to discover who rules the world, ask who is protected from criticism;

The Israeli government has incriminated itself once again in the last few days.

Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, has stated that Israel intends to take control of Gaza. His coalition partner Bezalel Smotrich is promising further destruction on a massive scale and “cleansing” – code for displacing and potentially expelling Palestinians.

Everything they are doing and have threatened to do is illegal under international law. For a network of professional lobbyists, however, the bad guys aren’t those carrying out a genocide but those who oppose it.

The European Leadership Network (Elnet), a pro-Israel advocacy group, held a conference in Paris this week, which suggested that a “global intifada” was responsible for “the surge of anti-Semitism” since 7 October 2023.

The phrase “global intifada” almost certainly refers to the countless protests that have taken place against Israel’s brutality over the past 19 months. Elnet’s phrasing smears all the ordinary folk who have joined such protests by insinuating that they are anti-Semites.

The Paris conference follows an “analysis” published by Elnet’s French office earlier this month.

That paper alleges that by coveting freedom between the River Jordan and the Mediterranean Sea, campaigners for the “Palestinian cause” are really pushing for Jews to be massacred and kicked out of Israel. It describes the far left as a “breeding ground for anti-Jewish hatred in Europe” and argues that Muslim immigrants are especially receptive to the “Palestinian cause.”

By portraying immigrants as violent and fanatical – a xenophobic stereotype – Elnet betrays its own bigotry. Such bigotry was shared by participants in the Paris conference.

Claudia Plakolm, Austria’s Europe minister, used the occasion to promote her country’s “new mandatory integration program.” Under it, “every person entitled to asylum and subsidiary protection will have to sign and comply with a declaration against anti-Semitism,” Plakolm said............more.........