...Often, the lines are difficult to draw. Some time ago, an intense controversy surrounded a cartoon in a British newspaper which depicted Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon devouring a child. Critics saw this as a clear-cut reference to the "blood libel"; the cartoonist responded that he was alluding to the famous Goya painting of Saturn devouring his children, not to Sharon's Jewishness. It is quite true that many non-Jewish political leaders who have presided over military operations, including President Bush, have been labeled as child killers. It is difficult to be sure of the cartoonist's intent -- though, arguably, he should have been more sensitive to the cultural implications of the image he used.

But there are other, far less ambiguous examples. Thus, a cartoon in a respectable Italian daily, La Stampa, showed an infant Jesus lying in front of an Israeli tank -- with a caption saying, "Don't tell me they want to kill me again." The reference to the smear against Jews as "Christ killers" is impossible to miss. In England, a columnist for a leading newspaper, The Observer, declared that he refused to read pro-Israel letters signed with Jewish-sounding names, and suggested that Jews writing on issues related to the Middle East should identify their background.

The report censored by the European Union's center on racism pointed to the dangers of the anti-Israeli animus on the left: "Israel, seen as a capitalistic, imperialistic power, the `Zionist lobby,' and the United States are depicted as the evildoers in the Middle East conflict as well as exerting negative influence on global affairs." In many cases, it seems that this "progressive" outlook is providing a cover for a very old prejudice.