Misdirection Play, Gazing at Gaza Dept. 0

At NJ.com, Todd Clear, a criminologist and a Distinguished Professor at Rutgers Law School and School of Criminal Justice who also happens to be Jewish, identifies a misdirection play.

He makes a strong case that opposing Israel’s tactics in Gaza and being antisemitic are not the same thing (a case that a Rabbi of my acquaintance also recently made in my hearing). Here’s a bit of his article:

To conflate opposition to policies of the State of Israel with hatred of Jews is wrong on two counts. First, it is factually wrong. Many Jews (including Israelis) oppose what Netanyahu’s government is doing in Gaza – just look at the op-ed pages of the Israeli newspaper Haaretz.

Second, and even more troubling, is the conflation of anti-Israel sentiment with anti-Jewish sentiment – which is itself antisemitic. In truth, Jews have never been of one mind on the matter of Zionism. While many see Israel as the best hope for autonomous Jewish life, others disagree.

Methinks his article is well-deserving of your attention.

Afterthought:

I concede that the situation in Gaza is, well, complicated. What Hamas did to trigger it was detestable, and Israel certainly has a right to defend itself. It’s a messy and murky situation, which is one reason why I have posted about it so infrequently. After all, I am no maven; I’m just a third-tier blogger shooting off his mouth over the inner webs.

Nevertheless, I wonder whether, in this case, the line between “defense” and “offense” has become–er–blurred.