To have reservations about a friendship with a woman who refers to Israel's actions in Gaza as a genocide?

[Oodiks]

I like this woman a lot, but we have very differing world views, specifically her belief that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.

We work at a university and were coming back from lunch together when she commented that she was pleased the protestors hadn't come back. I agreed, noting how nerve wracking it must have been for Jewish students on campus to run the gauntlet of pro-Palestinian / anti-Zionist posters in the encampment.

We'd been talking about the American election over lunch, and I thought we'd agreed that Kamala Harris was the better candidate for her views on climate change, if nothing else, but then my 'friend' commented on Biden/Harris sending arms "to support the genocide" and I was left kind of speechless.

Am I being unreasonable to feel unsure about continuing this friendship?

Israel has, at the moment and it won't necessary survive a major change in oil consumption, a cast iron guarantee of its integrity from the US, which could fight the whole of the Middle East with one hand tied behind its back. That guarantee doesn't necessarily fully apply to the occupied territories. There must be a lesson in that somewhere.
Edit: and the Pro-Palestinian marches in London are not mainly of anti-semites. Indeed a significant proportion of the marchers are Jewish.

Thank you

What are you trying to say?

Arabs are not a single uniform entity and pretending you’re too dim to know that doesn’t make you any more convincing. Palestinians are being destroyed.

Seems clear to me. Which bit are you finding hard to understand?

Yes, I will, and I stick with my assertion.

May I ask if you are Jewish, OP?

Your poorly written first sentence for a start.

But the Israeli Arabs are descendants of the Palestinians who lived in under the British mandate and remained in Israel after it was formed. They are the same as the people that live in Gaza and the West Bank but hold Israeli citizenship. They are exempt from military service unless they volunteer (and many do) due to close family ties with Gaza and the West Bank. Where on Earth do you think they’re from and more to the point, why isn’t Israel killing them as part of the genocide?

No, I’m not saying that. I’m saying people who attack Jews and Jewish concerns because of their disapproval of Israel’s actions are antisemitic.

Thank you

Genocide is what hamass tried to commit on Israel (here is a refresher of their barbarity https://x.com/Dr_logicaI/status/1843378094687826143 , every Palestinian death after that is on Hamass.

I’m not attacking Jews, I’m criticising Israel and the mass murder of civilians as are many Jewish people, and as should all people of any nationality or religion. I quote from the paper today, it’s the first line of the opinion piece on the front page on the website- ‘as a Jewish Australian, I’m torn between my condemnation of Israel’s almost certain war comes in Gaza and the terrifying rise of antisemitism’

Again, you're wrongly conflating the two. People who attack Jews simply because they're Jewish are anti-semites. They don't need the Israeli government to behave atrociously as justification for their anti-semitism - they'll attack Jews regardless, at any time, simply because of their bigoted views.
I perceive Israel's actions to be wrong, which is why I criticise Netanyahu and his regime, but I have no desire whatsoever to attack Jews because I'm not anti-semitic. Why can't you grasp the difference?

Thanks for sharing, difficult to watch.

You just can’t face the truth, can you? You and your ilk are the equivalent of a child sticking their fingers in their ears and screaming blah, blah because they don’t like what they hear. It is a genocide and even quite a few JEWISH people believe that too! And claiming that everyone who believes what Israel is doing is a Hamas apologist is just a lazy and pathetic mindset.

Exactly this. Well said.

So explain the rise in antisemitic attacks since October 7th?

Maybe you personally don’t hold all Jews responsible for Israel’s actions, but it’s clear others do and that should be a concern.

And claiming that everyone who believes what Israel is doing is wrong is a Hamas apologist is just a lazy and pathetic mindset.

LOL - as if you’d believe me either way!

No one sane is saying Jewish people are responsible for these atrocities but to say there is no genocide going on by the Israli government is utter BS. They have been ethnic cleansing for years. "Settling" Israelis into Palestinian territory. Telling people in Lebanon to stay away from areas in their own country. Bombing aid trucks. If ever a country should know what genocide is it is Israel after the evil of Hitler and ww2. The only thing they don't seem to have done is start concentration camps and gas chambers. That isn't anti semitic- it is a statement of fact as evidenced by the number of israeli people protesting against the actions of their own government. And no Hamas weren't right in what they on 7/10/23 or the actions before and after either. Two wrongs (Israel and hamas) don't make a right. But until the middle aged to elderly blokes of this world who are in power stop playing a game of my dick is bigger than yours (Putin, Ukraine, Israel, Hamas, The Congo, North Korea, Sudan, Trump, Cyprus/Turkey - I could go on) all that is going to happen is that innocent people on all sides are going to be injured and killed and for what reason? Nationality? Religion? Beggars belief that we are on the brink of world war again with no one learning the lessons of ww1 and ww2 for as long as there is war, there will always be a new wave of hatred when kids grow up orphaned because of another country's actions.

I do, but the rise in antisemitic attacks since October 7th last year proved many do not.

I believe the premise of your thread is spurious.

If you say you're Jewish, you're Jewish. That's it. I would never cast doubt on that.

It's horrific on both sides! There are no winners here!

An appalling loss of life all round.

I’m not Jewish, but my ex-husband is, which means my daughter is according to some people.

The Israeli's ARE carrying out a genocide in Gaza though...