As someone tho lived through the 60s and protested the Vietnam War I can't help but wonder how much of the protest is motivated by anger at *what* the government of Israel is doing as opposed to *who* the Israelis are.
I'm not saying that there's *no* antisemitism involved, but my concern is that this continuing (IMO over) reaction of the Israeli government is going to *spread* anti-semitism.
I had a conversation about this two nights ago at a seder - and Iearned that Jewish people of my age were brought up to believe that the survival of Israel was central to their own survival. I hadn't known that, and found it a bit revelatory as I hadn't realized that my criticizing the actions of the Israeli government could be taken as a personal attack. Hey, criticize what the US is doing all you want and I won't take it as 'all Americans should die'. I found myself reevaluating having been called anti semetic (which I have never been).
I'm still not sure how to criticize the actions of Israel without pushing that button. I'm still pissed off at what it's been doing.