'Criticism of Israel Is Not Inherently Anti-Semitic': An Open Letter From Jewish Writers

3 years ago by rockSlayer to c/leftism

'We find this rhetorical tactic antithetical to Jewish values, which teach us to repair the world, question authority, and champion the oppressed over the oppressor.'

We reject antisemitism in all its forms, including when it masquerades as criticism of Zionism or Israel’s policies. We also recognise that, as journalist Peter Beinart wrote in 2019, “Anti-Zionism is not inherently antisemitic—and claiming it is uses Jewish suffering to erase Palestinian experience.”

masquenox 61 points 3 years ago

The fact that this even requires saying is a testament to how thoroughly drenched the (so-called) "west" is in regurgitated pro-Israeli propaganda.

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unfreeradical 28 points 3 years ago

Israel itself is drenched in a culture of racist anti-Palestinian tropes, and denial of the ethnic cleansing called the Nakba.

The crimes of the Third Reich are invoked disingenuously to construct a counterfactual demonization of the Palestinian people.

Meanwhile, Jews in the West are often antagonized in their communities and families if they challenge the prevailing dogma.

There is a soft but tragic irony, that many liberal Jews feel free to approach their religious heritage critically and skeptically, but any who question political doctrine are greeted as heretics.

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Rendh -1 points 3 years ago
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Lols 5 points 3 years ago

your insanity and blatant racism is fucking embarassing

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Rendh -1 points 3 years ago
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unfreeradical 6 points 3 years ago

Racism is not history.

You provided the former.

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Zorque 5 points 3 years ago

So they have to bomb hospitals and refugee camps, or the terrorists win?

It wasn't a viable excuse after 9/11, it's not a viable excuse after 10/7 either.

There is no easy answer, especially not one involving indiscriminate killing of civilians. From the IDF or Hamas.

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electric_nan 4 points 3 years ago

Fuck you, you racist ghoul.

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Kecessa 45 points 3 years ago

The Jews are the only people for whom criticizing the government of the country they're typically associated with is interpreted as racism. If I say the Chinese government is committing crimes against humanity no one thinks I'm a racist. If I say Donald Trump is a moron, no one thinks I hate all Americans. If I say the Israeli government shouldn't be responding to Hamas' attack the way they are? Oh man, now I'm an antisemite and hate all Jews!

The fuck is wrong with this world?

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SoleInvictus 18 points 3 years ago

It's public relations spin. If you haven't noticed, the Israeli government isn't exactly what one would call ethical. They use every trick in the book to insulate themselves against criticism, up to and including crying antisemitism.

It's disgusting, really. After WWII, many people did what they could to distance themselves from even the barest hint of antisemitism, and with good reason: the actions of the Nazis were reprehensible. Israel has taken that cultural awareness, unwillingly purchased with the blood of their ancestors, and used it to commit genocide of their own.

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Kecessa 3 points 3 years ago

Yep, guilt over WW2 from Western governments (no country went to war to save the Jews, it was a byproduct of wanting to kick Hitler's ass) without realising they're now enabling the same thing to happen to another ethnic group.

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Kecessa 1 point 3 years ago
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unfreeradical 7 points 3 years ago

The foundational myth of Israel is that Jewishness is a national essence holding a supreme right to control over particular territory, above the rights of those who contest the right.

Conceding the distinction between antisemitism and criticism of Israel is conceding the fallaciousness of the myth on which depends "Israel's right to exist".

Protecting the myth depends on disparaging any Jewishness of critics and disparaging the humanness of the occupied population.

Jews must be united in their claim to the lands, and any opposing the claim must be opposed, as an opponent of undivided and untainted Jewishness.

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Kecessa 3 points 3 years ago

Which is funny since there's plenty of Jews that are against Israel at the moment or as an artificial construct instead of a miracle from God, believing that it should be peacefully dismantled so that God would be the one to choose when they are to go back from exile, not men.

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unfreeradical 1 point 3 years ago

I suppose the more favorable kind of religious zealousness is the kind not entrenched with political power.

