews' of bullying, conspiratorial conduct, and trickery."
FOR THE RECORD: "The conflagration in the Middle East has roiled American college campuses for decades, and as the violence continues abroad, the debate rages on in the United States. For several years, the flash point of this conflict in Southern California has been UC Irvine, a dubious distinction that was again highlighted last week when the university's chancellor met with representatives of the Orange County Jewish community at their request in the wake of escalating rhetoric from both sides. ... 'When I got to UCI, I did not have any idea that I would be hit hard with such a strong anti-Israel sentiment,' said Reut Cohen, a third-year student active in pro-Israel groups. 'It's really strange because Irvine in general is very Christian (and) very conservative.' Marya Bangee, a third-year student who serves as spokeswoman for the Muslim Students Union, echoed that sentiment, but from the opposite perspective. 'We're in the middle of conservative Orange County, and that is obviously a difficult atmosphere to be discussing political issues here,' she said. 'There are definitely organizations ... that are trying to shut down free speech with regard to Israel.' Tensions escalated throughout the spring as former President Jimmy Carter visited the campus to discuss his latest book, which is highly critical of Israel. Last month, the Muslim Student Union held an annual week of events sharply criticizing Israel, and one member of the group had a bizarre run-in with an FBI agent who appeared to be monitoring students on campus. Jewish groups have raised concerns that campus events ostensibly criticizing Israeli policy have crossed over into anti-Semitism, while some Muslims have complained that rhetoric from the other side denigrates their religion. Still, Vice Chancellor Manuel Gomez said the campus has an obligation to allow free speech to be stretched to its limits. 'If we don't allow the discussion and the debate of these ideas within a university community, where there are so many rich intellectual resources, where do we allow it?' he asked rhetorically. ... " Dan Laidman, "Orange County not geopolitical hotbed," Copley News Service, 3 June 2007
SOURCE: Susan Tuchman, "UC Irvine," Zionist Organization of America Press Release, 1 October 2007

WHO: Woody Allen, Jewish-American comedian, actor, and film director.
WHY: "The charge of anti-Semitism has been leveled at Woody Allen so many times as to sound unoriginal. Without rehearsing all the evidence and counter-arguments, the very least one can say is that, when it comes to seizing on a tired stereotype and utterly exhausting it, Allen has shown himself a modern master of unoriginality."
FOR THE RECORD: "I have been called a self hating Jew any number of times over the years, sometimes based on jokes I've made in my cabaret act or films and particularly when I wrote an op-ed piece for the New York Times suggesting that it was not only indecent but not great public relations for Israel to have their soldiers go door to door and preemptively break the hands of Palestinians. Following that piece I was named Pig of the Month by the Jewish Defense League and they descended upon the venue I play jazz at with a live pig to present to me. These issues are always so sensitive and it's impossible not to offend but be assured that I long for the same peaceful, humanitarian solution that seems so simple and yet remains elusive." Woody Allen, Letter to Ed Koch dated 28 May 2002, "Ed Koch vs. Woody Allen on Anti-Semitism," BeliefNet
SOURCE: Benjamin A. Plotinsky, "Mere Anarchy by Woody Allen," Commentary Magazine, October 2007

WHO: The American Latino population
WHY: The article doesn't exactly mention what views are popular in the Latino community that they consider "hardcore anti-Semitic." Quotes: "'For Latinos, their perceptions of Jews, if any exist at all, are in part framed by their current economic encounter, principally in an employee-employer relationship,' Steven Windmueller, L.A. dean of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion, wrote in the book 'California Jews.' ... The Pew Hispanic Center reported in April that only 44 percent of Latinos hold a favorable view of Jews, compared with 77 percent of all Americans. The negative feelings are strongest among Latino Catholics. A survey conducted by the ADL in 2005 found that 35 percent of foreign-born Latinos held "hardcore" anti-Semitic beliefs. That was down from 44 percent of those surveyed in 2002."
FOR THE RECORD: "The stereotypes swing both ways, though. This reporter was recently told a story about students at a Jewish day school being asked during last year's immigration debate to share what they knew about Latinos. 'They're gardeners,' was one response. 'They're nannies' was another. 'They are not hateful stereotypes. They are just stereotypes borne from inexperience,' said Rabbi Gary Greenebaum, AJC's national director of inter-religious affairs. He said programs that bring Latinos and Jews into communion help dispel myths about both groups. With the Latino population of the United States expected to grow significantly during the next few decades, many Jewish leaders are attempting to strengthen bonds between the communities. ... Danoch, who is fluent in Spanish from the three years of his youth he spent in Uruguay, where his father worked for the Jewish Agency for Israel, thinks outreach to Latinos is given too short shrift by many American Jews."
SOURCE: Brad A. Greenberg, "Latino pastors celebrate Sukkot and Israel in Westwood," JewishJournal.Com, 28 September 2007

