It continues to astound me this has to be stated as a political position, as though objecting to Israel committing mass genocide against Palestinians somehow makes you an antisemite.
Mass killing of innocent people is always wrong, no matter who is doing it.
The problem is that actual antisemites jump into the debate and work to linguistically push legitimate criticism of Israel into real antisemitism. You can see it right here, all over Lemmy, and presumably this thread. It's incredibly obvious, and it's also incredibly obvious that those people want to short circuit this conversation by making the issue black and white.
That's why many people are very hesitant to engage with this even if they do have real concerns over how Israel operates.
And on the other side of the coin, hard-right Israelis work to paint any criticism of Israel as antisemitic, regardless of legitimacy.
So on the one hand, you have antisemites using this as an opportunity to blame all the world's ills on tHe (((gLoBALiStS))) (I really hope that came across as sarcastic enough), and on the other, you have ultraconservative Israelis using the first group to lump the people saying "please don't do a genocide" in with them. And on top of that you also have Hamas doing the goddamn Goofy "and I'll fuckin do it again" meme, along with a bunch of people in Palestine who are literally taught antisemitism and hatred in the classroom, while Russia, Iran, and the same goddamn Israelis painting everyone as antisemitic pour money into the group that would genocide Israel back in a heartbeat. And caught in the middle of this category 5 shit hurricane are a bunch of innocent people who just want to be treated like human beings with equal rights, and to be able to go to the goddamn grocery store without worrying about getting exploded by a piss rocket / laser-guided cluster bomb made by Lockheed Martin.
I'm so goddamn fucking sick and tired of everything with this. Literally the only "good guys" in this entire fucking 70-year conflict are the noncombatants on either side of the Gaza border wall trying to go about their day and whose entire lives are reduced to a casualty sheet and a propaganda blurb, while both sides just keeps fighting and killing because perverse incentives mean it's the only way both Netanyahu and Hamas can cling to power, innocent life be damned.
Eh, sure you have antisemites saying Israel's actions make Jews evil and that's bad. But most of the antisemites are saying Israel's actions make Jews evil and that's good. Because they're evil, and they like fellow evil as long as they aren't competing for resources. Or because they're evil Jews who like being evil and want to use Jewishness as a shield. For example, Netanyahu is an evil antisemite who wants everyone to think Judaism is about doing genocide, so that he can call anyone who objects to genocide an antisemite. But of course, saying Judaism is genocide is the real antisemitism.
I think the requirement for “have to be stated it as a political position” caveat is rooted in malice which has historically skewed the discussion in favor of controlling the narrative in the interest of the agenda at hand, in this case is blind support for Israel.
I remember having to use the same set of qualifiers back in the day during the “War on Terror”, when arguing that mass bombing campaigns would only lead to more extremism. I’d have to state that I didn’t “support terrorism” and the idea was to have an objective discussion around the policies in question.
It’s a tact to suppress valid criticism and garner support.
It was apparent then and it’s apparent now. We cannot have open discussions in the interest of actual progress when folks are implicated into a myopic tribal view of the situation for having an opinion that goes against the common narrative.
It’s no more antisemite to object to Israel’s actions than it is to be pro genocide to vote for Biden. But this is what the Trump trolls have chosen for everyone to be upset about now.
It’s this every four years. There’s always something to not vote over.
Yeah, you would think that it would be pretty simple and straightforward for most people to grasp, yet, the need to condition being pro-not-killing-innocent-Palestinian/any civilians with a disclaimer of not supporting Hamas and not being antisemitic within the same breath exists in conversations with most folks. It's absurd. It's like being against both what was done to innocents by Hamas on October 7 and what Israel is currently doing to innocents is impossible for many people to wrap their minds around (or at least, that's how the national conversation is framed in the US). Neither action is an acceptable means of achieving goals (stated or otherwise), but Hamas and Netanyahu have long been in a toxic codependent relationship. My favorite is the look on "pro-Israel" peoples' faces in instances where they're informed that the person they just called an antisemite for daring to be against the bombing of innocent children and others is Jewish (whether by religious practice or genetics). It's bullshit.
But it makes money for defense contractors. How can it be wrong? — Several governments
The worst part about criticizing Israel and Biden is the quality of people who think you agree with them on other stuff...
I criticize both a lot, and have gotten some horrendous replies from people who assume we share other beliefs.
Against genocide -> antisemitic
Against antisemitism -> islamophobic
Shame on you OP, shame on you.
Zionism =/= Judaism
I hate Zionism, and while I am not Jewish, I have a few friends of that faith and I will not see them slandered, mocked, or made to feel unwelcome in this world.
Same here. I am partly jewish. My great grandmother died in the Holocaust. And I am very anti zionist. And definitely not antisemitic. I have a ton of books on jewish life and history.
The problem is: what is antizionism? If to be antizionist is to oppose the government of Israel, then yes, antizionism isn't antisemitism. If antizionism is a negation of the legitimacy of the Israeli state altogether, then it's a form of antisemitism, because it's denying Jew's the right of self-determination.
Allowing white Europeans to collaborate with the Nazis and change their last names to fake a national identity that never existed is a ridiculous concept as a right. Zionists were offered other options for their own state and self-determination, but they wanted to steal Palestine instead.
