• pivot_root@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      Israel may be an ethnostate, but the actions of its leadership are not representative of the Jewish population as a whole. That is to say, stop disingenuously conflating criticism of a genocidal government with antisemitism.

      • Streamwave
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        5 months ago

        An ‘ethnostate’ significantly more ethnically and religiously diverse than any country in Europe, the Middle East or Asia.

        Japan is 99% ethnic Yamato Japanese. Is Japan an ethnostate? And should they be criticised for this?

        73% of Israelis are Jews, more than half of which are Middle Eastern (Mizrahi) Jews, i.e. zero connection to Europe. The other 27% of Israeli citizens are usually Arabs who are either Muslim, Christian, Druze, Bedouin, Circassians, Baha’i, Armenians, Samaritans, etc. They have the same civil, legal, political and religious rights as Jewish Israelis. They’re represented at every level of government, including in the parliament with an explicitly Arabist political party that has once served in a coalition government.

        And it’s… Israel that’s the ‘ethnostate’. Got it.

        Accusing Jews of being unable to stop themselves from murdering children is unambiguous antisemitism with a long history dating back to the Middle Ages.

        • pivot_root@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          It’s evident that you’re cherry-picking tangential details to argue against, so let me say this in unambiguous terms:

          Accusing Jews of being unable to stop themselves from murdering children is unambiguous antisemitism with a long history dating back to the Middle Ages.

          People here are not accusing Jews of doing anything. We aren’t using “Israel” as a stand-in or dogwhisle for ethnically Jewish people or the Jewish religion.

          People are accusing the government of Israel of being unwilling to refrain from committing war crimes.

          • Streamwave
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            5 months ago

            Yes, I’m sure it’s a complete coincidence that Israel alone among all the countries in the world, including Syria (where Assad slaughtered more than half a million Syrians), China (engaged in the genocide of the Uyghurs) and Azerbaijan (who literally ethnically cleansed Nagorno-Karabakh of Armenians just last year), is the only one accused of being bloodthirsty child-murderers who regard non-Jewish children as less than human.

            Couldn’t be that a key theme of antisemitism over 2,000 years retains a deep hold on people’s imaginations and biases, influencing their views today even if they aren’t fully cognisant of, could it?

            Nah. It’s just a coincidence that it’s only the Jewish state accused of this.

            • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              I’m sorry you must have slept through the last decade?

              Those accusations were absolutely there. They just weren’t a conversation because everyone agreed. Why are you defending a genocidal regime?

              • Streamwave
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                5 months ago

                If I believed that Israel was a genocidal “regime” (by which you mean democratic government) I wouldn’t be defending it.

                • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                  5 months ago

                  So you’re willing to link to the blood libel Wikipedia page but you deny the existence of this genocide. I guess “Never Again” had an asterisk?

                  • Streamwave
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                    5 months ago

                    Let me give you the full sentence:

                    “Never again will the Jewish people put their safety and security in the hands of non-Jews.”

                    Non-Jews were given a test with the Holocaust and we comprehensively failed.

                    From now on, the Jewish people will only ever trust themselves to protect them. Rightly so, in my view.

                    And yes, I do deny there’s a genocide in Gaza. If they wanted to just eradicate them then this war would have been over many months ago.

      • Streamwave
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        5 months ago

        Antisemites have always believed this. This isn’t new. The people who claimed Jews were intent on slaughtering non-Jewish children because they saw them as sub-human did also believe that wholeheartedly. It wasn’t just a ruse.

        • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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          5 months ago

          Everyone rational has always believed this. The government of Israel is not the Jewish people any more than the government of ISIS was representative of Muslims.

          • Streamwave
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            5 months ago

            Everyone rational has always believed this.

            By openly identifying your endorsement of an ancient and false antisemitic trope, you’ve invalidated your right to have any opinion about anything.

            Bye.

            • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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              5 months ago

              You can wail and gnash your teeth all you want. The government of Israel will never represent Judaism.

              • Streamwave
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                5 months ago

                Did you mean to reply to my comment? Not sure how that’s relevant.

                Anyway, you endorse a 1,500 year old antisemitic conspiracy theory, so I’m not sure why you think you deserve to be treated with respect or dignity.

                • Maggoty@lemmy.world
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                  5 months ago

                  If saying the government of Israel is not all of Judaism is blood libel then everything is blood libel and the label is meaningless.

                  • Streamwave
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                    5 months ago

                    Just to be clear then:

                    Are you claiming that the Jewish governing party, made up of Jewish individuals, in the Jewish State (Israel) are incapable of holding back their bloodlust to slaughter non-Jewish children on the basis that they see them as lesser than Jewish children?

                    Take a moment. Think about it. Because we both know that this is in fact what you have been claiming. And maybe you want to walk that back, and self-reflect, and think whether maybe you’ve gone wrong at some point in your justifiable attempt to seek justice for oppressed peoples.