ISRAELI PUBLIC DIPLOMACY EXPERT: BRITISH BOYCOTT IS VICIOUSLY ANTI-SEMITIC

Public diplomacy - having put its faith in the ability of governments to appeal directly to foreign populations - is not precisely a home of radical right-wing sensibility. It presumes, among other things, that people who hate America or Israel do so for the reasons that they give, and that if those reasons are answered then their hate will be somewhat mitigated. Within the public diplomacy community, Israeli Prof. Eitan Gilboa is easily among the most prominent scholars. So it's worth noting how totally conclusive he is about the motives behind the British boycott:

The radical Left that stands behind the initiatives to impose boycotts on Israel is attempting to create the impression that it is only harshly criticizing Israeli policies vis-a-vis the Palestinians. In fact, it is negating Israel's right to exist and is conducting the harshest campaign of demonization and de-legitimization since the UN ruled that Zionism was racist. The boycotts are the result of several causes, including fervent Palestinian activity in the public diplomacy sphere referred to as PR (hasbara) in Israel. The Palestinians have joined the radical Left, which has succeeded in taking over trade unions in several Western countries. They are also assisted by several dubious Jews and Israelis. On the other hand, Israel has neglected this front, which has become a key tool in running foreign and defense affairs.

You can quibble with his solution - to demonstrate Israeli good will by appealing directly to the British public in the form of expanded cooperation. But when an international scholar of not exactly rightist reputation is saying these things about colleagues in other universities - to say nothing of his low opinion of Israeli useful idiots - then intellectualized anti-Semitism has gone from nudge-nudge wink-wink to openly vicious and vaguely genocidal.

[Read an extended version of this post at Mere Rhetoric]