It's all the Jews' Fault.

A disturbing letter appears in today's SMH:

Think again

The wise and timely essay by Samantha Selinger-Morris (''Old hatreds in a new medium'', July 2-3) raises an issue that should make Jewish community leaders in Australia rethink their attitudes to the growth of anti-Semitism.

Tragically this upsurge of racism is attributable directly to the perceived suffering the Israeli government has imposed on the Palestinian people. The current Israeli government is more responsible for the spread of anti-Semitism worldwide than any ratbag racist groups waving symbols of Germany in the 1930s.

To Jewish leaders in Australia, Israel can do no wrong. They have closed minds to the damage being done to the image of Jews internationally by the intransigent attitude of Netanyahu and his extremist supporters.

Intellectuals, including many more thoughtful and perceptive Jews, realise this dilemma. They should be listened to rather than dismissed as anti-Semitic.

Vincent Matthews Forestville

Get that? The Government of Israel is doing more to encourage Jew-hatred than the Nazis.

Yes, the SMH actually printed that.

The upsurge in global antisemitism must not be blamed on Israel, any more than girls wearing short skirts should be called uncovered meat and blamed for rape. I note the Islamic connection between the two arguments. Jew hatred, from Hilaly to Hamas has never been rational and it is disappointing that there are still those seeking to excuse it.

Israel's actions are simply a response to Arab antisemitism, quite clearly promoted in the Hamas charter and the Koran, both of which explicitly call for death to the Jews.

"The Day of Judgement will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews (killing the Jews), when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews.".

Why wouldn't Israel fight against that, and how dare you accuse them of bringing it on themselves.

What certainly doesn't help, is obsessive demonisation of Israel in a media quick to believe every word the Palestinians say, despite their history of dishonesty and blood libel e.g. the "Massacre at Jenin" which never actually happened.

Earlier this week, the SMH happily reported that Israel was responsible for "Terrorist attacks" on flotilla boats, despite no evidence whatsoever - none. Only unchallenged claims by highly biased anti-Israel activists, taken at face value by the Fairfax correspondent.

Lies about the Jews certainly do lead to antisemitism and the media have a special responsibility, which they aren't meeting. Especially Fairfax, publishers of the Sydney Morning Herald and Melbourne Age.

Every day hundreds are being killed in Syria and you'll barely read about it. Should a single 'activist' even get their hair messed up aboard the 'flotilla' however, it will be wall to wall coverage. Why the contrast? Because the tiny Jewish state is subject to a completely different set of standards, and if that isn't antisemitism, well...

Oh, and in case it wasn't completely obvious, Vincent Matthews has written plenty of letters to the editor about a certain topic. Can you guess what it is? I can only imagine how many he wrote which weren't published (must be dozens of times more based on my modest success rate). Clearly he takes human rights very seriously. Yet I didn't manage to find all those letters he's written about other countries, far, far worse than Israel. Matthews has an unhealthy obsession with the Jewish state and the SMH are happy to be its enablers.