Britain even tried their damndest to help them peacefully integrate into the region, but they couldn't stop doing terrorism and bombings against the British.
I think most people can separate Jewish people from genocide from the country of Israel.
The only people confusing the issue want to make it an issue. Quashing pro-Palestine protests claiming they’re anti-Semitic when they’re not. Questioning the country of Israel’s actions is anti-Semitic when it’s not.
I feel like you are overestimating most people
Attacking Jewish people, vandalizing stores because they owners are Jewish. And calling to eradicate Israel from existence are antisemitic
The majority of hate crimes near me target Jewish people. I don’t believe that shooting at the Jewish school the other day was hate motivated because it happened in the middle of the night, I think someone just missed and hit the school. So if numbers include that then it’s obviously misleading
Pretending people calling it out are only the people in your 2nd paragraph would put you in the “fake progressive” group from the OP
The only people confusing the issue want to make it an issue.
This is key.
There are people who are anti-Semitic, and there are people who are islamophobic, and those people all view the opposition as sub-human. They will don't want peace because they want to win.
And then there are the people who benefit from the conflict, and will stoke the fires on both sides. They don't care who wins, who dies, who suffers, because while there is violence and death, they can benefit themselves.
Any progressive engaged in a discussion needs to recognize whether they are talking to a zealot or a profiteer. The former might be reasoned with. Supporters of Israel or Hamas might be shown the error in their thought process.
I've been assured that "Death to the Jews" actually means "Israel is bad", and that ethnically cleansing Israel isn't antisemitic because "It's only Israeli Jews" who will be ethnically cleansing, and Jews in other countries will be left alone.
And I've been assured that "Biden should stop supporting genocide" actually means "I want LGBTQ people to be killed in the US."
Now I wonder which user keeps saying that.
Nobody is saying that, shithead
If I was Israeli leadership, I:
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Wouldn't have ignored clear, specific intelligence reports warning of an imminent attack.
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Would've had stronger border security, if national security was truly a concern. (what good did all that IDF do if not at the point of entry of their most imminent threat?)
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Wouldn't have played into Hamas' hand and retaliated in knee-jerk macho-man authoritarian fashion. In the event I didn't prevent October 7th I wouldn't have invaded Gaza but instead condition Palestinian statehood on Fata or PA taking over while simply utilizing the military forces committed to invasion to defending the narrow border.
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Wouldn't have committed dozens of October 7ths against the civilian population in response, dwarfing the original terrorist attack.
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Wouldn't have created the conditions for radicalization to fester in the first place by, you know, annexing land, killing more civilians both pre and post October 7th, imposing blockades, and actually supporting the most radical groups while ignoring the less-radical (reminds me of how the US handled Syria).
Nuttyyahoo's actions are so counterintuitive I have to question whether this is all just an example of the shock doctrine.
but instead condition Palestinian statehood on Fata or PA taking over while simply utilizing the military forces committed to invasion to defending the narrow border.
But the whole point of Israel nurturing Hamas was to destroy the authority of Fatah and the PA so they WOULDN'T have to negotiate for an actual two-state solution.
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I don't think the problem is the lack of real progressiveness, I think the problem is with an attempt to gaslight it from both extremes. Just got banned from worldnews (again) on completely gaslit reasons because of criticism I was making against the Act.IL remnants operating over there. Downvoting into oblivion isn't enough for them anymore.
I've also noticed comparable instances of shadow removals from the other side of the coin in worldnews@lemmy.ml where they similarly gaslit their reasons. I've sort of decided if both sides are going to be this putrid, then I'm going to step out of their propaganda wars, and gotta say, the Mossad side is rapidly losing ground regardless of the advantage they might have had.
Just want to point this out, but Palestinians are technically Semites.
I'm against both obviously, but I thought it was important to point out that the Jewish people themselves are anti-semitic for their genocide.
Just worth pointing out: the Israeli government are anti-Semitic. Many Jewish people (especially outside of Israel) are opposed to this genocide.
Hey Israel, you just got pwned.
If by "Semite" you mean "Semitic language speaking" then yes. But "Semite" isn't actually a term that's used, it's an invalid racial categorization. "Anti-semitic" in standard and common language specifically refers to bigotry against Jews
There are approximately 330 million Semitic people in the world. Around 15.7 milllion (around 4.8%) of them are Jewish.
If the common usage of "anti-semitic" excludes the vast majority of Semitic people, it's an outdated, racist term.
We should either drop it from our vocabulary or use it in an inclusive way.
(As are all other Arabs, as well as Ethiopians and more)
Yeah, but does etymology really mean anything any more? I don't know when, how, or whyantisemiticcame to be used for Jews only, but that's what it means now.also... just a wording thing...
the Jewish people themselves are anti-semitic for their genocide [emphasis mine]
That's exactly the sort of discussion the OP is trying to prevent.
If you participate in any sort of a support for Palestine group/organization/protest, please do not tolerate antisemites, deny them whatever it is they want the moment you see them. They are only going to create future problems, possibly take over whatever you're doing and make you, who have done nothing wrong, look bad. Paradox of tolerance!
Likewise if you look to support Jewish people who are experiencing antisemitism, don't tolerate the "nuke Gaza" types...
