We live now in a strange world where sympathy for the Palestinian civilians and recognition of the brutality of Israel (the government) is "antisemitic."
I try and point out that I have sympathy for the Israeli families who have had family members taken hostage and the Palestinian people caught in the crossfire. I happen to think that Hamas were c*nts for what they did but also that the Israeli government is acting despicably at times. I can criticise a government without hating a whole populace, I use the analogy " if you criticise the Dems or the Reps does that make you anti Christian" of course the answer is no. A strange world indeed.
Quite. Not only the typical myths of democracy, but the odd nature of Israel as an ethnostate, lead to an assumption that criticism of Israel as a state equals hatred of Israelis or even Jews in general as a people. It is all too easy for people to stifle nuanced discussion with accusations of racism and support for terrorism as a result. We shouldn't need to say terrorism is unjustifiable and reprehensible, but as a consequence of these imposed preconceptions, anything even slightly off the 3x5 card of allowable opinion is presumed to be hate.
We live now in a strange world where sympathy for the Palestinian civilians and recognition of the brutality of Israel (the government) is "antisemitic."
I try and point out that I have sympathy for the Israeli families who have had family members taken hostage and the Palestinian people caught in the crossfire. I happen to think that Hamas were c*nts for what they did but also that the Israeli government is acting despicably at times. I can criticise a government without hating a whole populace, I use the analogy " if you criticise the Dems or the Reps does that make you anti Christian" of course the answer is no. A strange world indeed.
Quite. Not only the typical myths of democracy, but the odd nature of Israel as an ethnostate, lead to an assumption that criticism of Israel as a state equals hatred of Israelis or even Jews in general as a people. It is all too easy for people to stifle nuanced discussion with accusations of racism and support for terrorism as a result. We shouldn't need to say terrorism is unjustifiable and reprehensible, but as a consequence of these imposed preconceptions, anything even slightly off the 3x5 card of allowable opinion is presumed to be hate.