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"Self-hating Jew" - the fall-back term when "anti-Semite" doesn't work as a fall-back term for inability or unwillingness to actually debate a subject.

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.

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.

The survival of the Jewish people? I can agree that the state of Israel - the actual political entity itself - is in a somewhat precarious position nowadays. But Jews have been living in America since the colonial era, and their survival doesn't seem to be in any danger at all. Don't misunderstand me - I'm not the least bit in favor of seeing Israel get dismantled. I just want to call a duck a duck.

But I would grant the point that in many cases a poisoning with the Marxist meme would be a more precise explanation.

That's the way I see it, too. It comes across to me as a more anti-Western than anti-Semitic outlook. It's true that France and Germany don't get the same treatment, because those countries have ceased quite some time ago to stand up for their cultural roots. So that primarily leaves the U.S. and Israel, though Britain and Taiwan get similar treatment from time to time as well, in proportion as they stand up for Western values (and I'd wager that Poland's about to join the club pretty soon, too). But overall, I find the term "self-hating Jew" a bit difficult to accept - the burden of such a bizarre accusation is on the accuser (though I'd agree that this Atzmon character seems to meet that burden of proof, but he's a very unusual case, even among leftists).