I thought they tried to avoid the comparison by making the leads rather stupid. The Jews were going along minding their own business when they got virtually wiped out of Europe. These Americans came to Europe looking for girls they can't get at home, causing trouble in clubs, bitching that the TV doesn't have subtitles. They're jack-asses who think the world should cater to them rather than attempting to fit in with the world.
I think Eli Roth might be making a point that Americans are pariahs outside of their own country, but was careful to show the behaviour that makes it so.
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I didn't think that the contrast was there to show that that one led to the other, I thought he was saying 'Hey, we understand that Americans can be idiots, too" and that maybe he understands where the dislike(hatred?) comes from. Do you think they behaved like that because they were young men, or because they were Americans? The American client at the end was an open admission of what's wrong with some Americans, but I thought the boys were typical of Western culture, and humanity, not the just the US.
There were too many pointers to anti-semitism for me to dismiss, maybe on their own, but not all together. The scene where they're being abused and shit thrown down on them on the Amsterdam street was hugely evocative for me, and to a lesser extent did the torture chambers remind you of anything? It's littered with other suggestions, Anne Frank Huis is a popular attraction, but seems a little out of character for their holiday.
The problem with racial hatred and xenophobia is that the accusations are often based on half truths that are quite difficult to refute. But saying that all Americans are like that, and have ultimately brought it on themselves should be no different than saying similar things about the holocaust, but it's acceptable to mock Americans now, it reminds me of Orwell's essay on the treatment of Jews in the UK after WWII, accepted.
I don't think it's an accident that it can be argued either way, or am I reading too much into it?
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Fuck me, have you and HF been reading his film book to one another?