Words of an anti Semite ?.....

to inflate or not inflate



Akiva Eldar, chief political columnist and a senior analyst for the Israeli daily Ha'aretz, questioned about the use and misuse of anti-semitism.

"Look, some people may, if this book Lords of the Land was written by an American journalist, two American journalists, I’m sure that they would be blamed of anti-Semitism, like President Carter was blamed on being anti-Semite. I think that we are doing great damage to anti-Semitism when we use it in the wrong -- in the wrong time and in the wrong context, because there is anti-Semitism, and it's going to be, you know, the cry -- the wolf’s cry, once there will be anti-Semitism. And I’m afraid it's not -- you know, at the end, nobody will listen to us. So I would be very much careful not to inflate the use of anti-Semitism whenever there is criticism".

"For instance, you know, for many years, people were talking about a Palestinian state and negotiations with the PLO. When I was writing articles in the ’80s, in the beginning of the ’80s, in favor of negotiations with the PLO and a two-state solution, some people called me a collaborator with the Palestinians. And if I was not Jewish, they -- I’m sure I would be titled anti-Semite".