• samus12345@lemmy.world
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    6 months ago

    Look, this sentence only makes sense if both “theys” are the same group of people.

    I’m gonna give you the benefit of the doubt, against my better judgement.

    “The Israeli government has become the very genocidal monster that Jews were once the victims of.”

    What about this sentence doesn’t make sense to you? And why do you insist on seeing antisemitism in it?

    • Todd Bonzalez@lemm.ee
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      6 months ago

      Because the statement, as you present it, is more nuanced that what I usually hear people say. It isn’t the statement I originally responded to either, it’s the rewritten version you’re demanding I respond to, only after you redefined the “theys” to something that isn’t so obvious antisementic. It’s also kinda meaningless to say “The Israeli government has become the very genocidal monster that Jews were once the victims of.” written as it is, it it only serves as an attempt to compare Israel to Nazis, which isn’t off-base, but is also better communicated than this.

      My issue is with what people typically mean whey they say this. 99.9% of the time, people are saying “Jews were genocided by Nazis, and now they’re genociding Palestinians”. I understand the sentiment, and why people would jump to this “the oppressed has become the oppressor” rhetoric, but this isn’t an appropriate statement. Jews aren’t attacking Gaza and its people - Israel is.

      Sure, the majority of Israel’s leadership is ethnically Jewish, but that’s not a reason to blame Jews for what Israel is doing. There are countless Jews that are not Israeli, do not work for the Israeli state, and do not support what Israel is doing. Directing blame at an entire ethnic group because of what a foreign military is doing is overtly bigoted.

      My issue isn’t about you, it is about the consistent anti-Israel rhetoric that fails to separate Israel from the Jewish people. You may consider your criticisms of Israel to be logical and rational, with clarity of target, so it’s probably pretty easy for you to handwaved these things away. But Jews know when people are talking about them, and the original comment I responded to was blaming Jews for what Israel is doing to Gaza.

      Just because I’m anti-Israel doesn’t mean I’m turning a blind eye to Jew-hate. Downvote me all you want, downvotes aren’t anonymous here, and Antisemites deserve to be on a list when they make clear what they stand for.