I wonder how many people are anti-Israel because of the new settlements they keep on building in East Jerusalem? They are doing so despite broad condemnation.
I have never found it all that difficult the separate people who are Anti-Isreali government from those who are Anti-Jewish people during conversations. However, it seems those on both edges attempt to leverage that ambiguity to their own devices.
Is it really that difficult for people in modern society to induce and identify the difference between nuanced beliefs and tacit/coded bigotry?
Opposition to specific Israeli policies is no different from opposition to specific policies of any country. Being “anti-Israel”—I.e. anti- an entire country whose national identity is founded in Jewishness—is pretty damn close to anti-Semitism. Support of terrorist groups like Hamas or Hezbollah who seek to exterminate Jews is essentially anti-Semitism.
It’s considered racist to be “anti-“ any other country. If you went around being anti-Zimbabwe people would call you a racist, even though Zimbabwe has, by all accounts, an extremely shitty government.
> Opposition to specific Israeli policies is no different from opposition to specific policies of any country. Being “anti-Israel”—I.e. anti- an entire country whose national identity is founded in Jewishness—is pretty damn close to anti-Semitism.
You see, in this particular case things are a bit different, because what Israel is doing in Palestine has become one of its core policies in spite of condemnation from the international community (and many Israelis too, by the way), and it's been like this for decades.
This will be absurdly political if we go on but please try to have an empathy a bit.
Arabs have been there since centuries, some well planned religious migrations happened in last 100 years and then we have this mess. Why can't we go back to UN plan and call it a day ?
I do have empathy. The nations surrounding Israel unfortunately do not.
If they decided to convene a summit tomorrow and say "we accept the existence of Israel" instead of their hateful rhetoric that they want to see Israel wiped off the map, the entire problem would be solved.
The victim blaming here is deplorable. The Arabs refuse to accept a Jewish Homeland. Hence the wars, hence the sustained conflict.
>>I do have empathy. The nations surrounding Israel unfortunately do not.
Some intellectual honesty please? The two nations with the largest land border with Israel I.e Jordan and Egypt both recognize and have diplomatic relations with Israel.
>>The Arabs refuse to accept a Jewish Homeland
The question is a Jewish Homeland under what borders? The problem with Israel is that it was never ever content within it's borders. That was adequately demonstrated 7 years after it's independence when it invaded Egypt in 1956 to annex Sinai and double its territory. If not for Eisenhower putting sense into Ben Gurion.[1] The Arabs are right fully scared to recognize any entity that has no intention to define its final borders and keeps annexing land outside the UN plan. The Israeli claim of being "provoked" into capturing land also doesn't hold any water as the Sinai campaign of 1956 shows.
Is it really that difficult for people in modern society to induce and identify the difference between nuanced beliefs and tacit/coded bigotry?