UK: BBC editor says Netanyahu 'played the Holocaust card'

Many politicians and pundits responded negatively to Netanyahu's speech.  I saw two main types of responses, and they signify the difference between 'criticism' and 'antisemitism'.

People can be critical of Netanyahu and his attitude.  They can say that his solution won't work or isn't viable.  They can say that despite everything, Iran is an ally in the fight against ISIS.  All of that falls under 'criticism'.

But saying that Jews are paranoid and are pretending that Iran wants to wipe out Israel as the Jewish State goes beyond 'criticism'.  It is antisemitic.  Jeremy Bowen crossed that line.

Via The Jewish Chronicle (h/t BBC Watch):

On Tuesday, with the Israeli Prime Minister still on his feet addressing a joint session of Congress, the BBC’s Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen, lip curled, tweeted “#NetanyahuSpeech He acknowledges Elie Wiesel in audience. Once again Netanyahu plays the Holocaust card. Don’t repeat mistakes of the past”.

Mr Bowen’s idea is that when an Israeli leader mentions the Holocaust he is being tricksy, manipulative, acting in bad faith, “playing a card” to get narrow advantage in contemporary politics, not really expressing a genuine thought about the Holocaust itself or a genuine fear about a second, nuclear, Holocaust.

And that idea, of the Bad Faith Jew, is unmistakably dripping in the assumptions and myths of classic antisemitism.

Mr Bowen did what only the antisemitic extremists used to do, reduce the invocation of the Holocaust to a common sense indicator of ‘Zionist’ bad faith and something to disdain.

Well, the Holocaust happened. It happened to the Jews. And now the Jews are threatened again by a genocidal regime. These are facts.

See BBC Watch for more on Jeremy Bowen' thoughs about Netanyahu's speech