The New Anti-Semitism

Princeton emeritus prof and Mideast expert Bernard Lewis has a new piece (based on an old lecture) in The American Scholar that begins with this provocative assertion:

There is a well-worn platitude that we have all heard many times before: it is perfectly legitimate to criticize the actions and policies of the state of Israel or the doctrines of Zionism without necessarily being motivated by anti-Semitism. The fact that this has been repeated ad nauseam does not detract from its truth. Not only do I accept it, but I would even take it a step further with another formulation that may perhaps evoke surprise if not shock: it is perfectly possible to hate and even to persecute Jews without necessarily being anti-Semitic.

Read the whole thing here.

(Hat tip to Country Bumpkin.)