IS it possible to draw a clear line between modern anti-Semitism and reasonable criticism of Jewish leftism? In this excellent 2005 piece, Lawrence Auster wrote:

It is essential to distinguish between anti-Semitic attacks on Jews and legitimate, rational criticisms of Jews. For example, to say that many Jews fear some fictional white evangelical anti-Semitism more than they fear Islamic anti-Semitism, and to say that this belief is both wrong in itself and harmful to society, as Stephen Steinlight has argued, and I expanded on the argument, is a legitimate criticism. It does not demonize Jews as Jews. It says that there is a false belief which is common among Jews and put into action by Jewish organizations, and that is wrong and should be stopped. If such criticism were made, if people said, “This is false, this is offensive, you should stop this,” then many Jews, being rational, would realize that it’s not socially acceptable, and would stop it. This is the way moral correction works among civilized people. Someone indicates that we’re doing something that is wrong and that we ourselves may not have been aware of, and as a result we change our behavior.

By contrast, to portray Jews as the source of all ills, or as simply as the enemy, is anti-Semitism. For example, to say that Jews as Jews are “hostile” to our culture and have organized themselves in a campaign to destroy it, is anti-Semitism. What’s wrong with anti-Semitism is, first, that it’s false, and, second, that the flaw can’t be corrected. If Jews, who have been a part of European civilization since before the time of Christ, are the source of all evil in our civilization, there is nothing for them to do but die. [cont.]

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