Letter: Israel's responsibility for anti-Semitism

Sir: Frank Blackaby's assertion 'It is not anti-Semitic to suggest that . . . it is the Israeli government itself which, by its cruel treatment of . . . Palestinians, fans the flames of anti-Semitism in Europe' (letter, 4 January) is at best disingenuous, at worst dangerous. Would he also suggest that the deeds of Arab governments carried out in the name of Allah fan the flames of anti-

Muslim feeling in Europe and might even lead to something equivalent to Auschwitz? Or that the actions, say, of the Vatican or the Italian government, disapproved of by large numbers of people elsewhere, must lead to the persecution of Catholics?

No, it is precisely this automatic linkage that is the unique basis of anti-Semitism, both historical and present day.

Yours faithfully,

TOM BECK

Trowbridge, Wiltshire

4 January