Yes you can be opposed to the State of Israel, not only its policies but its very existence, without being an anti-Semite. Some ultra-Orthodox sects in Judaism are against the existence of a Jewish state before the Messiah has come to proclaim it. They’re religious fanatics but obviously not enemies of the Jewish people.

However, despite these rare exceptions, things are different in real life. The examples below seek to illustrate the worldwide phenomenon of turning against all Jews in the guise of disagreeing with Israeli policies.

A court in the German city of Wuppertal upheld a decision that wouldn’t punish three local Muslims for attempting to burn down the synagogue in the city because their intention was to draw attention to the conflict in Gaza. The attack on the synagogue was, according to the court, an act of “anti-Israelism,” not anti-Semitism.

Ironically and tellingly the arson attempt took place on the anniversary of Crystal Night, when in 1938 the Nazis burnt and pillaged synagogues, Jewish shops and homes, and thus de facto started the Holocaust.

The mayor of a municipality in Sydney, Australia, refused to attend a special service in the city’s Great Synagogue because he’s opposed to Israeli actions against Palestinians in the West Bank. Understandably, members of the Jewish community asked why the mayor was holding them responsible for policies of the government of Israel. They had good reason to wonder if this isn’t anti-Semitism masquerading as opposition to Israel.

Such things don’t only happen in faraway countries. Jews often feel uncomfortable or worse in many public places, not least at university campuses, because opponents of Israel turn against them pretending that the hostility isn’t anti-Semitic. Here are two instances close to home:

Last month the School of Building Arts on Gabriola Island in British Columbia rejected a Jewish applicant because he came from Israel. After this was widely reported and the blatant anti-Semitism could no longer be disguised, the school rescinded its rejection.

A student leader at McGill University, Igor Sadikov, has urged people on Twitter to “punch a Zionist today.” Supported by many fellow-students he denies being an anti-Semite. In Britain and in France the term “Zionist” is considered to be an anti-Semitic euphemism for “Jew.” There seem to be good reasons for Canada to emulate them.

What enemies used to say about Jews, they now say about Israel. Anti-Semites of old refused to regard Jews as human: they were either superhuman creatures bent on ruling the world — as the notorious forgery “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion” would have it — or they were subhuman: vermin in the vocabulary of the Nazis.

In our time, the version of the old canard often has it that Israel is ruling the United States and the rest of the world through its intelligence agencies and by other unspecified means, or that its actions against hapless Palestinians are beastly.

Under such circumstances, it has become difficult for a Jew to voice legitimate criticism of Israel without being labelled either as a religious fanatic echoing the Messianic fantasies of extremists or a traitor to his or her people mouthing the vilifications of foes.

Of course, Israel isn’t beyond criticism. Which country and which government is? But critical or not, I remain committed to the Jewish state and convinced that, after the Holocaust, Jews would have become a quaint sect on the margins of society, and Judaism a museum item, had there been no Israel that enabled many Jews to find a home and all Jews to gain dignity and self-confidence. Those who seek the destruction of Israel are, alas, bent on disenfranchising all Jews.

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Correction – February 27, 2017: The headline on this article was edited from a previous version that mistakenly said, “Anti-Zionism is masquerading as anti-Semitism.”

Dow Marmur is rabbi emeritus at Toronto’s Holy Blossom Temple. His column appears every fourth week.

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