Can it Be Anti-Semitic to Criticize Israel?

April 21, 2002 -- The worst anti-Semitism is obvious — Jewish cemeteries defaced, synagogues torched, Jewish schoolchildren stoned.

But what about protests against Israel, which appear on the rise in the United States and Europe?

"The slander of anti-Semitism is something that no critic of Israel has really been spared," said Christopher Hitchens, a Washington-based British writer known for his support of the Palestinian cause.

"I know of many honest people who really doubt the wisdom of Israel's attempt to hold on to Arab territory, and who simply feel that the raising of their voice on it would be more trouble than its worth because of an allegation that, as I say, no serious person can bear to be accused of," he added.

Israel Not Immune to Criticism

If you ask them the question directly, Jewish rights activists say critics of Israel might not have to fear charges of anti-Semitism as much as they think.

"Israel is not immune from being criticized," said Abraham Foxman, national director of the Anti-Defamation League, which keeps on eye out for anti-Semitism. "Israel is a sovereign nation. It can make mistakes. And people can criticize it with impunity."

But the record has shown that the criticism cannot be made with impunity. In attempting to objectively report the story of the unrest in the Middle East, news organizations receive criticism from supporters of both sides.

"Your anti-Semitic approach to Israel is the reason I stopped watching your show," one viewer wrote in a typical e-mail to ABCNEWS' Nightline.

The Los Angeles Times was boycotted for a day by several hundred readers that organized a protest over what they perceived as the paper's anti-Israel bias.

Foxman understands why many Jews are sensitive.

"The gas chambers and crematory in Auschwitz did not begin with bricks, they began with words," Foxman said, referring to the origins of the Holocaust in Europe.

"Anti-Semitism is probably the oldest group pressure there is in history," said Elie Wiesel, a human rights activist and Holocaust survivor. "It survived fascism, it survived Nazism, it survived communism, but it's still here."

Intent Can Be Key

For those seen to be critical of Israel, the intent of the criticism can be the key, Foxman said.

"I usually ask someone … `You set a standard. OK. Have you set that standard of moral behavior, or whatever behavior, to any other place in the world?'" Foxman said. "[If not], I come to the conclusion that's an anti-Semite. He's not just criticizing Israel. He wants the Jewish state not to exist."

"One can be critical of Israel's policies and not be an anti-Semite," Wiesel said. "It is possible. But there are people who have always been against Israel. Then, I think I'm entitled to have some doubts. But, again, I do not believe that automatically, a person who criticizes Israel is an anti-Semite."

So where is the line? What about people who call Israel's West Bank settlements colonialist? Is that word out of bounds?

"It's not out of bounds," Foxman said. "It's a loaded word."

And what if someone calls Ariel Sharon a murderer?

"I can deal with that," Foxman said. "Two countries at war. You don't like one country that's at war. OK, he's a murderer."

But it's the next step, Foxman says, that crosses the line.

"If he says 'Sharon is Hitler or Nazi,' that's anti-Semitism," Foxman said. "Either he doesn't know what the Holocaust was all about, or he knows, but he doesn't care. That's anti-Semitism."

"It's an obscene analogy," Hitchens agreed. "I know it's intended to wound and intended to insult."

But, he added, so is the comparison of Yasser Arafat to Adolf Hitler, a comparison that Arafat's critics often make.

"It would be a good thing if the Israelis and their spokesmen stopped comparing penniless, hopeless refugees to members of the SS," Hitchens said. "I think, really, it should be agreed on all sides. I think this will be something which would clear the air for everybody and allow the argument to be conducted much more sanely. Nobody should mention the Nazi comparison in discussing a decent settlement between Israelis and Palestinians."

Critics ‘Must Disprove … Anti-Semitism’

Hitchens holds the view that the Jewish state, which celebrated its 54th birthday last week, is not something the Jewish people need. That's a view that many Jews would call anti-Semitic, even though Hitchens is the son of a Jewish mother and is married to a Jewish woman.

"It's been the experience of a lot of people like myself, who sympathize with the Palestinian cause, that they often feel they have to almost disprove the allegation of anti-Semitism before the argument can begin or before they can be allowed to participate in it," Hitchens said.

Hitchens said speaking out against Israel can be more dangerous in the United States, where support is high for Israel, than in Europe, where the Palestinian cause has more popular support.

"Here's an example of where one has to choose one's words with extreme care," Hitchens said. "No intelligent person living in Washington would disagree with the following statement: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee is perhaps the most powerful lobby in the city. Maybe the National Rifle Association is stronger. Probably not. That's an objective fact. Everyone knows it's true."

Hitchens chose his words carefully because talk of a Jewish lobby can be another one of those dangerous topics. It's dangerous for Jews because it feeds the imaginations of real anti-Semites who believe in a worldwide Jewish conspiracy. It's dangerous for those who would discuss Jewish political influence, because they risk the charge of anti-Semitism.

‘We Forget So Fast’

Criticism can be especially sensitive to Jewish activists at this time, when they perceive anti-Semitism on the rise.

"The state of Israel, Zionism, was meant to be a cure of anti-Semitism," Wiesel said. "However, it's not that simple, because I think the real reason is that we left the memories of the Holocaust. The first years, or even the first decades, following that tragedy — which was the greatest tragedy, to me, in our history — people were embarrassed by anti-Semitism. It wasn't nice. It wasn't decent to be openly anti-Semitic. You hardly could hear anyone say that he hates Jews.

"Because we forget so fast, … people now say it openly," Wiesel added. "I get many hate letters. You can imagine, because I'm outspoken. I do have certain positions. In the beginning, they were all anonymous. Now they are signed. People don't hesitate to sign their names, their address, and say, `We hate you, and this is why we hate you.' That is, I think, the real reason why today anti-Semitism is on the rise. It's not because of Israel."

ABCNEWS' John Donvan and Ted Koppel contributed to this report.