Barack Obama’s envoy and the myth of 'Islamophobia'

I was at the terrific Community Security Trust’s annual dinner recently where a speech was given by President Obama’s special envoy an anti-Semitism, Hannah Rosenthal. I mention this only because she managed to spoil an otherwise good speech by saying at the end that we must not only tackle anti-Semitism but also “Islamophobia”.

Now this is a particularly pervasive bit of idiocy that keeps doing the rounds. ‘Anti-Semitism’ is hatred of the Jews as a people. ‘Islamophobia’ is a word which was only invented ten years ago and which no one can agree on a definition of. The closest, I think, is my own: “anything that any particular Muslim at any moment finds offensive.”

Now I am very happy to join Rosenthal in ensuring that all peoples are free not to be subjected to racism and hatred. But if we tackle anti-Semitism and what is currently called ‘Islamophobia’ we get into problems.

If I, or indeed someone who is Jewish, point out that the Koran and the Hadith of Mohammed have many violent references to Jews and that Mohammed himself killed whole tribes of Jews then the chances are that I will be accused of ‘Islamophobia’. Whenever I, and others, point out the terrible anti-Semitism which is rife in Islamic societies today we are accused of ‘Islamophobia’.

Would Rosenthal, or indeed anyone, explain how exactly you tackle Islamic anti-Semitism without being labelled an ‘Islamophobe’?