anti-Israel ≠ anti-semitic
While the statement itself is true, it ignores the fact that there has been an uptick in violent antisemitism and islamophobia.
There has been an uptick in violence against groups that the far right Christian white demographic target regularly.
That’s not just limited to semites or muslims.
Maybe, but the only reason this is notable is because of an uptick that is from the literal opposite of Christian right wing.
This is true, however there are people who don’t like Israel and blame all Jews for what Israel does.
I’m an American Jew. I don’t like much of what Israel does. Guess what, though. I can’t change Israel’s actions. I can speak up, but I have the same say as any other American. It’s not like Israel is going to say “this random American Jew said to stop so we’ve got to stop doing this.”
Unfortunately, there are people who seem to think that all Jews are valid targets for anti-Israel sentiment. I’ve seen people spray painting/vandalizing buildings because they are Jewish temples, businesses, or homes. I’ve seen people online justify this by claiming that every Jew is a representation of Israel and thus a valid target. I’ve seen people cheering on Hamas’ attack and slaughter of innocents and hoping that more Jews get killed worldwide.
And before anyone comments: No, I don’t think Israel killing innocent Palestinians is good. That’s one of those things I’d change, but have no power to really affect. I could speak up more with the Palestinian Rights folks, but if people in that crowd are calling for Jews to be killed, do you really think I’m comfortable joining that crowd?
So you can criticize Israel and be fine, but if your “criticism of Israel” is “all Jews need to be held responsible for what Israel has done and should be killed,” then you’re definitely anti-semitic. (I’m using the generic “you” here.)
Generalization is big issue. Whether its generalizing all Jews as Zionists or all Muslims as terrorists. I blame lack interactions between cultures. Talking to other cultures helps you realize we are all the same at the end of the day. We need to realize most people don’t want to inflict suffering and are not your enemy.
Israel is like ISIS. They’re hiding their crimes behind a religion while simultaneously not following the religion whatsoever.
Suggesting that israel is Jewish is extremely anti-semitic, but our media will gladly destroy the Jewish name to further their imperialist cause.
True, but I’ve been seeing a fair number of people commenting in a way that shows they don’t know that, and are conflating Israel with all Jewish people everywhere.
Some of that is intentional, it’s not new for pro-isreal lobby groups to smack the “antisemitic” label on any public figure who speaks out against the government of Israel, been going on for years.
Obviously actual nazis and antisemitic people suck and should be called out for their bullshit, but the powers that be have also made the problem worse by inaccurately throwing the label on people.
True. There’s also the Zionist push to link Israel with all Jewish people, whether the Jewish people in question want it or not.
Yup, it works as a shield for any criticism for them.
They are deliberately conflating it so that people stay quiet about the genocide.
You think the FBI doesn’t know that?
Really?
I mean, yeah that’s why this article is here… Not sure where you’re going with this.
I’m saying that to point out the fact that anti-israeli sentiments aren’t inherently antisemitic is superfluous, and not implied by the article or the FBI’s director.
BUT, any time Israel is in the news for anything it brings out anti-semitism. Israeli conflicts act as a proxy war for regional and global powers, and both organic and deliberate antisemitic propaganda is ramping up.
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Not sure I believe “historic levels”. See Pre-WWII America and the American Nazi Party as example. Highly recommend Rachel Maddow’s book Prequel for details of how close America came to an alliance with Nazi Germany.
The highest level in decades is still historic without invalidating a prior, higher peak. If anything, it should be a reminder of how bad we were previously so we don’t go all in like we did back then.
What’s all this “we” shit? My people were Quakers.
I love your oatmeal 🥣
Based on what I can tell antizionism might be reaching “historic levels” though. They arrested hundreds of activists from Jewish Voice for Peace out of the thousands that showed up to protest just a day or two ago. 20.000 people protested for Palestine in SF. The streets were filled in NY, Chicago, Washington, etc. I don’t know if there’s ever been this much pushback against the occupation in the US, so I’d be willing to believe antizionism might be reaching historic levels. Maybe the dude conveniently got his words mixed up.
I think we’re seeing people getting pissed about innocent people dying everywhere, and leaders are tripping over themselves justifying it for those they’re allied with.
What does Israel have that requires the western countries to look the other way at this shit when they’re appearing to stand up against it elsewhere.
I don’t think the West is standing up against it anywhere, it’s just a convenient political rally cry for whatever agenda you have and people will continue to die.
What does Israel have that requires the western countries to look the other way at this shit when they’re appearing to stand up against it elsewhere.
Israel has to exist so “Christians” can get “Raptured” during the “End Times.”
That’s it. That’s literally the actual reason the GOP supports Israel.
And it’s actually worse than that. The evangelicals think that there are two conditions that need to be met before Jesus returns.
The first is that Israel is run by Jews. Check.
The second is that Israel suffers a huge attack. I’d say check, but apparently none have been “Jesus returns” big.
But that second part is important. What would happen if some diplomatic genius achieved Middle East peace tomorrow. Somehow, this guy did the diplomacy version of waving a magic wand and now everyone in the region is hugging each other. Great, right?
