Getting to grips with anti-Semitism

An Interesting article in Ha'aretz today by politician turned columnist Amnon Rubinstein. He takes the pragmatic but controversial line that anti-semitism is an undeniable evil in the world, and that it is sparked by acts of the Israeli government. He then continues:

In planning their policies and activities, they [ the Israeli government and defence forces] have to take into account that everything that is done to the Palestinians has immediate implications not only for us here, but also for Jewish communities in the Diaspora.
It may not always be just, because there is criminal disregard in Europe when it comes to the responsibility of the Palestinian leadership for this terrible situation, but these are the facts of life.
The decision on the route of the separation fence was a mistake not only from an Israeli point of view, but also because it has immediate implications for the security of Jewish communities around the world. This consideration should give added impetus to the desire to reach a settlement that will end the occupation, which constitutes a disaster for the Israelis too; will lead to the evacuation of settlements, such as Netzarim, from the heart of Palestinian populations; and will put an end to the suffering of the Palestinians - the sight of which is harsh for Israelis and which in Europe, provides cause for the new anti-Semitism.

I'm currently spinning with information as I read up on the whole anti-Israel vs anti-Zionism vs anti-semitism debate, where a lot of the same arguments are repeated over and over again. But this line - this sense that Israel has an obligation to global Jewry that goes way beyond its own borders - seems to be as novel as it is controversial. I wonder whether anyone but an Israeli jew could write it...(In his essay on anti-zionism and anti-semitism, the book 'A New Antisemitism?' Jonathan Freedland says: 'Jews can take even the bitterest criticism of Israel in the pages of Ha'aretz, but feel twitchy when they read it in, say, The Independent').

UPDATE
Brian Klug: No, anti-Zionism is not anti-semitism

"We should unite in rejecting racism in all its forms: the Islamophobia that demonises Muslims, as well as the anti-semitic discourse that can infect anti-Zionism and poison the political debate. However, people of goodwill can disagree politically - even to the extent of arguing over Israel's future as a Jewish state. Equating anti-Zionism with anti-semitism can also, in its own way, poison the political debate."

BACKGROUND
- A new-antisemitism: debating Judeophobia in 21st Century Britain
- Chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks on 'A new antisemitism' (June 02)
- The Observer Feb 02: A new anti-semitism? By Peter Beaumont
- Supressed EU report on Anti-semitism in the EU (long/ reg rqd for Jerusalem post)
- Avraham Burgh: A Failed Israeli Society Collapses While Its Leaders Remain Silent (Forward, Aug 03)
- Uzi Landau: The left fires the flames (Ha'aretz Dec 03)
- Rabbi David Goldberg in Jan 2002: Let's keep a sense of proportion "We Jews do ourselves a disservice if we cry 'anti-semite' at every liberal critic of Israel "
- Guardian leader on new anti-semitism Nov 03
- David Aaronovitch: Message to the left: there is no all-powerful Jewish lobby (Guardian, May 2003)
- EUPolitix interview with Ariel Sharon on anti-semitism: "EU governments are not doing enough to tackle anti-Semitism"