Those olive-trees stuck in my craw as a peculiarly spiteful manifestation of an overall mistaken approach to the whole situation. I admit that they had a particularly symbolic significance to me; and I constantly refer to them as such, as an indicator of my complete withdrawal of any residual support or feeling of any sort of loyalty to Israel in its present avatar. I think they should be viewed as a sort of synecdoche for the unacceptability of Israel's activities.

But this in no way nullifies the undoubted fact that much expressed opposition to Israel is in fact a not particularly well-disguised form of antisemitism, as was recognised by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia's 2005 working definition of antisemitism. In which context there are many who feel the terms of the vehement denunciations of the Carroll/Greg·F axis could be viewed as significantly suspect.

~M~