A. Language of Hate
B. Jews as Money Grabbing People
C. Israel as a Nazi State, Sharon as Hitler
D. Blood Libel
E. Jews with Stereotypical Features
F. Themes of Left-Wing Antisemitism: Points to Ponder

A. Language of Hate

From time immemorial, the antisemite has depicted the Jew as a perverted soul, as a morally inferior people. Today, this ideology has been translated, in that the same language of hate is being used to describe the Jewish state; Fiamma Nirenstein epitomizes this superbly, both in the political and the neo-theological context:

“…a separate, unequal, basically evil stranger whose national existence is slowly but surely emptied and deprived of justification.…
"The caricature of the evil Jew is transformed to the caricature of the evil state. And now the traditional hook-nosed Jew bears a gun and kills Arab children with pleasure… Antisemitism officially became the banner of the new secular religion of human rights, and Israel and Jews became its official enemy.”
The 'Left' and Anti-Semitism, July, 2003, by Fiamma Nierenstein http://www.betar.co.uk/articles/betar1059682577.php

Left wing Antisemitism has a number of reoccurring themes, these include:

B. Jews as Money Grabbing People

Revival and adaptation of existing motifs, with the added label of criminality..
One of the traditional 20th century, left-wing motifs was to portray the Jew as the greedy capitalist, often in cahoots with the United States as the money-man: this is straight out of socialist and Soviet propaganda and, later, Soviet anti-Israel propaganda, as embraced also by the Arab states. The image of Ariel Sharon in a zoo is crude and designed to create repugnance. The message is also trendy, for its anti-US angle, which appeals to the anti-globalization cause.

C. Israel as a Nazi State, Sharon as Hitler

The allegation of Israeli Nazi-like behavior is not limited to the radical left, which draws its public in its anti-fascist persona: it can be found in a more sophisticated version in the eminently respectable columns of The Times of London, which, in 1998, printed a scurrilous article that claimed that Israel was developing a bomb that would kill only Arabs.

Israel Developing an Ethno-Bomb
by Uzi Mahnaimi and Marie Colvin

ISRAEL is working on a biological weapon that would harm Arabs but not
Jews, according to Israeli military and western intelligence sources. The
weapon,targeting victims by ethnic origin, is seen as Israel's response to
Iraq's threat of chemical and biological attacks.

For more on the history of the Myth of Zionism=Racism and the Nazi extension to this allegation, please see also our unit on the Myth of Zionism = Racism: After Durban

D. Blood Libel

The left exploits many themes in traditional Antisemitism, often substituting the word "Zionist" for "Jew" quite freely. The traditional themes of Jews killing or sacrificing Christians is thus re-incarnated in gross caricature in the politically correct print media of the left-wing.

In Britain, the cover of the left-wing New Statesman magazine depicted a large Star of David stabbing the Union Jack.

Most vicious and more outrageous was the UK’s Independent newspaper, which ran the following cartoon, targeting the blood libel at Ariel Sharon.

Please view via link: http://backspin.typepad.com/backspin/2003/11/evolution_of_an.html

E. Jews with Stereotypical Features

Classic antisemitic caricatures of Jews are translated into contemporary anti-Israel messages by the left-wing, focused on easily identifiable personalities, often allying Israel, with a supportive USA.

http://cagle.slate.msn.com/news/antiISRAEL/main.asp

F. Themes of Left-Wing Antisemitism: Points to Ponder

1. What are the prevalent themes in left-wing Antisemitism and how damaging are they - in your country?; -internationally?

2. Why does the left compare Israel to new Nazis and what is the importance of this parallel?

3. Are left-wing comparisons of Israel to new Nazis a form of Holocaust revisionism? (Yes/No; Why/why not?)

4. By what standards of "good practice" should the media be judged? What would you do to make the media accountable?