Why is Israel the only country on earth where criticism of it is considered a form of racism? I've never heard anyone call someone of English ancestry who criticizes the UK a "self-hating Anglo-Saxon".
"Why is Israel the only country on earth where criticism of it is considered a form of racism?"
Because there is always one standard (impossibly high) for Israel, and one for everybody else. Constant criticism of Israel, while saying little or nothing about the crimes and human rights abuses of Castro, Kim Jong-Il, Arafat, Mugabe, the ChiComs, etc., is a convenient way for anti-Semites to express their hatred of Jews.
No, I don't think that's a fair summary. The simple explanation is that a new term was needed for the seemingly inexplicable observation that certain Jews seemed to exhibit a special hostility toward the Jewish state, or toward steps being taken for the survival of the Jewish people. Calling a Jew an anti-Semite requires some explanation, and appears to involve a self-contradiction. There is a lot of verbal and scholastic talent in the Jewish community, so someone coined the phrase "self-hating Jew" to describe the situation, and to call attention to the inherent absurdity of the position.
Why is Israel the only country on earth where criticism of it is considered a form of racism? I've never heard anyone call someone of English ancestry who criticizes the UK a "self-hating Anglo-Saxon".
I think that's an interesting question. Let's analyze it.
First, I don't think you have fairly summarized the situation. In general, I don't think people are calling those who make isolated criticisms of single actions of Israel anti-Semites. It may happen, sure, but broadly I think it merely engenders a watchfulness for the possibility.
Watchfulness for what? For a pattern. A consistent pattern of singling out the Jewish state for criticism, for actions for which the same writer is silent or even indulgent about when committed by other states. I agree that once such a pattern is detected, an accusation of anti-Semitism often ensues.
Why? What's special about Israel in that respect? I mean, if someone consistently criticizes the actions of the Zimbabwean government, few assume an anti-black racism. Quite the contrary, actually. One reasonably concerned with the well-being of Black people, or people in general, ought to be critical of Mugabe's regime.
So what's different about Israel?
Israel is a state with a mission: a mission to be the home of last resort for the Jewish people. The Holocaust happened, but Israel is a living testament to the Jewish people's determination that if there is a next time, things will be different. If nothing else is different, this will be: there will be Israel to go to, if things fall apart.
Naturally enough, then, an attitude that Israel has no right to exist is therefore perceived as anti-Semitism, and you would probably agree that it is.
But most of the critics aren't saying that, right? They're just criticising Israel's actions, right? So what's the problem?
To answer it, I ask you to picture America in Israel's situation. Every week or month, some worthless scum goes to a mall in New Jersey, or a restaurant in Colorado, or a hotel in New York, and blows himself and a bunch of innocent people to smithereens. What would you want the government to do?
My answers to that question would make Israel's behavior seem downright tame. So I don't get the criticism of what seem like very measured responses to an utterly intolerable threat, and I strongly suspect that a consistent pattern of such criticism indicates an antipathy to something about Israel itself, or its people. Given the history of world hostility to Jewry, a conclusion of anti-Semitism is not a big leap. But I would grant the point that in many cases a poisoning with the Marxist meme would be a more precise explanation.
If your criticism consists of saying that a country should cease to exist and all its citizens exterminated then that would be a form of racism.
Why is Israel the only country on earth where criticism of it is considered a form of racism? I've never heard anyone call someone of English ancestry who criticizes the UK a "self-hating Anglo-Saxon".
I wasn't aware that Holocaust denial and rationalization of the burning of synagogues constituted a "criticism of the government of Israel."
Say hello to Willis and Fidel at the concert.