Jim sez: This is what it has always been about – not about the Jewish Peole bu a battle between left and right

Yeah, Jim. And if that's the case, I'll side with the left and we can drop all the posturing. Then we can drink beer and sit around in a circle and sing Peter, Paul and Mary songs.

But that's not the deal. This world is a complex, interesting phenomenon that can't be boiled down to just a simplistic struggle between left and right. There are complex questions to explore, and the answers are not always immediately evident. Therefore, it just doesn't make sense for you to bring the same, old, bickering arguments into every thread and fight about the same things in every thread. I think I see above that you finally admitted that it was you who brought the "jew-hater" argument into the Brigades thread.

Now, get this straight: I choose my words very carefully, and I mean exactly what I say. I said it before and I'll say it now, that I do not think that you are a Jew-hater. Period. Full stop.

HOWEVER, I also said that the rhetoric of leftists has changed over the years, and people on the left now say things that are hurtful to Jews. It is a difficult thing to speak critically of Israel without being hurtful to Jews, but I think it's something we need to do. Rather than resorting to labels or comparisons with Hitler, we need to gather and report the facts - and name the people who are responsible.

Jim, while I do not think that you are a Jew-hater, you made a broad comparison of Israel and Nazi Germany in a way that could be considered to be anti-Semitic. I think it should be a lesson to you to report information factually and choose your words carefully. I caught you making an anti-Semitic remark and I called "gotcha!" I was also careful to make it clear that I did not think you to be a Jew-hater.

That's all. I called "gotcha!" Nothing more. No insult intended. Don't make it into something it isn't intended to be.

-Joe-