Bowen's shame over Holocaust remark

'The Livingstone Formulation' is a term coined by the academic David Hirsh to refer to the practice of responding to claims of antisemitism by alleging that those making the claim are only doing so to prevent Israel from being criticised. In other words, the Jews are accused of "playing the antisemitism card".

On Tuesday, with the Israeli Prime Minister still on his feet addressing a joint session of Congress, the BBC's Middle East Editor Jeremy Bowen, lip curled, tweeted "#NetanyahuSpeech He acknowledges Elie Wiesel in audience. Once again Netanyahu plays the Holocaust card. Don't repeat mistakes of the past".

Mr Bowen's idea is that when an Israeli leader mentions the Holocaust he is being tricksy, manipulative, acting in bad faith, "playing a card" to get narrow advantage in contemporary politics, not really expressing a genuine thought about the Holocaust itself or a genuine fear about a second, nuclear, Holocaust.

And that idea, of the Bad Faith Jew, is unmistakably dripping in the assumptions and myths of classic antisemitism.