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I am a proud Jew, a proud Zionist and someone who is not ashamed to admit that I am at times, very unhappy with the Israeli policies regarding the settlements on the West Bank and Israeli military rule over 2 million Palestinians.  That said, this  J-Street   member and child of the Holocaust is all too aware of the sad fact that anti-Semitism was never eradicated and seems to blossom anew in every generation the world over.  And no, anti-Semitism is not limited to right-wing supremacists who believe their race, religion or nationality is somehow superior to everyone else. In fact, many  supposedly enlightened, progressive thinking  people who want to believe that they are too sophisticated to be guilty of holding prejudices towards any group, can be quite contemptuous of the Jewish people.

The above cartoon was published on the web sit of Ministry of Education in Belgium. According to the Times of Israel:

The cartoon appeared on the ministry website as part of an exercise in which teachers are asked to analyze the cartoon with one of three statements: “This is a Palestinian fleeing Jews;” “Jews want the entire area of Palestine back;” or “Jews call Palestine Israel.”

If Chief Justice Roberts of the United States Supreme Court can in 2013 state that he is skeptical that discrimination against Black Americans is still an issue in the deep south, I guess we shouldn’t be surprised that governments and educators in the western democracies of the same continent that gave us  the Crusades, the Blood Libel myth, pogroms, the Dreyfuss Affair and the Holocaust are still actively promoting hate for the Jewish people. This cartoon which was published by a government agency reminds us that anti-Semites these days have the convenience of hiding behind the banner of legitimate criticism of Israel.  That said, hate is hate.  You can put  perfume on a skunk but only a liar would tell you that it doesn’t stink.