Critics of the World Cup going to Russia in 2018 were rarely, if ever, labelled ‘anti-Orthodox’.

Those opposed to Qatar hosting the 2022 tournament, in the winter for the first time ever, were much more often accused of being western-biased rather than ‘anti-Muslim’.

Calls for this year’s World Cup to be taken away from the USA did not lead to suggestions that those making the call were ‘anti-Christian’.

So why do those who don’t want Israel to be involved in world sport have the ‘anti-Semitic’ jibe regularly thrown at them?

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Worse than that, why are we called ‘Jew-haters’?

The answers to those questions, of course, is that those are cowardly, cheap shots, low blows aimed at shutting down criticism of the current Israeli government and its awful actions.

For the avoidance of any doubt, I don’t hate anyone based on their religion.

Additionally, I despise Holocaust deniers. To repeat what I’ve written before, the Holocaust was the worst collective crime committed by humanity – so far, anyway.

There is anti-Semitism in the world, none of which should be ignored or tolerated.

Equally, though, the abuse and killings conducted at the behest of the Israeli government should not be overlooked either.

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My antipathy is directed towards this Israeli government and its ongoing killing of Gazans/ Palestinians – and now Iranians, with Israel’s illegal war in cahoots with the authoritarian loons currently in charge of the USA.

If this........

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