"Criticism of the Israeli government is completely legitimate." - Gil Preuss - CEO Jewish Federation of Greater Washington
In general, that is true. But that does not mean that any criticism of the Israeli government is legitimate.
It is not a legitimate criticism when Israel is singled out, and attacked for things any other country would do under similar circumstances - such as respond forcefully when attacked and when many of its citizens are brutally massacred and others are kidnapped.
The key criteria are "any other country would do under similar circumstances" and "respond forcefully". Reasonable people can disagree what those mean operationally. Such disagreements are not necessarily indicative of anti-semitism, despite the claims of at least one poster in this thread.
I think it comes down to an understanding of the political situation in the Middle-East. Especially understanding the Islamic cultures of the area.
We, in the west, often make the mistake of just assuming that the Arabs think like westerners (or Israelis). Or are motivated by the same things. We often make the mistake of thinking that the Muslims are responding to Israeli provocation. We often don't understand that Arabs have a very loose relationship with the truth, and when it comes to propaganda, have no cultural limits on what they can say. It's just a question of winning.
The west is a product of 300 years of liberal brain washing. So are Israelis, for most part.
Yes, it's legitimate to criticise Israel. But when you do so without understanding what Israel is up against, then it will often come across as antisemitism.
Isaelis are about 10 000 000. Arabs around it 600 000 000. Many Islamist fanatics. And if you count the entire Muslim world, it's a billion. Which is fair to do, since people all over the entire Muslim world send money to various extremely well funded anti-Israeli Islamist groups. Add to that all the Jew hating westerners. The Holocaust didn't come out of nowhere, and we certainly seem to have forgotten that lesson.
Add to that the double standards applied to Israel. Jews are judged much harder for their actions. That's just straight up antisemitism. It really isn't Israel's fault that Hamas uses their own population as human shields. But they're blamed for their deaths when they retaliate. That's not a legitimate criticism.
Neither is it a legitimate criticism to accuse Israel of genocide or starving the Gazans. I have not forgotten how many people in this thread were convinced that was going on.
The world has a huge antisemitism problem. As do we on this forum. That's what Israel is up against.
So sure, it's legitimate to criticise Israel. Just try to criticise them of a questionable thing they've actually done. There's plenty. Not the bullshit accusations, that keep flying, here and elsewhere.