Israel is escalating its bombardment of Lebanon, leveling numerous buildings, including the offices of Lebanese news station Al Mayadeen. The Israeli military has also attacked the ancient city of Tyre, a UNESCO-designated World Heritage Site, and killed three Lebanese soldiers in a strike in southern Lebanon, all while continuing to defy international calls for a ceasefire. “What we’re seeing is a complete degeneration into a war that has no rules, that respects no international conventions. There’s one side in this war that has complete impunity,” says Lebanese sociologist Rima Majed in Beirut. “Israel is targeting civilians in most cases. … This is just terrorism.”
And absolutely gaslighting anyone who calls anyone out for it.
I’m really sick of the whole “criticism of Israel is antisemitism” rhetoric. NO IT ISN’T. And pushing this rhetoric harder isn’t going to make me support them either. If anything, I’m going to see it as an increasing threat to my First Amendment right to free speech.
My criticism of the Chinese government is not hateful towards the Chinese Americans in my community. It’s also not hateful towards the Chinese people living in China or anywhere else in the world. It’s a criticism of the leadership, which is fair game. Ditto for criticism of Iran, Russia, or any other nation I can think of.
But criticize the Israeli government and suddenly it’s a problem. There’s less pushback for criticizing the U.S. government!
I’m really sick of the whole “criticism of Israel is antisemitism” rhetoric.
It’s just playing dirty. Israel, much like modern conservative politicians, doesn’t care about how it achieves its goals. World War II has much of the western world hypersensitive to antisemitism, so conflating criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism has been an easy way to stifle discourse.
And absolutely gaslighting anyone who calls anyone out for it.
I’m really sick of the whole “criticism of Israel is antisemitism” rhetoric. NO IT ISN’T. And pushing this rhetoric harder isn’t going to make me support them either. If anything, I’m going to see it as an increasing threat to my First Amendment right to free speech.
My criticism of the Chinese government is not hateful towards the Chinese Americans in my community. It’s also not hateful towards the Chinese people living in China or anywhere else in the world. It’s a criticism of the leadership, which is fair game. Ditto for criticism of Iran, Russia, or any other nation I can think of.
But criticize the Israeli government and suddenly it’s a problem. There’s less pushback for criticizing the U.S. government!
It’s just playing dirty. Israel, much like modern conservative politicians, doesn’t care about how it achieves its goals. World War II has much of the western world hypersensitive to antisemitism, so conflating criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism has been an easy way to stifle discourse.
Criticising Israel can be antisemitic. Just check out the IHRA definition of antisemitism . Basically you can’t say that:
Oh no you are a trump supporter /s