In reply to ddd
digdugdog, thanks for your consideration. Still, we've got different opinions, but I guess that's only to be expected because of our different backgrounds.
We agree insofar as that there was, has been, and is anti-Semitism. Not only in Europe. The reasons for that go far back, as you have correctly noted.
We disagree when it comes to Europe's current sentiments. Of course, there were condolences to Israel from all European states as well as from the EU. There were no condolences whatsoever to Mr. Arafat or the Palestinians for the suicide bombers; on the contrary, those bombings were condemned by all European nations with the strongest words I've heard from the politicians for a long time, only surpassed by the reactions to the horrific attack on 9/11. I don't know if they stopped condoling when Israel and the Palestine leaders simply ignored the EU peace negotiations' efforts. But they sure will be conveyed at least at ambassadorial level. The EU Minister of Foreign Affairs Mr. Xavier Solana as well as the German Foreign Minister Mr. Fischer visited the area for several times, trying to get the peace process going again. In vain, and the failure was not caused by only one side of the conflict.
Previous European criticism (during Mr. Netanyahu's and Mr. Rabin's time as Israel's Prime Ministers) were practically all directed against the Israeli settlement plans and actions, whose strongest supporter was Mr. Sharon. It was never directed against Israel as a state, or against the Jewish people. The EU established one of the world's most active student exchange programs with Israel, with Germany as the main instigator of this. Europe (the EEC at that time) even established a 'special status' program in favor of Israeli citrus fruit exports (one of Israel's main economic resources) to us, which was only abandoned when the EEC formed the EU, and the general agro-economic situation became worse. Just a few examples. They don't make their way into the news, let alone into US news. They're simply not new. The positive programs deserve a five-line-notice in the press, but abandoning previous favors creates big waves. That's just how news work, I guess.
Concerning the origin of the word anti-Semitic, I know that Europeans created it. At the time it was created, there were practically no Arabs in Europe. The only Semitic people with whom we were in contact with were the Jews, so it was used for them exclusively but incorrectly. But the term was not created to humiliate Jews, differently to the Nazi's later efforts. It was a value-free scientific description of a negative sociologic phenomenon. And it only became known world-wide after the end of WW2, and after the holocaust was discovered. Since then, Israel used this term to block whatever criticism there was against its politics. That's what I wanted to say with my previous words.
On a more personal note: I'm 45 years old now, and I have discussed political, theological, and philosophical topics with thousands of people in Germany, as well as with several hundred people all over Europe. I've been to Israel, and we had some very interesting discussions in a Kibbutz. During all this time, I've met less than half a dozen people who were anti-Semitic, anti-Israel, or anti-Jewish. Sorry, ddd, my own personal experience strongly contradicts your view about a general anti-Israeli or anti-Jewish sentiment in Europe. IMO, that's just propaganda. However, I realize that I'm unable to convince you of that, as you seem to have a firmly set opinion on it.
Along with all honest people in Europe, I strongly hope that the peace process will be re-established really soon. But I'm afraid this won't happen as long as Mr. Arafat and Mr. Sharon are in power. But then, that's only my personal opinion…
