Anti-Zionism is racism

When I was growing up in London during the 1950's I was often called
"dirty Jew" or told "go back to your own country" (this was before the
immigration of many blacks and Indians to Britain). I was insulted in
this way because I "look" Jewish, I have a long nose and dark features.
So did Gen. De Gaulle, but he wasn't traveling on London Transport.
The people who thus abused me did not know what I thought, whether or
not I believed in Judaism, so their comments were definitely racist, they
were examples of anti-Semitism.
It has become common-place to argue that modern day anti-Zionism is a
form of anti-Semitism, that people are trying to hide their racist feelings
behind criticism of Israel. They argue that it is permissible to oppose
Israeli Government positions, or IDF actions as being too severe, and in
general opposing the existence of Israel as a Jewish State, that ironically
they often call racist (or apartheid) without knowing the slightest thing
about the reality. There are two origins of this type of attitude, either
anti-Semitism or sympathy for the Palestinians, although why so many
people so strongly support the Palestinians is a mystery.
Judah Pearl, the father of the murdered journalist Danny Pearl and a
Professor at UCLA, has now written an essay in which he argues that
anti-Zionism is not only a cover for anti-Semitism, it is also racist in its
own right. Why should people argue that the Jews have no right to a country
of their own, why should Israel's actions be scrutinized to a greater extent
that those of any other country on earth, why should anyone question the
right to existence of a country of 6 million people that has been recognized
by the international community and has been a member of the UN for 56
years? This in itself is a form of racism. This is the attitude that
supported the "Zionism is racism" resolution at the UN, that took 16 years
(1975-1991) to have expunged. No Western liberal denies the right of a
country to any other distinct ethnic group, that is distinguished by its own
culture, language and religion. Even the Kurds deserve a country of their
own.
When the USSR broke up, did these same people argue that the Baltic States
should not become three separate independent sovereign countries? When
Yugoslavia broke up did anyone (apart from the Serbs) argue that they should
not form independent sovereign countries (Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia,
Bosnia) and this process is still on-going (Montenegro, Kossovo). If Lebanon
deserves to be independent of Syria, why not Israel? If Jordan deserves to
be independent, why not Israel? If Palestine deserves to be independent, why
not Israel? Certainly I would argue that Israel has a greater historical and
moral right to exist than any of these other countries.
Recently I saw an item in one of the media reports showing poor Palestinians
lining up at an Israeli checkpoint (what a cliche), and the correspondent said
something to the effect, "isn't it degrading for a Palestinian woman whose
family has lived here for centuries (how does she know?) to be stopped by
an Ethiopian soldier who just arrived off the boat?" That is pure racism!
First of all why pick out an Ethiopian soldier, because he's black? Maybe
it's meant to mean that he's only been here for a short time, but so have
many white, Russian immigrant soldiers. Second, the right of Jews to
immigrate to Israel is one of the reasons for needing Jewish sovereignty,
otherwise the British or the Palestinian Arabs would exclude these Jews,
so that they would continue to be subject to the racist treatment that they
experienced in their home countries, Ethiopia, Russia or Britain!