[Deckard]

I don't have a problem with the "semitic==Jewish" thing to be honest.

The word "anti-semitism" has been firmly established in its Jewish sense for so long now - and for obvious reasons - that I'm happy to accept it as just another word having evolved to something else, if only as a dominant meaning.

IN my experience, when anyone talks about anti-Semitism and someone decides to make the point that Semitism refers to an ethnicity broader than just Jewish, for some reason it always sounds like a tactic to downplay anti-Jewish sentiment. Sometimes it becomes obvious that's exactly what it is. Other times, it's not.

On the other hand, I do completely agree with the way the charge of "anti-Semitism" (or variations thereof, like sarcastically interjecting with "it's the joooooooooz") is a pathetic, cowardly way to respond to criticism of Israel, whether it's government foreign policy or even the fact and manner of its very inception.

Sure, sexist, racist, and homophobe are also over-used, but I think few issues have that combination of being as highly charged and current as Israel/Palestine AND having something as appalling as the Holocaust underpinning it. That's what makes the charge all the more potent and frustrating, and all the more cowardly when deliberately used inappropriately to 'win' an argument.