Friday, January 23, 2015

Do we not bleed...?

I have never understood antisemitism.  I can understand - if not approve of - those who dislike people whose skin is a different colour, those who dislike anyone who subscribes to radically different religious beliefs, even those who dislike others simply because of where they were born.  All these dislikes have a logic, however twisted. But Jews?  They look pretty much like the rest of us, they worship the same God, even if they don't accept Jesus as his son, and those who are here have almost certainly been here for long enough to be considered fixtures.  Indeed, unless they volunteer the information, or are dressed in the ultra-orthodox fashion, chances are you wouldn't be able to identify them.  So why?  I think we need to differentiate between dislike or disapproval of Israeli behaviour and antisemitism, much though the Israeli government would have us believe they are one and the same thing.  I can't see it, but perhaps antisemitism is the result of Judaism being seen as a "closed shop" - you are either one of us or you are not, sort of thing. But whether that is the result of Jews projecting that image, or of us choosing to perceive it that way is perhaps the question.

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