Is singling out Israel anti-Semitic?

Is Israel the most dangerous and evil country in the world?

That's what a pair of departments at San Francisco's Rainbow Grocery Cooperative seemed to be saying when they instituted a boycott of goods from Israel -- and nowhere else.

Folks who see this as merely an attempt by a handful of pro-Palestinians to make a political statement by refusing to stock Chanukah gelt are ignoring the big picture.

A disturbing number of liberal, progressive and erstwhile clear-thinking businesses or educational institutions are coming under pressure to divest their financial ties with Israel in support of the Palestinian cause.

But is the Jewish state really a bigger human rights violator than, say, China, perpetrator of 97 percent of the world's executions by some counts and the ongoing occupier of Tibet? Are no boycotts merited for despotic nations funneling millions to terrorists and possessing no concept of human rights, let alone women's rights?

Harvard University President Lawrence Summers touched upon this issue when he referred to campus divestment movements aimed solely at Israel as "anti-Semitic in their effect, if not their intent."

Or, as The New York Times' Thomas Friedman put it, "Criticizing Israel is not anti-Semitic, and saying so is vile. But singling out Israel for opprobrium and international sanction out of all proportion to any other party in the Middle East is anti-Semitic, and not saying so is dishonest."

At the very least, boycotters like Rainbow are simplistic and hypocritical. Are they anti-Semitic, too? That's a determination for you to make.

As pro-Palestinian activists attempt to commit cities, universities and even the corner grocery stores to economic warfare against Israel, Jews and Israel supporters need to prevent this deluded and destructive behavior.