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Wogi 5 points 3 years ago

The fuck is wrong with this world?

Religion.

Ok maybe not all of it, and not all religious people. Kinda like how #metoo wasn't actually about all men, just the problematic ones. When I say religion is what's wrong with the world I'm not talking about memaw going to church on Sunday. I'm talking about people fucking people blowing each other up in the furtherance of what they perceive to be some divine goal.

Sure, the type of person to feverishly go to war over some stories would probably be extremely opinionated without religion, but you don't see anyone going down to the fucking Renaissance faire with a rifle because of the guys dressed as pirates.

Believing things strongly isn't the problem. It's the system of organized moral superiority that's the problem.

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AWistfulNihilist 3 points 3 years ago

I would actually disagree on China, the position that it was possible the WIV was the cause of COVID was successful painted as xenophobic or racist, rather than a viable option.

Which always struck me as odd considering a bunch of your people eating random jungle meat so much they cause worldwide diseases sounds like you could be way more racist about it. Yet, somehow that was painted as the less racist option.

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chicken 2 points 3 years ago

If I say the Chinese government is committing crimes against humanity no one thinks I’m a racist.

I see you haven't met any tankies

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Kecessa 3 points 3 years ago

They're such a small group of extremists that their opinion doesn't matter, that's all! 😂

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tslnox 15 points 3 years ago

I haven't read the article, but the title made me go "what the fuck"?

Of course it's not antisemitism. It would only be antisemitism if you said "those people are bad because they are Jews".

Or am I wrong?

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axemurber 16 points 3 years ago

You have to remember that you are on lemmy here that is inherently more left and pro Palestine. There are people that get their news through sources that are using this argument against anti Israel arguments.

This letter is meant for those people.

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tryptaminev 12 points 3 years ago

In Germany the public discourse as lead by political parties and mainstream media , but also cultural organizations is pretty much claiming any criticism of the shape of thr Israeli state, any analysis towards the occupation as a source of violence or current criticism of israeli war crimes as antisemitism.

Because of that jewish protests for palestinian human rights have been banned like arab and leftist protests, jewish protesters have been violently arrested by police, palestinians have been kicked out of book faires, art exhibitions and other events where just before they were supposed to receive prizes. The head of the main government party has loudly cancelled a meeting with Bernie Sanders because he would be too critical of Israel. Sanders is a jew and has lived in Israel in the past.

So in Germany the term antisemitism is instrumentalised to supress any serious criticism of Israel, which includes in particular jewish criticism of Israel.

By the perversion of the term, Germany is acting antisemitic by banning jewish voices from the public, sometimes with police violence and denyingthe existence of plurality in the jewish communities.

Incidently they try to blame arabs and other immigrants for antisemitism in Germany, deflecting from the widespread antisemitism in German mainstream society. Just two month ago the vice-prime-minister of the state of Bavaria was uncovered to be a Holocaust endorsing Neonazi in his youth and instead of it harming his election it helped his election. Also now the Bavarian state attorneys are investigating the people who brought this Neonazi past to light.

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RichCaffeineFlavor 7 points 3 years ago

https://www.nbcnews.com/...

The US is cracking down on protests right now based on this pretext

And not just right now. For decades you would lose your job in academia and media for showing too much sympathy for Palestinians.

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merthyr1831 12 points 3 years ago

Always amuses me how there's endless discourse about Islam being antisemitic and therefore movements associated with muslims are jew-hating pogroms, but the reality is almost all antisemitic attacks across the "Western world" are done by white christians.

It's purely projection from the columnists and newsreaders who see antisemitism as a tactic to shut down anti-colonial protests.

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lugal 5 points 3 years ago

What do you guys think about Thunberg's statement? In my country it's framed as antisemitic and FFF Germany renounced it but I don't think so

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M137 8 points 3 years ago

I don't understand why FFF would denounce it, they're a climate strike movement, nothing to do with this. I feel like someone at the "top" of FFF managed to get their own agenda into this, it's so strange for someone like them to condemn a call for ceasefire.