WHO: Barack Obama, Democratic presidential candidate
WHY: For calling for global neclear disarmament: "Nukes - M.A.D. - kept us safe. And the same deterrent value exists today (except against jihadists). And nuclear parity is what kept India and Pakistan from attacking each other in recent years. NUKES FOR PEACE! If Obama REALLY wanted to make the world safer, instead of promoting the idiotic “dream” of disarmament, he’d be backing more NMD. And nukes are the ultimate defense for Israel. Does Obama want Israel to try to deter the arab states without them!?!? If so, then Obama is either an anti-Semite or and idiot or both."
FOR THE RECORD: "Democrat Barack Obama called for ridding the world of nuclear weapons Tuesday and offered his early opposition to the Iraq war as evidence of sound judgment that trumps his lack of Washington experience. Obama argued that U.S. policy is still focused on the defunct Soviet Union instead of combatting the nuclear threat from rogue nations and terrorists. The United States shouldn't unilaterally disarm, he said, but it must work with other nations to phase out weapons and control atomic material. 'Here's what I'll say as president: 'America seeks a world in which there are no nuclear weapons,' Obama said. 'The best way to keep America safe is not to threaten terrorists with nuclear weapons — it's to keep nuclear weapons and nuclear materials away from terrorists,' the Illinois senator said. Aides said the process Obama envisions would take many years, not just a a single presidency." Christopher Wills, "Obama urges eliminating nuclear weapons," Associated Press, 2 October 2007
SOURCE: "Enough exercise: is there such a thing?," Artueel Blog, 3 October 2007

WHO: Richard Dawkins, Wiki: "Richard Dawkins ... is a British ethologist, evolutionary biologist and popular science writer who holds the Charles Simonyi Chair for the Public Understanding of Science at the University of Oxford. Dawkins first came to prominence with his 1976 book The Selfish Gene, which popularised the gene-centered view of evolution and introduced the term meme, helping found the field of memetics. ... He has since written several best-selling popular books, and appeared in a number of television and radio programmes, concerning evolutionary biology, creationism, and religion. Dawkins is an outspoken antireligionist, atheist, secular humanist, and sceptic, and he is a supporter of the Brights movement. In a play on Thomas Huxley's epithet "Darwin's bulldog", Dawkins' impassioned advocacy of evolution has earned him the appellation 'Darwin's rottweiler'."
WHY: For this quote: "When you think about how fantastically successful the Jewish lobby has been, though, in fact, they are less numerous I am told - religious Jews anyway - than atheists and [yet they] more or less monopolise American foreign policy as far as many people can see. So if atheists could achieve a small fraction of that influence, the world would be a better place."
FOR THE RECORD: "The accusation of anti-Jewishness is ludicrous, offensive, and one might almost say paranoid. It reminds me of an occasion when I was lecturing on a ship, and I spoke strongly against religion in general, ALL religion. I never once mentioned Jews or Judaism. Yet I heard afterwards that a Jewish member of the audience was going around accusing me of anti-Semitism behind my back. To him, the very word "religion" was apparently synonymous with Judaism, and therefore to be anti-religious was tantamount to being anti-Jewish. I don't know enough about the recent history of Israel/Palestine to be either pro or anti-Zionist, but I do know enough to say that oao's phrase 'current general anti-semitism/anti-zionism', implying as it does that anti-zionism is equivalent to anti-semitism, is offensive to my many Jewish friends who do know a lot about the history of that unhappy region, and who are passionate anti-Zionists." Richard Dawkins, "Comment #36688," RichardDawkins.net : The Official Richard Dawkins Website, 2 May 2007
SOURCE: Paul Halsall, "Is Richard Dawkins an Anti-Semite?," English Eclectic, 1 October 2007