An easy test is to substitute “Africa” for “Israel” and “Blacks” for “Jews” and see how the sentence turns out.
“I have some serious concerns about many of the social and economic policies in < Africa/Israel>” = totally not anti-Semite
“I got nuthin’ against < blacks/Jews >, but I hate everything about < Africa/Israel >. It should be destroyed and it’s people pushed into the sea/sent back where they came from” = anti-Semite
The other clue is the “Gawrsh! I’m not an anti-Semite. “Semite” means “Arab” and I got nothin’ against them!!” gimmick. I’ve yet to meet someone who did that particular stunt who wasn’t an anti-Semite. (It’s the same mentality as “Yeah, I use the word “Nigger” but I only mean SOME blackies, not all of 'em. Just the worthless, no-account ones.” )
Here is an anti-Israel cartoon posted on Facebook by a friend of mine who is involved in far left political activism.
Here is a cartoon from “White Aryan Resistance” website of Tom Metzger, a neo-Nazi leader.
I see this same sentiment pushed by college radicals on the left and by white nationalists.
Furthermore, I really feel that to say things like, “the extermination of Palestinian children” with a straight face requires more than just political opposition to Israel. Unless these same people are protesting in the same way about every brutal regime in the world, they seem to be singling out Israel unfairly. “Extermination?” Who is Israel exterminating?
You think Republicans made Israel “a wedge issue”?
You might want to look back at the Presidency of George H. W. Bush where he was vilified by the Democrats for publicly feuding with Yitzach Shamir and for threatening to withhold loan guarantees from Israel if they were used to build settlements.
The Democrats raked him over the coals for this and Bill Clinton when running against him repeatedly attack him for it as did Bob Kerrey on the grounds that he was “insensitive” to Israel.
Alessan, I don’t think you can blame U.S. Republicans for making Israel into a “left-right” issue. Personally, I’d put the blame more on Israeli leftist parties like Peace Now who made it politically acceptable for the left wing elsewhere to champion Palestinian causes at the expense of Israeli security.
These are not equivalent. One of them contains a racist, antisemitic caricature. One of them is simply a statement about giving money to Israel. This is a phony, bogus, bullshit attempt at equvalency and is exactly what people are talking about when they say they can’t say a word about Israel without getting called antisemitic.
What specific sentiment are you talking about?
There you go again.
They DO object to every brutal regime in the world. They DON’T single out Israel. That’s bullshit. The major difference is that we are FUNDING it in Israel.
Some people advocate an accommodation between Israelis and Palestinians in order to protect Israeli security. Israeli leftists aren’t suicidal, and pro-Palestinian doesn’t have to mean anti-Israeli.
While I agree that the cartoons are not equivalent, the notion that Israel is engaged in “exterminating Palestinian children” is, if not antisemitic, at least guilty of a cheerful disregard of reality.
It offends me not because it’s anti-Semitic, but because it’s melodramatic horseshit (regardless of how sincere the underlying intent may be).
How I wish this were an absolute truth. But the “Peace Now” type of leftist has been very much for Israel exposing itself to danger in order to appease the Palestinians.
It may be hyperbolic, it may be manipulative, it may be inaccurate, but it isn’t antisemitic. Even factually wrong perceptions or allegations against Israel don’t have to be motivated by antismitism. That word is just an attempt to short circuit all debate.
Here is an interesting analysis of this situation, from a US Dept. of State Report entitled Contemporary Global Anti-Semitism:
To my mind, analyzing whether any particular obviously-prejudiced utterance is motivated by hatred of Jews, as opposed to hatred of Israelis, or hatred of Israel as a nation, or hatred for its policies, is impossible; without a body of such utterances, it would be mere guesswork in many cases. But I don’t see that it ought to matter so very much - isn’t bigotry bad ab initio, whether directed against a nation, or against an ethnic group? If I demonstrate that “I hate France - I’m quite irrational on this subject” that may well be different from “I hate Frenchmen” or “I hate speakers of French”, but it still is worthy of condemnation, even if I can demonstrate that my best friends are Francophones.
The modern habit of allowing some types of irrational hatred to go unremarked while expressing the utmost condemnation and detestation for others makes no sense. And yet, that’s at the heart of this debate: the notion that if one were condemning Jews for “exterminating” Palestinian children, that would be bad, but somehow condemning Israelis for doing the same is okay - when, in fact, Palestinian children are not being exterminated by either.
What is remarkable is not this reasonably meaningless debate over what, exactly, is “antisemitic” about the attitude of (some) on the Left, it is the undoubted fact that (some) on the Left are willing to tolerate, perpetrate and spread irrational hatred directed at Israel and Israelis; the fact that in some cases this spills over into attitudes that affect Jews as an ethnicity is more or less a side-effect - and by no means the worst side-effect - of the main problem: a willingness to gullably swallow and spread anti-Israeli canards.
I agree with this. It isn’t anti-semitism that’s widespread on the left. Sorry if I made it seem like I thought that, because I don’t. It is, in fact, irrational hatred of Israel, and a double standard against Israel.
Now, just why they feel that way about Israel specifically…I am not sure. I think a lot of it might have to do with the fact that the right wing makes a cause out of Israel and so they want to counteract that somehow.
Criticism of Israel is not “bigotry.” If anything it’s intended (even if you think those intentions are naive or uninformed) as a condemnation of bigotry.
Heh, and you speak for everyone who has ever pronounced “criticism” of Israel? You know their intentions?
I judge “criticism” of Israel with the same standards as I do statements concerning any other country: if it is hateful (in that it is likely to manupulate its audience and inspire hatred for its target) and obviously false to the facts, it qualifies as an expression of “bigotry”. The cartoon, link posted above, is a fine example.
I do not presume to understand the intentions of persons who spread ignorant, malicious, irrational and bigoted screeds. Perhaps they are all sweetness and light. Perhaps. One cannot say for sure unless one knows who they are, and can otherwise judge their motives - I’m content with what can be known: that they are spreading hateful, ignorant, and bigoted screeds (for whatever reason). Whether they are on your “side” or not really doesn’t matter - or ought not to matter.
You convince them, through (non-genocidal) force if necesssary, that they will never be able to get what they want through violence. They demonstrate their acceptance of this fact by promising to stop trying said violent means. Then you sit down and negotiate a treaty that is acceptable to and enforcable by both parties.
And they believe you and trust your good intentions … why, exactly? :dubious: Haven’t you demonstrated clearly to them that force is the only language you understand?
What’s irrational about hating what the Likud bloc, Netanyahu, Sharon, and by extension those who put them in power have done to destroy the possibility of a real, lasting peace in the region? Many, many Israelis hate that too.
It’s easy, but lazy and destructive, to dismiss any thought you don’t happen to share, or which makes you feel uncomfortable about your own beliefs and actions, as “irrational”. But your responsibility as a citizen and a human lies elsewhere.