Well, not for evangelicals. Peace in the Middle East means the chances of an attack on Israel plummet. Certainly any “Jesus returns” level attack.
So the evangelicals NEED the conflict to rage on. They are major contributors to the settlers - who illegally take over Palestinian land because their reading of the Torah says it should be Jewish land. (It doesn’t say that, but people will often decide a religious text says what they want it to say.) The evangelicals also help support the right wing politicians in Israel.
In short, evangelicals are basically taking an existing raging fire, tossing kindling on top of it, and then pouring a few gallons of gasoline on top of that.
Oh, and one final note about “Jesus returning.” They believe that, after Jesus returns, he’ll take them to heaven and toss everyone else - especially all the Jews - into hell. So their “support for Israel” is just delayed anti-semitism (as well as immediate Islamophobia).
Got any sources on that one?
Very easy to find on Google. Search for “evangelical support for Israel” or similar.
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/oct/30/us-evangelical-christians-israel-hamas-war
The Bible. /s
Yep. Besides: I’d bet a fiver that this guy counted anybody who criticized Israel as anti semitic. Which is not how this works goddamnit. Or Jehovah damn it? Idk.
He just said “historic,” he didn’t say what part of history.
We all know where the GOP wants to take us.
As an American Jew, I’ve kind of gotten numb to the anti-semitism on the right. A Republican politician shook hands with Nazis and posed for a photo with a swastika flag? Must be a Thursday.
What I wasn’t prepared for was the level of anti-semitism on the left. Now, I’ll say right out of the gate that criticizing Israel isn’t automatically anti-semitism. Heck, I criticize Israel quite often. I’m not talking about this. I’m talking about progressives declaring that all Jews are responsible for Israel’s actions. Progressives attacking Jews, Jewish temples, Jewish businesses, Jewish homes. Progressives celebrating the October 7th attack and wishing that more Jews would be killed. And also progressives saying that anti-semitism isn’t happening or that Jews aren’t allowed to complain about threats they are getting because other people have it worse. (Would you tell a friend to shut up about how much their broken leg hurts because you saw a guy on the news that had cancer? Does only the group that has it the absolute worst get to complain?)
I consider myself a progressive so this hurt. I was being told that my life and safely doesn’t matter by a group that I agreed with in the past. I was told that I was personally responsible for something I have no control over and should be attacked for these “crimes” that I committed (again, despite not living anywhere near Israel).
Being attacked by both sides of the political spectrum is scary and leaves me wondering if anyone would stand up should the words and vandalism turn into something worse.
And, as an additional effect, I do want to speak up for the Palestinians, but don’t feel comfortable joining in a group with members calling for violence against me. I just don’t feel personally safe doing so. I know this isn’t all people who advocate for the Palestinians, but it’s a loud enough contingent that I fear for my safety.
I have personally not met any progressives who are antisemitic. Have you noticed any particular demographic of progressives acting antisemitic? Also what region/area are you in as that may have an influence.
It’s not Funkytown is it?
Offering examples of the threat faced by the Jewish community, Mr Wray cited a man who was arrested in Texas last week for trying to build a bomb and posting about his support for killing Jews, and another man who was arrested in Illinois for killing a six-year-old Muslim boy.
Was him being arrested antisemitic?
Not saying antisemitism isn’t on the rise, the bomb story sounds horrific, but it seems like islamaphobia also is and the article seems to gloss over it completely until it tries to pass off an example of it as antisemitism.
The article is poorly written. Wray’s comments were talking about “violent domestic extremists targeting Jewish or Muslim communities, such as…”
He does elsewhere talk about the specific rise in antisemitism and disproportionate recent increase of threats against Jews, including as called for by foreign terrorist organizations.
So the overall article theme isn’t incorrect.
But his primary focus was on how events in the Middle East might lead to violence against Americans, and was discussing both Jewish and Muslim Americans in the part of his speech those examples were pulled from.
It was kind of hard finding information on this case as everyone wants to talk about the little boy that died. I didnt do a lot of digging but here is some info I could find..
Shaheen told investigators that when first confronted by Czuba over the violence in the Holy Land, she told him, “Let’s pray for peace.”
I dont understand how someone could say ‘lets pray for peace’ that would lead a guy into a murderous rampage. I would say my bullshit detector is going off and she probably insinuated that this guy is a murdererous jew for his name and time in the military/his involvement and it set him off. I am also reading some other stuff trying to debunk him being jewish but i dont know what the altercation was about. I understand its a shitty thing to think but I can see how it might be antisemitism but it might just be good old fashioned Islamophobia. I dont want to judge but he looks like a regular crazy white guy.
This man stabbed a 6 year old boy 26 times. I don’t care what the mother said to the man. Stabbing a child 26 times is psychopathic.
Ah yes, if someone calls you a murderer becoming one is the logical next step. /s
The rise of fascism in the US is deeply disturbing and we should all be concerned. Vibrant democracies can fall shockingly quickly. Constant vigilance is required. Never let fascist assemble unchallenged.
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There is a lot more of it. I understand hating Bibi but all Jews are not to blame.
Ugh what is going on with this country?
It wants to keep us infighting so we don’t notice how bad things are becoming and go after the real problem, probably.
White supremacy