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Varyk 7 points 3 years ago

What was her statement?

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ChairmanMeow 18 points 3 years ago

the world needs to speak up and call for an immediate ceasefire, justice and freedom for Palestinians and all civilians affected

We are of course against any type of discrimination, and condemn antisemitism in all forms and shapes. This is non-negotiable

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Varyk 15 points 3 years ago

That does not ring antisemitic at all.

That statement was denounced?

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snooggums 19 points 3 years ago

Asking for a ceasefire is apparently antisemitic.

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ChairmanMeow 2 points 3 years ago

The second part of the statement was added later. She was denounced because she initially only mentioned sympathy for the victims in Palestine, omitting the Israeli victims. After criticism, she added the second part to her statement.

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lugal 1 point 3 years ago

They called Israel an apartheid state (which Amnesty international also did at some point) and had an octopus stuffed animal (which is an antisemitic dogwhistle).

I don't think that they knew about the dogwhistle but then again I don't know why to but a random stuff animal there in the first place.

German media often says "antisemitic and anti-Israel" as if they were the same. Is that the case in other western media as well or is it a German thing due to our history?

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HelixDab2 3 points 3 years ago

"No, it totally is."

-Israel

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nightscout 3 points 3 years ago

I am not Jewish, but I am married to an Israeli and have spent a decent amount of time in Israel, having traveled to many areas of the country.

The current situation is not surprising and it really comes down to one thing: LAND & RESOURCES.

All of the rhetoric about apartheid, anti-semitism, genocide, pogroms, etc, etc, etc are merely cover-ups for the real issue: Israel is a TINY piece of land that now supports close to 10 million people. The birthrate in Israel among everyone is among the highest in the world. Even secular Jews rarely have fewer than 3 kids. Muslim Arabs and Orthodox Jews frequently have 8, 9, 10 or more kids.

I have been visiting Israel fairly regularly over the last 20 years and I have seen the visible effects this uncontrolled population growth has had. Land is at a premium, everything is expensive and scarce, and it is FREAKING CROWDED. Towns and villages often support far more people than they were designed to support. Everyone there is worried about water and land and money.

And so you get to the real issue - this is about a fight over land. It’s a fight over which group is going to have a place for their own families and future generations to live there. It’s about fights over resources like water.

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rockSlayer 3 points 3 years ago

I think a lot of the discussion is very rightly focused on the war crimes and human rights abuses, but you're absolutely correct.

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qnick -16 points 3 years ago

I personally think that Netanyahu made many huge mistakes, including building the wall, and he should resign and leave politics forever, but I'm going to criticize him only after Hamas is eliminated.

Now, any pro-Palestinian voice is perceived as pro-Hamas. I heard the crowd chanting "from the river to the sea", which basically means "kill all Jews". It is antisemitism, yes.

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rockSlayer 18 points 3 years ago

"From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free" is not an antisemitic chant. It's calling for the liberation of Palestinians from their genocidal apartheid.

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qnick -7 points 3 years ago

By killing all Jews and destroying the state of Israel. This is literally their political program.

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rockSlayer 9 points 3 years ago

If you're referring to "landback", that's a far deeper act of decolonization that indigenous people all across the world have started fighting for, rooted in leftist revolutionary ideals. It started with Native Americans. No one gets genocided in landback, that's a colonialist projection. Explain how it's a slogan for genocide.

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qnick -5 points 3 years ago

Most of Arab countries have far-right government. Hamas is a far-right terrorist organization. What are you talking about?

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KepBen 15 points 3 years ago

I personally think that Netanyahu made many huge mistakes, including building the wall, and he should resign and leave politics forever, but I'm going to criticize him only after Hamas is eliminated.

Idunno man this kinda sounds like as a politician he has no incentive to eliminate Hamas and every incentive to radicalize more Palestinians against him.

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Sparlock 6 points 3 years ago

Wild, you are the person the article was written to inform.
Yet you missed the point entirely..

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