What is the point of going on TV to talk about how vilified you’ve been by these people and taking the heat off the worry about increasing antisemitism? It doesn’t really seem justified to interrupt a discussion about people being spat at in the street and synangogues being attacked so that you can complain that you have received angry letters from unreasonable people when you wrote articles critical of Israel. It’s like interrupting a discussion about a serious, life-hindering, incurable disease so that you can complain that your back sometimes hurts when you get up in the morning.

Personally, I think it’s a bad idea to accuse someone of being antisemitic. It would be better to calmly and reasonably ask them if they understand why people might interpret their comments as hateful stereotyping or incitement to violence. Calling people names doesn’t usually get them to rethink their opinions. But it really shouldn’t come as a surprise that some people prefer to name call than have a well-reasoned debate. It’s no reason to take the heat off antisemitism.

thanks

I am not jewish. I have no jewish friends (not through choice!). I am a gay indigineous Brit who has an arab (christian) partner who came here as a refugee and deeply dislikes Israel. In other words, I have absolutely no personal reason to support Israel or jews – but over the past year or so from reading here and elsewhere I have recognised the huge problem of anti-semitism, the threat of Islamism and the hypocritical double standards of the anti-Israel lobby.

In several muslim countries we have adulterers, gay people, apostates etc being hanged, crucified, lashed or even stoned to the death, in the 21st century. How can anyone devote themselves to anti-Israel protests when we have things like this going on in some of the neighbouring countries? In Israel, as far as I can see, there is a proper democratic system, with citizen’s rights and freedoms protected. It’s a glimmering example as to what the other middle eastern countries should be aiming for in a legal and social sense. Yes, it has faults, but those faults pale into insignificance when we look at the things going on in the surrounding region, which parts of the left seem frightened to criticise in case it’s “Islamophobic”.

Anyway – just wanted to give support to you guys from a non-jew.

And in passing, wasn’t anyone at the BBC paying attention when the screen labels for the participants were being written? “Alex Goldberg, Chief Executive, London Jewish Forum”, “Jonathan Sacerdoti, The Zionist Federation”, “Haim Bresheeth, Vilified by Zionists”. Or is that how he introduces himself to strangers?