I wouldn’t worry about it. Some people still blame the Jews for the Great Crash of ‘29, Sept 11, the Chicago Fire, and the San Francisco Quake.
I think the anit-Semitism we see in US is a far cry from what had (has?) a tradition of millenia in Europe.
Then there are the folks who dress their Jew-hating in “Pro-Palestinian” clothing.
http://www.nowarforisrael.com/.
A personal anecdote re anti-semitism: I was at a meeting where a Palestinian woman related her horrible experiences, as she lives near a check-point, and every time she leaves her house she has to endure the humiliation, the loss of freedom, and …most catastrophic…her mother died in her arms at the check-point because the Israeli soldiers would not let mother and daughter pass to seek medical help.
At the end of her talk, in the midst of a general conversation, a woman (American) made an anti-Jewish slur – ‘The Jews own the media’ or something like that -and I struggled for a few seconds to decide if I should respond, as I always try to respond to anti-any racial or ethnic or sexual choice slur. But jeez..in this case..And while I hemd and hawed, the Palestinian woman, the one whose mother had died in front of her eyes due to to the Israelis, simply and directly responded to the slur, with words to the effect of – ‘one cannot generalize about any group.’
Score one for humanity.

ellen

I see I’ve stumbled onto conversations like I’ve never seen before.

Glad to hear that…I think.

I’ve heard there were Israeli’s and Jews around the world who didn’t support Israel or who thought of Israel as corrupt.

I’m not sure whether you’re referring to this blog or comments published here by others. At any rate, I should make clear that I’m a progressive Zionist, which means that I support a 2 state solution to the I-P conflict. There are Jews and Israelis who are anti-Zionist who “don’t support Israel” and think it is “corrupt.” But that’s not how I’d describe myself.

There are aspects of Israeli politics and its Occupation which I believe are corrupting and immoral and I say so here. But I do not view Israel in its entirety as such.

Understanding Islam to a minor degree, I believe Israel will always have an uphill battle to preserve any modicum of domestic tranquility

Actually, I believe that eventually (it may take some time) Israel will find “domestic tranquility” in its relations with its Arab neighbors. Violence & hatred are not eternal there.

the predominate voices I hear are those condemning Israel Jimmy Carter style, and not the other way around.

You don’t hear voices condemning the Palestinians? Where have you been? Perhaps you don’t live in the U.S. where such voices predominate in our political discourse. Just read Little Green Footballs if that’s what you want to see.

I see I’ve stumbled onto conversations like I’ve never seen before. I’ve heard there were Israeli’s and Jews around the world who didn’t support Israel or who thought of Israel as corrupt. Without being too “gee whiz” about it, I admit unsophistication with the subject matter but genuine confusion and disagreement with some of the comments here.

Understanding Islam to a minor degree, I believe Israel will always have an uphill battle to preserve any modicum of domestic tranquility and I feel in no way swayed or manipulated by an “Israeli lobby” to hold this position. I recognize people are people, lies and malevolence, manipulation and guile are universal, but it seems the predominate voices I hear are those condemning Israel Jimmy Carter style, and not the other way around.

Anyway, thanks for the opportunity to opine. I’m certain I can learn things here.

[Are] you are aware of Soros’ initiative mid to late last year to form an alternative lobby that would aim to challenge AIPAC. See also here I don’t know what came of it.

When I first read about the initiative I was tremendously excited & I’ve written 4-5 posts about it in my blog. I’d like nothing more than to see this thing fly. But I’ve heard nothing lately about it. A friend of mind who works for a DC based I-P organization & is in the know about these things told me he gave it no more than a 50% chance of getting off the ground.

I hadn’t read that Salon article. Many thanks for that link. I’m going to blog about the article. It’s so important to keep chipping away at Aipac’s hegemony in our community.