I'm deeply disappointed that people don't instinctively understand this. How many times has my government done atrocious things in my name that I had no control over? Shouldn't everyone balk at the idea of having an authority speak for you without your explicit permission?. Like I say, people should have an instinctual understanding of this. That it even has to be explained is depressing as hell.
It’s this same logic that allows any criticism of Israel’s actions to be labeled antisemitism. No, I don’t hate Jewish people, I just don’t want families being bombed just because they exist. Israel the state is doing that, with a lot of push back from Jewish people all over the place. Are those Jews being labeled antisemitic?
Can’t we be pro-peace? Pro all-people-figuring-out-their-problems-without-murdering-anyone?
Another, sort of related question:
I’m confused when I see people waving swastikas and being big Israel supporters. Do those people not understand the symbols they carry? Or is there something I’m missing? Can a person be antisemitic but also Zionist? What would be the point?
Thank you for this. It is much tracking my feels and I wish people understood this more. It is a pernicious framing and a pernicious weaponization. While I get what Biden is trying to say, it is also dangerous framing. Even if he means well.
I hope Bowman survives. But if he doesn’t, I hope he does try again in two years.
Exactly. Prejudice is pretty much defined as blaming a whole group for the actions of some, even a lot, of its members, whether the group is one of blacks, Chinese, LGBTQ, or Jews. The inhumane actions of the current Israeli government invite such behavior, which will continue amongst the MAGATS as soon as it isn't politically advantageous to "support" that government. After all, Elise Stefanik--the scourge of universities who allow dissent--has espoused the Great Replacement Theory, rooted in antisemitism and typified by the chants at the Charlottesville march.
Part of the problem is found in the varying definitions of Zionism. Some define it broadly as "support for the idea that there is a Jewish right to a homeland" and thus identify it as part of their core principles. That's fine. They may have to grapple that there is also a Palestinian right to a homeland and may well agree that there is such a right, just as millions of Americans grappled with what our government did in Iraq. But Zionism as it is currently espoused by those who define it as a current reason and goal of Israel's actions explicitly deny that Palestinian right. They echo the statement of Likud in 1977: "Between the sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty." If you think that sounds a lot like "from the river to the sea" you'd be dead on right. There are pretty much daily calls from the far right in Bibi's cabinet for Jewish settlement in Gaza, for complete control of Palestinians, for having Palestinians "move out" of lands that Biblical tradition says are "theirs given by God." THAT is the Zionism that is going to be attributed by the bigoted to all Jews, particularly by those who think the US has to be a "Christian Nation."
So basically, Jamaal is 100% right; Israel as it is now governed is likely to send Judaism back to the days of the "blood libel" and completely dismantle the broader and more benign pride in what Israel as a political idea after the Holocaust was able to accomplish.
HAMAS got exactly what it wanted, and hardly paid any price. A whole generation of Gazans will hate Israel with the passion of a thousand burning suns for the rest of their lives. Good job Netanyahu!
I'm not sure about where this ends. I'd rather be angry with Israeli propaganda for lying about my views as a way to justify war crimes than frightened that it puts me in danger. Of course I'm both, I just like the angry one better. Otherwise, terrific post.
I'm deeply disappointed that people don't instinctively understand this. How many times has my government done atrocious things in my name that I had no control over? Shouldn't everyone balk at the idea of having an authority speak for you without your explicit permission?. Like I say, people should have an instinctual understanding of this. That it even has to be explained is depressing as hell.
It’s this same logic that allows any criticism of Israel’s actions to be labeled antisemitism. No, I don’t hate Jewish people, I just don’t want families being bombed just because they exist. Israel the state is doing that, with a lot of push back from Jewish people all over the place. Are those Jews being labeled antisemitic?
Can’t we be pro-peace? Pro all-people-figuring-out-their-problems-without-murdering-anyone?
Another, sort of related question:
I’m confused when I see people waving swastikas and being big Israel supporters. Do those people not understand the symbols they carry? Or is there something I’m missing? Can a person be antisemitic but also Zionist? What would be the point?
Yes, Jewish people who oppose the genocide are often labelled antisemitic—and some have been forced out of jobs or deplatformed.
I haven't seen people waving swastikas and being pro Israel. But you can be antisemitic and zionist for sure. see John Hagee.
Or whatever Stephen Miller is...Dude is the Kapo's Kapo
Thank you for this. It is much tracking my feels and I wish people understood this more. It is a pernicious framing and a pernicious weaponization. While I get what Biden is trying to say, it is also dangerous framing. Even if he means well.
I hope Bowman survives. But if he doesn’t, I hope he does try again in two years.
Story about Joe Biden I just bumped into--during that famous meeting with Golda Meir in 1973, when he was a 30-year-old freshman senator, he urged her to think about pulling back from the Territories as a step toward peace. https://www.timesofisrael.com/when-biden-met-golda-new-details-emerge-of-storied-1973-encounter/
Exactly. Prejudice is pretty much defined as blaming a whole group for the actions of some, even a lot, of its members, whether the group is one of blacks, Chinese, LGBTQ, or Jews. The inhumane actions of the current Israeli government invite such behavior, which will continue amongst the MAGATS as soon as it isn't politically advantageous to "support" that government. After all, Elise Stefanik--the scourge of universities who allow dissent--has espoused the Great Replacement Theory, rooted in antisemitism and typified by the chants at the Charlottesville march.
Part of the problem is found in the varying definitions of Zionism. Some define it broadly as "support for the idea that there is a Jewish right to a homeland" and thus identify it as part of their core principles. That's fine. They may have to grapple that there is also a Palestinian right to a homeland and may well agree that there is such a right, just as millions of Americans grappled with what our government did in Iraq. But Zionism as it is currently espoused by those who define it as a current reason and goal of Israel's actions explicitly deny that Palestinian right. They echo the statement of Likud in 1977: "Between the sea and the Jordan there will only be Israeli sovereignty." If you think that sounds a lot like "from the river to the sea" you'd be dead on right. There are pretty much daily calls from the far right in Bibi's cabinet for Jewish settlement in Gaza, for complete control of Palestinians, for having Palestinians "move out" of lands that Biblical tradition says are "theirs given by God." THAT is the Zionism that is going to be attributed by the bigoted to all Jews, particularly by those who think the US has to be a "Christian Nation."
So basically, Jamaal is 100% right; Israel as it is now governed is likely to send Judaism back to the days of the "blood libel" and completely dismantle the broader and more benign pride in what Israel as a political idea after the Holocaust was able to accomplish.
I donated to his campaign. It’s a shame he hasn’t had more support from mainstream Dems.
HAMAS got exactly what it wanted, and hardly paid any price. A whole generation of Gazans will hate Israel with the passion of a thousand burning suns for the rest of their lives. Good job Netanyahu!
I'm not sure about where this ends. I'd rather be angry with Israeli propaganda for lying about my views as a way to justify war crimes than frightened that it puts me in danger. Of course I'm both, I just like the angry one better. Otherwise, terrific post.