In a more or less sensible discussion of the latent anti-Semitism and rank hypocrisy of the British anti-Israel boycott, Richard Cohen has to go and say this:

We hereby call bullshit and shenanigans on this nonsense. Bullshit because nobody does this. Shenanigans because we're getting a little bit tired of this fetishistic journalistic urge to "acknowledge" that pro-Israel organizations are in control of public discourse about Israel. It kind of hurts to have to point it out: the very fact that journalists are always talking about how pro-Israel organizations stifle criticism of Israel is logically necessary evidence that pro-Israel organizations do not control public discussion. Now conspiracy theory lunatics can always answer this point by theorizing that the Israel Lobby allows criticism of itself so that people won't know how truly in control it is. But that sort of paranoia can get you locked up in the loony bin - and should get you locked up.

But maybe we're wrong. Maybe Jewish organizations really are suffocating any criticism of Israel. It's just that we can't hear the wheezing and coughing over the din of millions and millions of solitary sophisticates and intellectuals flooding the airwaves with criticism of Israel. The internet being what it is, there's a very real chance that there are more leftists complaining about how Jews call them anti-Semitic than there are actual, living Jews.

References:
* Why Boycott Israel? [WaPo]

Previously:
* If Anti-Zionism Isn't Supposed to Be Anti-Semitism, Someone Should Probably Tell the Anti-Zionists
* Anti-Semitism as Anti-Zionism
* Mainstreaming of Anti-Semitism (Comedy Festival Edition)

Cross-posted to:
* The Astute Bloggers