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Originally Posted by Toy Soldier
What I don't understand I suppose... Is how is it NOT anti-semitic to imply that "Jews" and "Israeli people" are one and the same thing? How is boycotting Israel or being critical of Israeli policy in any way anti-semitic? And are we not entering seriously worrying territory if we start accepting that political stances (such as some of those of the Israeli government) are immune to criticism because of completely unrelated implications?
It feels like as recently as a few years ago there was a broad understanding that "Jews" and "Israel" were not the same thing but there's been a lot of very successful twisting and turning in recent years to make it so that anything other than praise of Israel is "hating on Jews". Which is obviously just not the case?
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Exactly, I think we're just heading in a direction in which you can't criticise Israel because the Right are pushing this narrative that to criticise them is anti-semitic. It feels like they are weaponsing anti-semitism because they don't like that, in today's world, they will be called out for racism and such. It's like 'Well if you're gonna call us out on our racism, I'm gonna say you hate Jews!'.
The conflict between Israel and Palestine is a long and complicated one in which neither side comes out smelling like roses but it's important that we see the forest for the trees and not paint out one side to be the heroes and the other villains of this story. Israel have done terrible things during this conflict, they have abused human rights and they have targeted civilians and their actions must be acknowledged for what they are and criticising those actions will never be anti-semitic. There is always a lot made out about Palestine with the focus being on things such as Hamas but it's important that we all acknowledge the wrongs on both sides.