Some issues are simple. For instance, tactics that the Israeli government has used in their conflict with the Palestinians – targeted assassinations without any attempt at due process, collective punishment in the form of home demolitions or putting entire cities in lockdown, or the deployment of cluster bombs against civilian populations – have nothing to do with being Jewish or with the fact that Israel is a Jewish nation.

Criticism of such tactics and the policies behind them has nothing to do with anti-Semitism, unless you subscribe to the principle that targeted assassinations, et al, are inherently reflective of Judaism, a position that is not only laughable but anti-Semitic in itself.

But when you move to questioning Israeli laws or policies which mandate differential treatment of citizens based upon ethnicity or religion the waters quickly become murky.

Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, has documented 20 some laws that explicitly privilege Jews over non-Jews, most notably the Law of Return. That law grants rights of automatic citizenship to Jews anywhere in the world. Similar rights are denied to non-Jews, including Palestinian refugees who were forced from their lands over the decades or who fled their homes in fear of violence at the hands of Zionist groups such as Irgun or the Stern Gang before the creation of Israel.

To many of us who lived through the Civil Rights Era, who supported the Feminist Movement, or joined the cause against South African apartheid, these kinds of laws are an anathema, as are any laws of any nation that discriminate against people purely on the basis of race, ethnicity, gender, orientation, religion, or creed.

They would be an anathema whether enacted by Israel or any other country, whether they favored Jews, Christians, Muslims, Hindus or whatever group. Criticism of these laws, thus, is not anti-Semitic, especially when that criticism is leveled even-handedly at all countries that have discriminatory laws on the books.

And yet, because those laws serve to maintain the Jewish character of Israel, criticism of them can bleed into anti-Semitism.

If laws that discriminate against non-Jews are seen as a manifestation of what it is to be a Jew, or as particular to Israel, rather than being seen in the context of a world where discrimination is rampant, then the anathema against specific laws can quickly become an anathema against Judaism and Jews.

If one questions the entire notion of religious states – whether it be a Saudi style theocratic monarchy or a Jewish democracy – then the waters become even murkier.

It is legitimate to believe that there should be no countries where religious laws are enacted as the law of the land, or whose purpose is to promote the interests of one group of people over another. This is the basis of secularism, which much of the world believes in.

At the same time, it is very easy to let secular ideals slip into anti-Semitism, or anti-theism of any sort. Just as criticism of the Religious Right can easily become anti-Evangelical rhetoric, distaste for Saudi Arabian theocracy can easily grow into Islamophobia, so too criticism of the very principle of having a Jewish state can easily slide into anti-Semitism.

This is particularly true if the critic attributes the religious character of the state to the belief system it promotes. If people believe that Islam requires a theocracy, then naturally anti-Saudi sentiment becomes Anti-Islam sentiment. If people believe that Judaism requires a Jewish state, or discrimination against non-Jews, then criticism of Israel becomes anti-Semitism.

The waters are further roiled when you throw religious bigotry into the mix. All too often, criticism of other ways of life is rooted in the fundamental belief that one’s own religion is vastly superior to all others. When people view Christianity or Islam as superior to Judaism, then bigotry against the religion can easily turn into bigotry against the state of Israel.

Add political conflicts, and it’s easy to arrive at a virulent anti-Semitism. It is no wonder that the most noxious anti-Semitism these days comes from those sympathetic to Arabs who are in direct political conflict with the State of Israel. And that the harshest critics of Islam tend to be strong Zionists.

The struggle over Palestine/Israel has resulted in a conflation of religion, politics, and human rights issues. Israeli excesses have been seen as stemming from its Jewish character. So too Palestinian and Arab excesses have been seen as stemming from Islam.

Criticism of brutal Israeli policies from the Muslim community is all too often tainted by anti-Semitism. So too, criticism of Palestinian atrocities against Israelis is all too often tainted by anti-Islamism. (My apologies to the Christian Arabs who are more or less ignored by this generalization.)

Muslims and Jews in the Middle East (indeed all people who care passionately about the Middle East) all need to revisit their opinions, to see where political aims have led them to attack a people and a religion unjustly.

We must strive to offer principled disapproval of policies and tactics, without blanket condemnation of a people or a religion. We must also strive to be even-handed; if we are going to criticize discrimination in one country, we have to criticize all countries that practice discrimination.

If we are going to challenge the notion of states where one religion benefits at the expense of others, we have to issue that challenge to all states that do so.