It’s interesting that Rae Abileah, the spokesperson for Code Poke, hadn’t heard of the Holocaust Cartoon Contest in Iran.

This was pretty hard to miss for people at all interesting in Middle Eastern politics.

It kind of reinforces my contention that much anti-Israel sentiment is driven by sheer ignorance.

For example I saw a comment on FB yesterday to the effect that Zionism means that Jews are considered a race.

This is clearly absurd. In fact, a core element of antisemitism is the contention that Jews do constitute a race. So what we’re seeing is a form of antisemitism projected onto Zionism, which does state that Jews constitute a NATION, with or without national land or borders - something that transcends religious belief, as well as race or nationality, which is based on shared history, languages, origin myths and culture and also the shared experience of being persecuted, expelled, stripped of land and status and routinely humiliated.

Now, the person making the claim that Zionism = the claim that Jews are a RACE is not a bad person. She is a misinformed person, a proPalestinian, but she is unconsciously echoing real antisemitism.

Education is a major key here. Propaganda against Israel and Jews is both effective and of long standing. It’s difficult to counter it but it’s vital.