Comparing the suffering of the Palestinians from the Israelis with the suffering of the Jews from the Nazis may not be very sophisticated and is definitely counterproductive, but to say that it is antisemitic is ridiculous.

Comparing the suffering of the Palestinians from the Israelis with the suffering of the Vietnamese from the Americans, with the suffering of the blacks from the whites in South Africa, with the suffering from the blacks in the United States from the Ku-Klux Klan, and then among all these also with the suffering of the Jews from the Nazis is an effort to emphasize the universality of(suffering from) oppression.

Writing in every cartoon "I am a Palestinian" is a way of saying: it doesn't matter who it is, suffering makes us all into the same, while appealing to identication with the plight of the one here and now.

So, it may be clear that for various reasons I am against comparing the Israeli oppression of the Palestinians with how the Nazis behaved towards the Jews.

But at the same time I think that it is nonsense to call such a comparison "antisemitic." That is a ridiculous accusation, and a malicious. It is an effort to intimidate and undermine those critical of Israeli politics.

Beate Zilversmidt and Adam Keller

Gush Shalom

Gush Shalom

POB 3322

Tel-Aviv 61033

Israel

info@gush-shalom.org