The New Anti-semitism

Matthew Yglesias concludes he's not an anti-semite:

The New "Anti-Semitism"

As if on cue, The New York Times reports "Essay Linking Liberal Jews and Anti-Semitism Sparks a Furor". The essay is by David Harris. The publisher is the American Jewish Committee. To be flip about it, the defining characteristic of the "new" anti-semitism seems to be that it isn't anti-semitism...

At any rate, when you think about it, things like this essay or Jonah Goldberg's little McCarthyite smears aren't really about convincing people that I'm an anti-semite, or that Tony Judt or Adrienne Rich or Tony Kushner is. The idea, basically, is to scare the goyim who figure that while liberal Jews can take the heat, they probably can't, and had best just avoid talking about the whole thing. And based on my observations of the blogosphere, it works pretty well as a tactic.

This tactic has worked very effectively for a long, long time, and, as Matthew says, it continues to do so. If I were still in business (and were not posting semi-anonymously) I wouldn't dare voice some of the criticisms of Israel that I have included in this blog. I often fear that the knee-jerk accusation whenever Israel is criticized will cause some of my Jewish friends (who know my real identity) to believe I'm an anti-Jewish bigot. I assure you I'm not. But, as Matt says, it's a lot easier to protect yourself from these accusations if you're Jewish than if you're not, and I'm not. For this reason, I have often thought twice about posting something critical of Israel, but I do believe in calling the plays as I see them.

To any who are offended, I apologize for the imagined offense, but I won't stop calling the plays.