I think the fact that it clearly bothered you that someone called you that shows that you care. And it should bother you. From what I've seen, it's not true.

Just because you do not support the force used by the Israeli government does not make you an anti-semite. If it did, then call me one too!

I saw that accusation, and I apologize for not offering a rebuttal in your defense. That label is often used when information countering hasbara is presented.

MJ Rosenberg has been receiving his share of attacks from Alan Dershowitz and the usual suspects.

From Rosenberg's site:

I have been under assault by various people on the right for my vigorous criticism of AIPAC and its role in promoting confrontation with Iran. My critics are particularly irked that I use the term Israel Firster to describe people who, in my opinion, put the interests of the Israeli right above everything else. This includes politicians such as Newt Gingrich, who as far as I know, is not Jewish. Watching the AIPAC conference convinced me that I must recommit myself to fighting those who are working to lead this country and/or Israel to war in Iran.

But I will do so without using the term "Israel Firster." The term was coined in 1960 by the late Abram Leon Sachar, founding President of Brandeis University, and a renowned Jewish historian (his son Howard Morley Sachar remains the greatest historian of contemporary Jewry) and was first used by the elder Sachar in a speech he delivered that year to a Zionist organization.

It has proven to be a distraction, allowing the pro-war lobby to focus on my choice of words rather than the substance of my arguments. I will not be using it again, for many reasons including the fact that some good people were genuinely offended by it. That was not my intention. My intention is to focus like the proverbial laser on the threat posed by war with Iran and the 45 year occupation. [...]

My message is this.

Many of the same people who pushed us into Iraq are doing the same thing with Iran. They are pressuring Congress to prevent the president of the United States from negotiating with the Iranian government. They are banning diplomatic contacts. They are (as they have for a decade) hyping the Iranian threat, in part because they want a war and, in part, because they want to use President Obama's reluctance to jeopardize lives as a tool to defeat him In November. And they are demanding that should Iran develop a nuclear bomb, we must not contain the threat (as we did with the Soviet Union, China, North Korea, Pakistan, etc) but should immediately go to war.

I have been fighting to help achieve a secure Israel, at peace with its neighbors, for more than 43 years. I continue to do that by fighting against a war that could eradicate Israel and endanger Jewish security in the United States and throughout the world. This war has to be prevented. The issue must not be what label I use to describe the war agitators. It is what the Iran war agitators are doing. They must be stopped.

The first step is continuing to shine a light on their activities. That is what I do.

It's their favourite M.O. to silence criticism, along with the "self-hating Jew", to silence dissent.

Both are thrown around here, we're quite used to it. Me, I don't even bother adressing their baseless BS.

Ink, don't let them get to you!

Is being critical of Iran's or Palestine's actions and policies anti Muslim?

One can be critical of a countries polices without being critical or judgmental of the predominant religion.

It's simply not in his nature.

Anyone who has been paying attention knows that already. So if it was somebody who has been here even a fairly short while, that was just a vicious hit with an ugly stick Ink, one not worthy of any notice at all.

Has anyone seen the internet Iranian/Israeli posters flying around n Faceboook? I don't have FB, bu GF does and they are really wonderful.. I'll ask her to give me the link.

I am well aware how bandying about "antisemite" is used for anyone who doesn't agree with the extremist right in Israel. I have known antisemiitism, and disagreeing with the U.S. and Israel''s government polices on this issue, ain't it.
BTW, there is a demonstration here this weekend against any war with Iran, and I dearly hope it will be well attended by not-just-one-kind of Israeli.

John Stewart did a funny bit on this recently..."Hebrew Nationalist"

I think that's just wonderful.

Hay

"...a tooth for a tooth a notion of retaliation that Israel interprets as: you send some rockets over that are a nuisance even though nobody gets hurt and so in return we send hi tech weaponry over in the middle of the night and kill 20 or more people and injure a few more. Seems only fair doncha think."

I in fact, specifically requested of Nancy NOT to muddle the issue of politics vs people. And in my mind, this thread of ink's wasn't about Israeli politics, just about people whose deaths and daily trauma was trivilalized and minimized by his use of the word "nuisance".

Here was my response:

"If you are going to take my words, take them correctly ink. There's nothing worse than an anti-semite who can't read.

And yes, anyone who characterizes suicide bombers and rocket attacks as a "nuisance" is not normal. Here's another "nuisance":

"On December 26, 2008 a mortar aimed at Israel killed two Palestinian girls in the Gaza Strip, aged 5 and 12." Wiki"

I stand by my post that ANYONE who characterizes these types of actions against any group of innocent people as a "nuisance", either is heartless or a hater.