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by estearum 190 days ago
Precisely speaking, they're looking to catch any critique of Israel because it'll provide a broad dragnet that will exclude a lot of Muslims and libs.

(I'm not just saying this to be inflammatory. We already know the administration has been going after legal immigrants on the basis of criticisms of Israel. This is a completely reasonable connection to this social media policy.)

2 comments

Israel, or the US and its current admin? While it's pretty obvious that these two countries have ties like no others, it would seem weird if they were looking for criticism of a foreign state first rather than their own, despite the circumstances.
Going after "anti-semitism" gives the admin the political top-cover to systematically abridge various Constitutional rights and anyone who pushes back is "obviously" an anti-semite.

It's an extremely despicable and cynical ploy.

And why would they exclude muslim and liberal tourists?

The reason they are creating all sort of censorship and unconstitutional rules to prevent criticism of Israel is, surprise!, to benefit Israel. It's otherwise incredible how Israel happens to be always the lucky recipient of all sorts of benefits and favours that are all intended for some other purpose. Come on.

> And why would they exclude muslim and liberal tourists?

What? Because MAGA hates Muslims and libs, that's why. What's confusing about that?

Yes a lot of the policies are designed to benefit Israel, however that's completely distinct from being designed to benefit Jews. The administration doesn't care about ant-semitism on its own merits, but it does care about protecting Israel.

Do some reading on the theological love affair between American evangelicals and Israel to understand the distinction more clearly. The short version is that evangelicals need Israel to be controlled by Jews in order for their end-world prophecies to come true. Said prophecy includes all the Jews being left here on earth post-rapture to face 7 years of horror.

Yes, people do literally believe this and yes, it is a significant force in American politics.

> evangelicals need Israel to be controlled by Jews in order for their end-world prophecies to come true

No, evangelicals need all the Jews to go back to Israel for their end of the world prophecy to come true. So why don't they just pass laws to expel them from the US? It would be criminal of course, but coherent with their goals. The fact is, coherence stops when it stops benefitting zionists. They are nutters but their folly is well directed.

Also, as I just said in my previous comment, you're claiming that Israel is getting some specially favourable treatment by sheer chance. Nothing to do with the people who live there or that consider that their own promised land. Come on.

Finally, why you feel the need to specify that Jews and zionists are not the same. Nobody has mentioned Jews so far (unless for the frankly naive idea that this preoccupation with "antisemitism" is actually about Jews- the most accomplished, safe and protected group in the US- rather than about Israel).

> No, evangelicals need all the Jews to go back to Israel for their end of the world prophecy to come true

Not according to literally any evangelical I've ever spoken to, nor any mainstream evangelical in US theo-politics. Nor is that actually stated in scripture. The complete assemblage of Jews in Israel can happen during or after Tribulation via Jesus teleportation magic.

Sovereignty to rebuild the temple is all that's required for Jesus to gain his Jew-teleportation powers.

Based on your vernacular I'm going to guess you aren't from the US and have no clue what the US religious landscape is actually like.

> you're claiming that Israel is getting some specially favourable treatment by sheer chance

I made no such claim.

My claim is that they're getting "favorable" treatment as a purely instrumental means to an end. In this case (the visas) the end is to exclude Muslims and libs. In other cases it's to bring back kamikaze Jesus. None of it has to do with actually liking Jews.

> Finally, why you feel the need to specify that Jews and zionists are not the same.

Because otherwise a person literally can't parse the factual statement that American evangelicals love Israel but don't care for Jews?

> Sovereignty to rebuild the temple is all that's required for Jesus to gain his Jew-teleportation powers.

They already have sovereignty, so why don't evangelicals lobby to withhold all aid to Israel unless they get to work and rebuild the temple?

> I made no such claim. My claim is that they're getting "favorable" treatment as a purely instrumental means to an end.

That's exactly the claim I was talking about. You strive to justify every favorable treatment Israel gets as the fortuitous side-effect of something that has nothing to do with those who actually materially benefit from it- that is, those who live in Israel or consider the promised land of their own people. Isn't that a bit suspicious to you?

> Because otherwise a person literally can't parse the factual statement that American evangelicals love Israel but don't care for Jews?

I understand this, but can't help thinking that this alliance with religious fanatics is too lucky to be random. I mean "they want absolutely nothing from me except giving me money and protecting me politically and militarily? That is great, how do I get more of these? Who can I finance and boost to spread this religion even more?"

> They already have sovereignty, so why don't evangelicals lobby to withhold all aid to Israel unless they get to work and rebuild the temple?

Sure: Because rebuilding the temple would trigger a regional war and evangelicals want Israel to win that war, ergo cannot withhold aid.

More generally, because despite people actually believing these things, they find it much harder to put into real logical action. Same reason people who believe the end times are fast-approaching for some reason aren't selling all their belongings and knocking off their bucket list.

> Isn't that a bit suspicious to you?

No not really. My theory explains both the rampant anti-semitism throughout the GOP and the extreme pro-Israel sentiment within the GOP. Your theory fails to explain half of it.

Not sure how to parse your last paragraph. Who said it's random? It's not random at all: there's a clear lineage between evangelical and Jewish belief systems. It's super not-random! Their prophesies are intertwined because they're derived from the same sources.