Is Social Democrat politician Torben Lund anti-Semite?
That is, is he according to the definition of the Danish dictionary anti-Jewish; hostile to Jews in general?

Yes, Lund is an anti-Semite alright, says former chief Rabbi Bent Melchior, and several others after a newspaper article Lund wrote about Israel.

But is this anti-Semitism, or has "anti-Semitism become" a concept which is used to shut up critics of the state of Israel, asks Ole Vestergaard (TV2 journalist) in this program.

It all began when Torben Lund wrote an article in the Danish newspaper Politiken May 3. In the article he hit hard against Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

"Ariel Sharon certainly is the person in the Palestine conflict who tops the list of terrorists."

I believe he acts like a state terrorist, and that he has committed numerous atrocities against the Palestinian people as an occupying power.

Torben Lund also wrote: "Every time somebody voices criticism there is an outcry from the Jewish communities, that this is an expression of anti-Semitism".

It is important to observe these three words, "the Jewish communities".
Not "some Jewish communities" or "some Jews", but "the Jewish communities".
Taken very strictly this is a generalization of all Jews.

Anyway, the words had come out of the box, and it didn't take long before the reactions poured in from both far and near.

Former chief rabbi Bent Melchior calls the statement for "pure anti-Semitism".

Lund has made it into something that denotes that all Jews in the world are ready to come to the defence of Sharon. And that is, that, I, I better stick to the academic, is just not true.

Perhaps not, but in the next part Melchiors friends from the ADL drop in for a comment, and they make less of a secret of their sympathies for Sharon and his criminal gang....

But not only home in Denmark the statements had been noticed. All the way down in New York from the Jewish organization ADL the "The Anti Defamation League" came reactions.

”To have a kind of article written by mr. Lund which is outrageous, in it’s charges against Israel and it’s prime minister eh is extremely distressing.

Ehm, it runs against what we hoped was a new tide in Europe to co..to take seriously anti-semitism, and instead this article really encourages and creates an incentive for more anti-semitism.

With that Lund is right at least so far, that some Jews call him an anti-Semite if he calls Sharon a terorist.

Lunds article comes in the context of several years of activity in Europe in which the new form of anti-semitism is the demonization of the state of Israel.

We shall concentrate on what Lund wrote in Politiken: "The Jewish community cries out every time critizism is uttered, that it is an expression of anti-semitism."

At the newspaper Politiken editor-in-chief Töger Seidenfaden says about just that statement:

"It is always wrong to generalize, but from there to saying that everything which purely linguistically is a generalization is anti-Semitism or racism is taking it a bit too far.
Well, I think one has to say that if something is anti-Semitic, it will have to be insulting to Jews. The worst he says about them, as you mentioned yourself, is that they defend the state of Israel, and that does not seem insulting to me...

But Bent Melchior calls it deregatory....

Generalization here appears definetely in a derogatory context... aasah you can't mean that what Lund means is eh, that what Jews mean in that context, if they support Sharon, eh, then, eh, that it is positive.

He says Melchior hurts his own case by using the word anti-Semitism.

According to Melchior anti-Semitism is an illness that Gentiles suffer and Jews die from.

We seek professional advice, at the University of Copenhagen we find professor in rethorics Christian Kock.

Torben Lund has not said that all Jews have bad or negative qualities.
He has just said that all Jews throw themselves over him.
That is wrong, but it is not racist.

But isn't it also positive, positive about the Jews that they defend themselves?

Yes, one could argue that, it is hundred percent legitemate to throw oneself over Torben Lunds points of view, and there are also many Jews who do so, although it is not all Jews who do. In that way he hasn't said anything wrong, (Journalist: but not anti-semitic), but nothing anti-Semitic.

It is clear, clear anti-Semitism, and you can bring me all professors, eh it changes nothing about eh...

But is it only you [Jews] who have the right to define anti-Semitism?

Nooooooh, that isn't soooo, but it has been us who have been killed for it..., and because of that we are perhaps eh, more expert on the subject.

blah, blah blah...about feelings. [Mechior show a quick succession of changes in facial expression.]

Back to Torben Lund who, by a making a few changes could have avoided accusations for being an anti-Semite.

I think this is completely wrong, when I write "the Jewish community" I mean of course those who organize themselves and take part in the debate, and it was precisely Bent Melchior and his network I among other things was thinking about.

There are similar networks in many countries, and again in the USA there are very, very strong eh, organizations. That every time eh, one criticizes Sharon get involved, and the word anti-Semite lies lurking. Sometimes it is being said, sometimes it's not being said directly.

But one can perhaps be surprised about the fact that Torben Lund's statements are intercepted by "The Anti Defamation League" i New York.

These days it’s not very hard to have information. It’s all over the Internet... We also ehm work closely with human rights groups and jewish communities all over the world...
All of us are concerned about the massive rise of antisemitism......

For "The League" there is no doubt about anti-Semitism getting worse lately....

In the last three years we have seen the greatest outbursts of antisemitism around the world since the holocaust..........

............But if that is true, it is also true that the word "anti-Semite" is beginning to be used in a more hap hazard way, like some kind of abuse which can stop people from speaking critically about Israel.

Has Melchior lost his better judgement here?

It is starting to take it's toll on his judgement, if he wants to further understanding for Israel, I think he should tell us something about Israel, instead of using the anti-Semite stamp.

That I have used the expression..., that is simply not true, it goes against the truth... if that is being alleged.
It could be that smeone misuses it... Theh... they, it would be strange if there weren't ehm, diffent,... and precisely we are different..

Oh, your rethorics professor will have to accept that there are others who read the text just as I read it.

In stead of coming down exactly on what is wrong in what he writes, just drawing this club which is called "you are an anti-Semite" from his pocket. Thereby he derails the debate, and he abuses to my opinion a very very serious word.. which is the word anti-Semite.

That the debate is derailling is seen most clearly in a leading article in Jyllands Posten yesterday [18 maj 2004] which stated:

Now we are speaking clear language..... Torben Lund is not only an anti-Semite, he is actually a Nazi!

The before mentioned Jewish organization Anti Defamation League, has measured opinions in a number of European countries. In Denmark 16 % have anti-Semitic views, so this years scrutiny concludes, which is every sixth Dane..