This is the other post I wished to share in response to the tedious posters who proliferate on threads like this bleating about how 'anti-Zionism is not anti-semitism', even if tragic cases like this where British Jews have been attacked on the streets of London, some unpleasant people are still trying to minimise the awful events with this kind of justification. Firstly, this argument appears extremely spurious given that many of the statements it has been used to defend could not be read as 'legitimate criticism of Israel' by anyone but a virulent anti-semite or one of their apologists. People of this ilk tend to chant the 'legitimate criticism of Israel' mantra and use it as a 'get out of jail free card', even if the comment in question is something unequivocally anti-semitic like calls to bring back gas chambers or praise of Hitler or, indeed, an attempt to justify or minimise the recent appalling attempted murders of two Jewish men.
My other response to the "I'm anti-Zionist not anti-semitic" crowd is laid out below.
Zionism, put simply, is the belief that Jewish people have the right to self-determination, the right to a homeland in Israel. While not all Jews may consider themselves Zionist you will find that the vast majority do. This is not some fringe belief, it is widespread amongst Jewish communities worldwide.
I know that people who wish to have their anti-Zionist but not anti-semitic cake and eat it find this fact a bit uncomfortable and inconvenient as it makes it harder for them to pretend that they don't have a problem with most Jews, it's just those evil Zionist ones they despise because, if you have a problem with most Zionists and most Jews are Zionists then you, by default, have a problem with most Jews. It's why so many 'anti-Zionists' are so obsessed with the Neturei Karta, a tiny Jewish sect vehemently opposed to the state of Israel, because they get to post photos of obviously, visibly orthodox Jews protesting against the existence of the state of Israel and say:
"See, these Jews are on our side, how can we be anti-semitic?"
Attempting to pretend that, instead of being a tiny group, they actually represent the majority opinions and beliefs of Jews globally. In many ways, Polanski is very much the Green party's answer to the Neturei Karta!