To the Editor:

It would be nice if Joe Klein would get his facts right when he accuses me of wantonly referring to critics of Israel as anti-Semites.
 
Take his statement about ADL and the Center for American Progress. We were very careful in what we said and didn't say.

We made clear that "overall, the criticisms of Israel by CAP do not veer into anti-Semitism."

We said there only two examples, troubling ones indeed, that could be labeled anti-Semitism.

We then went on to say that we strongly disagree with CAP's tendency to regularly blame Israel for the lack of progress in Israeli-Palestinian Affairs and for minimizing or rationalizing the Iranian nuclear threat.

We made clear, however, that these were disagreements with CAP that had nothing to do with the charge of anti-Semitism.

Those distinctions, between areas of criticism of Israel and American Jews that are manifestations of anti-Semitism, and those that we may disagree with but would never think of labeling as anti-Semitic, are scrupulously adhered to by ADL.

Klein's picturing me as reflexively conflating all or most criticism of Israel with anti-Semitism is a gross distortion -- unfair and simply inaccurate.