That's the effect I think some were looking for when they co-opted Zionism to suit their own purposes to awaken and unite in HATE a bunch of disparate Arab states largely in decline ... the heights of their civilization long past and even their traditional Islamic militance fast asleep.
If you take the militant atheist Soviets and Chicoms at their word with regard to radicalizing an arc of militant Islam (designed to buffer them both from the US, preclude continued US wooing of Arab loyalty with industrialization and US access to vital natural resources as part of the petroleum industrialization for which we were largely responsible), it would appear it's they who got the biggest geo-political bang for their buck.
(I say "got" even if I recognize full well the extant militant atheist communism of the Chinese and find a certain continuity of objective among the "former Soviets" as illustrated most recently at Pristina and in Afghanistan.)
Meanwhile, we not only contend with exactly the drawbacks they intended us, we bear the brunt of radical Islam's hatred of the Jews by virtue of our being the monied, powerful Big Brother who backs them due to their desperate circumstances regardless the essentially Good or Evil nature of the actions they take ... some of which have even been directed squarely at us and evidenced a certain disparity in what should by all rights be Israel's mutual loyalty and regard for we who are expected to be the primary and perhaps sole steadfast and true supporters of them.
Arguing for the eradication of Israel or stripping her of the defenses and support she needs for survival is as ludicrous as Ted Turner's suggesting that it's too late to shoot his own children so to thereby comport himself with the population control model he demands of others.
I'm certainly not advocating the destruction or abandoning or self-immolation of the nation through even the appearance of weakness, even of -- as I've learned and understood more -- I have certain questions about Israel I did not have as a young adult when I was unquestioningly Pro-Israel.
I just think there's room for rational consideration and perhaps criticism of Israel's actions and US policy towards Israel without it's being tarred and feathered as somehow "anti-semitic" or even anti-Israel.
We certainly feel free to criticize freely as right or wrong the actions of or our support for England or any other of our longtime allies. Even given the precarious nature of Israel's existence (an essential aspect of that existence since Day One), I think we should have the freedom -- and indeed are obligated -- to treat Israel like any other of our close friends in this respect.
Otherwise, it would seem Israel is a prototypical Victim ... unable and unwilling to break out of that Victim mentality.
We recognize the injustice when women or blacks or homosexuals demand special rights in order to be equal and then hide behind special protections which preclude evaluating them on the merits as if they WERE equal.
Why should we treat Israel as essentially unequal in exactly this same fashion and accord it the special rights -- including the refusal to judge her actions on the merits -- which shall only perpetuate its being unequal?
It's actually what regard I do have and have always had for Israel which suggests to me she is above copping some Victim mentality even in the face of certain danger from those who would destroy her.
Perhaps I'm the product of early conditioning ... wanting to convert to Judaism after watching "Raid on Entebbe" as a kid, even.
Or perhaps I'm impressed with the long-suffering resilience and strength, justice and wisdom, introspection balanced with vision and -- through it all -- charity that I associate with Judaism and the voices of the Psalms.
For all of those reasons, I guess, I consider it "anti-Semitic" -- a denial of her uniquely Jewish identity -- not to hold the State of Israel to the standards of human justice and right action and obedience to God's law as written on all human hearts -- as I've understood, cherished and inherited them -- from the Jews themselves.
Thanks.