Why do people think anti-isreal is the same as anti-semetic?

[enenenya]

Just that. If I was anti-Iran, it is never called anti-Islamic.

@wafflyversatile

it is criticism of the Israeli government that you wish to convey if you so wish not criticism of the country itself and by extension it's existence. There are other words to be used without resorting to the provocative 'Anti Israel'

It’s clear from your answers, this is not a genuine question. You just want a rammy.

Anyway, lots of reasons. It’s blatantly clear that a noticeable proportion of anti -Israel protestors are anti-Semitic.

Israel, for many ( not all) Jews, is tied to being a Jewish, they have an affinity with it.

The instant turning away from Israeli victims immediately after the October 7 attacks, and the atrocity denial was clearly anti-Semitic. No other group of citizens would have been treated with such wide range callous disregard/ active celebration at their torture and murder/ denial of the atrocity committed against them. It was appalling.

Because Israel is the only country for Jews, so is intricately associated with Jews.

Because many countries behave badly but none get the attack and hatred Israel does, as your comparison with Iran illustrates well. The is a particular visceral hatred for Israel that is unique to Israel. It’s hard to understand this other than through the lens of anti-Semtism.

Quite.

Because it deflects from the 32,000 people murdered in Gaza.

No one has a valid excuse for such a barbaric response to the October attack, so rather than trying to find one, they use "antisemitic" to close down any uncomfortable discussions.

@ssd

another perspective is that the war in Gaza has been used as an excuse for anti elitism to remain unchallenged. We are all aware of conflict in the middle East but am think we can choose our language carefully to avoid offence. No one is stopping anyone from highlighting aspects of this widely disseminated conflict.

I just think care should be used because it you would probably be offended if someone used the term 'anti Palesrine' as you would probably conflate this with a desire to prevent a 2 state solution and indeed remove any vestiges of what could be considered Palestine.

The number of terrorist related deaths is a fraction of the number of road deaths on an annual basis

This is an absolutely disgusting comment. it’s honestly the sort of thing I’d expect a psychopath to say. That cold disregard, that lack of human empathetic understanding. That claim to be unable to see the difference of an accidental road death and deliberate planned racist murder, torture and rape.

If you want evidence of the racism in those who are anti-Israel, you don’t need to look much further than this cold, dehumanizing, atrocity denying comment. No-one could read that and think anti-Israel comments are just about the actions of the government, rather than a visceral dehumanization of its Jewish citizens.

I have literally never seen any Jewish person claim that criticism of Israel is antisemitic. This accusation seems to be casually bandied about by anti Israel posters with a clear agenda. Israel, for example, is full of people who are critical of the Israeli government.

That said, there are many people who are critical of Israel, whose criticisms tip over into antisemitism and then react with wide eyed faux innocence when this is pointed out to them.

Not even sure why I am replying as it's clear that the OP is not here to discuss things in good faith.

This.

And people who say they want Israel wiped off the map never offer any alternative suggestions for Jewish people to stay safe. Because they don’t care. Jewish lives don’t matter: Because they are antisemitic.

If I was to say I was anti Russian then because the majority of the population of Russia are ethnic Russians (if perceive themselves as Russian) you could easily see this as racist comment that I am against all individuaks within that population not hist t members of the ruling regime i.e. my 'anti' stance is against a people not a government or policy.

I think he same argument applies to Israel except there is a lot more sensitivity because historically there have been attempts to remove Jews from exisitence.

'?'

I just find it strange when some people have deeply held opinions about a place but they can't even correctly spell the name of the place. I see this particular misspelling on MN a lot.

Is the misspelling of Israel because people.are so against its existence they can't bear to a drive its name?

This. I think terminology is the issue here. If you criticise what the Israelis are doing, fine, but to be 'anti Israel' is a whole different thing.

It's like everything else, one needs to separate the behaviour from the person.

Reminds me of a relative who deliberately mispronounces the name of every girlfriend her son brings home 😂

Eta that was in response to mids2019!

Maybe I am reading to much into this but Israel obviously is a biblical name and one interpretation of the word is 'God rules'. Possibly if you do not support the existence of Israel you would be angered by use of such a religiously evocative word which suggests the state of Israel is God ordained especially if you are religious your self and therefore don't want to infer Israel with religous/theological legitmacy?

Personally I don't think the two necessarily go hand in hand, although they often do. But I have a number ofJewish friends who are anti-Israel, surely that does not make them antisemetic?

“Being anti israel means hoping for jews to die”

woah there, that’s really a stretch!

I tend to think there shouldn’t be any country reserved for just a subset of people. I wouldn’t support a nation just for ginger headed people, I wouldn’t support a nation just for whites, and I don’t support a nation just for Jewish people. I believe the most moral solution (though admittedly one few seem to want) would be a single country with equal rights for all, whether of jewish, arabic, or any other descent. I don’t want ANYONE to die. I don’t want Jewish children living in fear of rockets, OR Palestinian kids starving to death.

I think this is quite a balanced perspective. And yet somehow this view (which I believe is a pretty common one in people who are critical of Israel), gets twisted into ‘you want jewish people to die’ which is just utter rubbish. I’m from a pretty left leaning community and I do not know a single Jewish person who is pro Zionism. I can assure you they are not anti semitic!

As a totally separate point, the current Israeli government are a bunch of nutcases, many within Israel are critical of them, (not anti semitic) and the world stands in condemnation of their actions (also, not anyi semitic).

Just to correct a small point here- Israel is not exclusively for Jewish people. Of course it is a Jewish state but there are people living in Israel who have emigrated there for work/ multiple other reasons who are not Jewish.

However, ALL countries are entitled to decide on their own immigration criteria and Israel should be no different.

I guess this couk d make sense in that from a Palestinian perspective when they were displaced the Israelis would called the country Israel or 'God rules or 'Allah rules' depending on your religion. It must therefore be an anathema to religious Palestinians to have to refer to a country they have with a term so steeped with religious symbolism. In a way the term Anti-Israel could be construed as a literal translation of anti God rules so many Muslims would definitely avoid such terminology.

I think the term should be updated from "anti semitic" to "anti Jewish". Not all semites are Jewish, and not all Jews support the actions of the Israeli government. There are and continue to be huge protests in Israel by Jewish Israelis against the current government of Israel. Surely they can not (and should not) be labelled as anti semitic.

That’s really a stretch. When apartheit ended in south africa, no one proposed ethnically exterminating the white population. They just lived side by side with their neighbours differently. It could, in theory, be possible to remove the borders, have a new country with free elections and everyone live side by side with equal rights.

In practice of course that would be all but impossible given the events of the past few months. But looking to this as an ideal/optimal solution is some how seen as extremist anti-semitism which is bonkers

Oh gosh and I missed this bit:

admittedly one few seem to want) would be a single country with equal rights for all, whether of jewish, arabic, or any other descent.

That is totally unworkable and I'm afraid does suggest a significant lack of knowledge about the current situation in the ME. It would almost certainly lead to to murder and displacement of Israeli Jews.

@BethDawn “Because many countries behave badly but none get the attack and hatred Israel does, as your comparison with Iran illustrates well”. There is truth in this, but what it does not acknowledge is that there is also no other country that can behave “badly” as you put it and continue to receive the massive and unquestioning support (including financial) from Western governments.

I have noticed this too. It is really odd.

Yeah total oversimplification on my part for the sake of brevity on the tinterweb.

And I would disagree with any country deciding immigration criteria based on ethnic lines.

You don't think that an ethnic group who has suffered persecution in countries across the world for centuries should be allowed its own country?