British MP Denis MacShane has likened the boycott of Israeli products to the kauf nicht bei Juden imperative of Nazi Germany.

Addressing a gathering under the auspices of the Cape Council of the South African Jewish Board of Deputies, he noted that old forms of antisemitism were being replaced.

“There are still some who say the Holocaust is a lie, but the denial now is ‘antisemitism denial’ — people who are critical of Israel say they have nothing against Jews, just the Jewish nation.

“Criticism of Israel is perfectly legitimate, but we have to be clear that the new antisemitic trope is beyond the pale of legitimate criticism. The notion of Israel as an apartheid state is deliberately promoted because an apartheid state cannot exist,” he said.

Mr MacShane noted Hungary’s Jobbik party and the annual commemoration in Latvia of the Waffen SS Latvian Brigade as examples of Europe’s problem with antisemitism. “There is absolutely no criticism of Hamas, whose charter has language straight out of (Nazi newspaper) Der Sturmer.”

The new antisemitism features the notion that the only oppressed people are the Palestinians, he said.