How can you possibly say that the Republican Party is anti-semetic? The Democrats are the ones clamoring for Israel to stop defending itself from terrorists. You don't see Republicans joining rallies with Hezbollah supporters in Times Square. No, the Democrats are the ones that believe that the Palestinians are never wrong, that Hamas is a legit organization, and that brazen Hezbollah rocket attacks are simply the expression of "oppressed frustration", and should NOT be responded to under any circumstances.
What a load of nonsense! The REPUBLICAN President has been the most supportive of Israel and Jewish values than ANY OTHER PRESIDENT IN THIS NATION'S HISTORY. When the whole world condemned Israel for defending herself, Bush stood firm by the U.S's ally and continued to resist world pressure.
The REPUBLICAN MAJORITY in congress has passed countless resolutions in support of Israel, and continues to do so today.
Democrats condemn Israel, Republicans support her. Simple as that.

Name one name-brand Democrat who supports Hezbollah, friend - just one. You won't be able to. Perhaps that's because actual Jews support the Democratic Party 3:1, the only exception being authoritarian orthodox cults who feel more at home with the right's worship of authority.

Meanwhile, the republican party fosters a culture of hate, wih deranged nutjobs like O'Reilly, Coulter and Malkin jumping to Mel Gibson's defense. Gibson, of course, made 'The Passion of the Christ', a movie which produced a sustained orgasm in the ranks of the Dobson crowd.

It is this culture of hate - to paraphrase Little Annie Terrorist, "Let's bomb the New York Times! Let's kill the Sulzberger clan!" - that creates a climate in which actual anti-Semitism can flourish, along with hatred against Muslims, gays, military veterans, working people, and so on and so forth.

As to israel, frankly, the Bush administration supported that country in what we said, and are saying, is crappy policy. And we're right, as the Israeli media is saying as well; thing is, Bush and his cohorts, aforementioned Dobson and the like, think bombs in Lebanon are bringing the rapture ever closer. So there's your reason for the support; republicans want all Jews killed so Jesus can return.

mole, the real wave of anti-semitism isn't here in this country, it is over in europe and asia, and it is being caused by the right wing politicians in Israel. The right wing Likud and Kadima lawmakers whose of "disproportionate reponse" to attacks are making Israel come across to much of the rest of the world as arrogant bullies, and are causing the terrorist Hezbollah group to be increasingly seen in other parts of the world as martyrs and heroes.

What are people to think of Israel when they bomb the hell out of innocent civilians, women and children to get the hezbollah soldiers who move in their shadows? What are people to think of Israel when they destroy the main highway leading into Lebanon, making it all but impossible to get food and relief supplies into the region, almost guaranteeing a great humanitarian tragedy to come? What are they to think when Israel bombs a United Nations outpost that had been there for years, and the only excuse seems to be, "well hezbollah were around somewhere and it was just in the way"?

The problem is that just as in the United States, the right wing now controls Israel. There are many moderate and liberal Israelis who do not support all this bloodshed taking place simply because Hezbollah took hostages. I was reading about Terry Anderson today, he was one of the american hostages held by Hezbollah for nearly seven years and is now a democrat who ran for the state senate in Ohio. The U.S. did not go bomb the hell out of Lebanon and then invade it because Hezbollah took hostages. That would have been playing Hezbollah's game, taking the bait they have thrown down. Israel should have taken the high ground, instead the right wing government's reaction was "lets wipe the sob's off the face of the earth" In other words, lets respond to hate with hate.

What happens when you respond to hate with hate? You generate MORE hate! I would say that since this conflict in Lebanon has been going on, anti-semitism has risen dramatically particularly in the muslim world. This is Ehud Olmert's legacy. Right wing agendas, fueled by religious extremism and righteousness, breed hate. Whether it is Bush in the U.S., Olmert in Israel, Bin Laden or any other religious politician

It's a good thing you don't sound at all hysterical or unreasonable. Why do they let you children use the computer?

But mole, america does not exist in its own little world, everything that happens here is a direct reflection of the things going on in other parts of the world. So I would argue that the rise of anti-semitism in this country has a lot to do with Israel and the middle east and everything that has happened internationally in the last few years.

Racism is particularly fostered by religious extremism, fundamentalist religious teachings of many kinds which have as a basic tenet that the followers of that religion are "the special people", "the chosen people" These kinds of teachings, where religious followers are told that they are special and different from everyone else, breed racism. So evangelican christian fundamentalism breeds racism, islamic fundamentalism breeds racism, jewish fundamentalism breeds racism, .etc Because all these people are taught that "they" are the special people, racism becomes an almost inevitable extension of that thinking.

Because of the rise of religious extremism, it is not just anti-semitism that is on the increasing in this country, but anti-muslim (certainly since 9/11 and recently due to rising oil prices which make some people think of the arabian opec oil barons as greedy sob's), anti-hispanic (you realize much of the anti-immigrant rhetoric from the right is racist in its basis), anti-asian, anti-black .etc There is no form of racism which is more acceptable than any other form of racism, so IMO you should have titled this diary entry, "racist america", not "anti-semitic america"

The only way to fight racism, in the u.s. and around the world, is to fight religious extremism. To fight to preserve secular governments and encourage countries to maintain the separation of religion and state that should be considered of paramount importance. One of the worst things about this new Iraq government that the Bush admnistration is now backing is that its own constitution defines the government as a theocracy, and subordinates everything to the islamic religion. In no way should we be supporting a government like that. We are encouraging racism in such an environment.

You need to review your stats on hatecrimes. Whites are victims too as are Christians.

Black on White harecrimes are more common than the other way around. Many Jewish people have been caught in hatecrime hoaxes too.

thanks

I'd like to see some backup of these assertions, please. To the best of my knowledge, black-on-white 'hate crimes' are not counted as such - perhaps because there's no tradition of reverse-racism violence.

Just a thought.

mole, I believe american intolerance is an extension of the rise in fundamentalist religious teachings in recent years, regardless of the religion. Events like 9/11, the Iraq war and now the Middle East, only serve to heighten the fears of those who think in apocalyptic terms. Ever since 9/11, there has been a strong movement in this country towards isolationism. Suddenly for some people everyone who does not look like you, sound like you, worship like you, is a potential terrorist, is potentially someone out to destroy you. 9/11 wasn't something that started in this country, it was in effect the outside world events coming crashing into our world. After 9/11, everthing that happens outside America is magnified in importance because now we know that whats going on over there can happen over here.

So I disagree with your insistence that the problem in America with regards to racism is somehow organically an American problem. It is not. To get at the solutions to these problems, we need to approach these problems on a global scale and understand them from that perspective.

Finally I don't have "blind rage" at Israel. As stated, I think many in Israel do not support the right wing government. So you saying that is like saying someone who has rage at Bush has "blind rage" at America. Its not the same thing and you know it. The issue is right wing paraonia in all its forms, the right wing in Lebanon, the right wing in Israel, the right wing in Iran, the right wing in the United States, .etc All of which are political parties that are coming more and more under the control of the religious fundamentalists with their apocalyptic visions and beliefs that they are the "chosen people"