It pays to know intelligent people

I've had a line of comments that have often challenged statements I made that attacks on Israel are motivated by anti-Semitism, and not merely the usual criticism one can direct at a country's policies. I've struggled to articulate why I believe this challenge is incorrect. Fortunately, I have friends smarter than I am, and one of them sent me this bullet-point list of the way to sniff out the anti-Semitism underlying the repeated attacks against Israel, at home and, especially, abroad:

Why anti-Israeli can be anti-Semitic: Israel, like any other country on earth, can have its policies criticized. Here's where criticism of Israel veers away from legitimate criticism and into bigotry: 1- when Israel is held to a higher moral standard than any other country on earth, and in particular a higher standard than her neighboring states. 2- when criticism scrutinizes Israel alone, failing to take into account the actions of neighbors, their incitement or terrorism. 3- when horrific human rights abuses in neighboring states are ignored or dismissed and Israeli actions are overly scrutinized. 4- when Israelis are presented as one-dimensional monsters. 5- when Israel's right to exist is questioned, but not Australia's, New Zealand's or that of other nations established recently with many immigrants from elsewhere. 6- when the death of about 50 Palestinians total in Jenin, with more than 30 of them armed members of terrorist organizations, is equated with the genocidal Nazi slaughter of millions of unarmed children and civilians. 7- when suicide bombings against Israelis are seen as qualitatively different than suicide bombings against civilians anywhere else in the world. 8- when the speaker becomes histrionic and compares Israelis to Nazis practicing genocide or Apartheid. 9- when the speaker doesn't like Jews but insists that he is just criticizing Israel.

Yup, it pays to have smart friends.