... Perhaps the usual folks who attack Berkeley Daily Planet are right: There is, after all, anti-Semitism in the world. One can argue that the genocide of Lebanese people in the past few weeks has fueled anti-Semitism. But this is not the only reason. One should ask why anti-Semitism has persisted throughout the centuries.

Let us go back to 539 BC, when Cyrus the Great, King of Persia, went to Babylonia and liberated Jews. One can ask why Jews were enslaved by Babylonians. Also, one can ask why Jews had problem with Egyptians, with Jesus, with Europeans, and in modern times with Germans? The answer, among other things, is their racist attitude that they are the “Chosen People.” Because of this attitude, they do wrong to other people to the point that others turn against them, namely, become anti-Semite if you will. Since they think they are the Chosen People they can murder Lebanese and Palestinian children at will. Do you not remember the scene where a Palestinian father was screaming to stop Israeli soldiers shooting his son? But, the soldiers killed the boy mercilessly. Perhaps, Americans are so busy to amuse themselves with their iPods, lap-top computers, or cell phones. They do not have time to see the murders committed by the Chosen People. The Chosen People have become the Chosen Murderers. So long as the Zionists have no regard for the lives of others, people around the world will turn into anti-Semites, regardless of their religions. Even some Jews are condemning the atrocities of the Zionist regime...

...The Anti-Defamation League's Northern California chapter sent O'Malley a letter demanding a public apology for the article. It carries the signatures of more than a half-dozen elected officials from the East Bay, including the mayors of Oakland, Berkeley and Emeryville.

The letter described the author's words as "a racist attack on all people of Jewish descent when he asserted that Jews have been the cause of every tragedy that has befallen them -- from slavery in Egypt to the Holocaust.

"We are not surprised when hate-mongers make such statements or when neo-Nazi publications print them. Vulgar and hate-filled statements are written all the time -- editors choose whether or not to publish them. We were, however, surprised, to find them in a Berkeley 'community' newspaper since racism of any kind violates all that our city and region stands for," it read...

..."All kinds of racist nonsense gets printed in the Planet -- and for good reason -- since racist thinking pervades American culture," wrote Joanna Graham, a reader who defended [editor] O'Malley's decision...