Coworker said Israel shouldn’t exist

[Anonymous]

Silence is violence. How is this different than people who said "all lives matter"?

Let's try to be ideologically consistent here people.

[Anonymous]

I'm sorry you're dealing with this. I admit that I've said something like that. It was stupid. I didn't mean that Israelis shouldn't have a home, I just meant that the way Israel was formed after world war 2 was extremely problematic and lead to too much conflict.

I said this long before the current conflict, and I realized how bad it was to say as I learned more about history and the importance of stable borders. I still think that Israeli settlements that are against international law are wrong, but of course that's an entirely separate conversation and doesn't mean Israel shouldn't exist.

I think that if someone had called me out, I would have appreciated it. Maybe a gentle question like ""what, in your opinion, would Israel not existing look like?" Of course this guy sounds like a jerk and there are no guarantees the conversation wouldn't blow up.

[Anonymous]

Do you think a free and independent Palestine should exist? If not, then you can’t be surprised that he doesn’t think the inverse.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you think a free and independent Palestine should exist? If not, then you can’t be surprised that he doesn’t think the inverse.

Not just think it but say so to your Palestinian American colleagues! That’s the distinction in my opinion; we can fight about whether it’s okay to think Israel/Palestine shouldn’t exist but it’s inarguably insensitive to say so to someone ties to the country in question in a work environment.

[Anonymous]

He is entitled to his opinion. You are entitled to yours. Unless he creates a hostile work environment, move on and stay away from him and just talk about work-related issues. HR should not be policing his thoughts or yours. Why don't you go find a workplace that is pro-Israel? Ask during the interview. Find your home where everyone thinks like you so you can be happy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do you think Palestine should exist?

Do you think the United States should exist? “Genocidal, colonial power” seems to fit the bill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I wouldn’t let it go. He knows he’s being provocative. I’d talk to HR.

He's Palestinian. If is a violation for him suggesting Israel shouldn't exist because of how it makes you feel, he can turn around and complain about you saying it should exist for the same reason

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He is entitled to his opinion. You are entitled to yours. Unless he creates a hostile work environment, move on and stay away from him and just talk about work-related issues. HR should not be policing his thoughts or yours. Why don't you go find a workplace that is pro-Israel? Ask during the interview. Find your home where everyone thinks like you so you can be happy.

Totally - this is a free country. As East Asian, if anyone said china or Korea shouldn’t exist because if it’s culture of oppressing women I’d be nodding. If I love it so much I would come live here…

[Anonymous]

When Palestinians say Israel shouldn’t exist, they mean pushing the Jews into the sea and exterminating them.

When Israelis say Palestine shouldn’t exist, they mean the status quo that’s existed for decades.

Arabs-Israelis make up 21% of the Israeli population and have full voting rights in their system and freedom of movement and everything other Israelis have.

On the other hand, how many Jews live in Gaza or WB? Lots of Christians but no Jews. Wonder why that is?

This is why speaking about the elimination of Israel is anti-Semitic, because there is no path where Israel doesn’t exist and the Jews within its border continue to exist. There’s plenty of precedent to demonstrate that this is true.

[Anonymous]

Try to see the Palestinian coworker's perspective. Israel came into existence by ethnic cleansing of the Muslim and Christian population of the land. It continues this ethnic cleansing in the West Bank today and has moved to genocide in Gaza. How is any of that justified? Yes there was terrible violence against Jews in Europe but Palestinians had nothing to do with it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Many PPs are hung up on the substantive issue of whether OP or her co-worker are “right.” That’s not the issue at all. The issue is whether the co-worker’s comments, which are not work related, are contributing to a hostile work environment for OP. They are. Thus the co-worker’s comments have to stop. I could easily see an employee being asked to stop another type of non-work behavior that was distracting to other employees (e.g.: playing music). At the very least, this should be treated similarly.

+100000

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When Palestinians say Israel shouldn’t exist, they mean pushing the Jews into the sea and exterminating them.

When Israelis say Palestine shouldn’t exist, they mean the status quo that’s existed for decades.

Arabs-Israelis make up 21% of the Israeli population and have full voting rights in their system and freedom of movement and everything other Israelis have.

On the other hand, how many Jews live in Gaza or WB? Lots of Christians but no Jews. Wonder why that is?

This is why speaking about the elimination of Israel is anti-Semitic, because there is no path where Israel doesn’t exist and the Jews within its border continue to exist. There’s plenty of precedent to demonstrate that this is true.

Probably not something you want to bring up if you're talking about full voting rights and freedom of movement and everything other Israelis have

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:When Palestinians say Israel shouldn’t exist, they mean pushing the Jews into the sea and exterminating them.

When Israelis say Palestine shouldn’t exist, they mean the status quo that’s existed for decades.

Arabs-Israelis make up 21% of the Israeli population and have full voting rights in their system and freedom of movement and everything other Israelis have.

On the other hand, how many Jews live in Gaza or WB? Lots of Christians but no Jews. Wonder why that is?

This is why speaking about the elimination of Israel is anti-Semitic, because there is no path where Israel doesn’t exist and the Jews within its border continue to exist. There’s plenty of precedent to demonstrate that this is true.

Palestinians within 48 Israel absolutely do not have the same rights as Jews. Under laws passed recently it's not even clear that they're citizens. Stop spewing lies. Israel is based on Jewish supremacy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Like you said, I would compartmentalize it and move on. I am Jewish, too. You’re not going to change what is obviously a very strong opinion of his. He is entitled to his opinion, and surely you can see that based on his own experiences he may have formed that one. He 100% should not be making any such comments at work, but some people are just set in their ways and don’t care.

Don’t engage in any personal conversations with him. If he makes a comment, say something neutral like on, let’s not talk about such things at work or say nothing and move on. Completely non-reactionary.

Take the opposite approach. Tell him you hope that Gaza is bombed to hell, and that Israel takes it over to build a beautiful beach resort and some farms. See if he thinks that's appropriate. If not, then tell him that's essentially what he just said to you about Israel.

I joke of course because we Jews are never allowed to make comments like this, while everyone else feels so incredibly comfortable telling us that Israel is an abomination and should suicide itself.

I don't know what you do. If you two are close enough, I'd say - privately, not to HR - that you were really upset by his comment. You understand how charged and hard this issue is right now, and whatever his personal beliefs you are not comfortable with this kind of casual "joke" or comment. See how he responds. If you're not close enough - then yeah, HR.

Sorry, OP. This whole period has really taken a lot of people's masks off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Like you said, I would compartmentalize it and move on. I am Jewish, too. You’re not going to change what is obviously a very strong opinion of his. He is entitled to his opinion, and surely you can see that based on his own experiences he may have formed that one. He 100% should not be making any such comments at work, but some people are just set in their ways and don’t care.

Don’t engage in any personal conversations with him. If he makes a comment, say something neutral like on, let’s not talk about such things at work or say nothing and move on. Completely non-reactionary.

Take the opposite approach. Tell him you hope that Gaza is bombed to hell, and that Israel takes it over to build a beautiful beach resort and some farms. See if he thinks that's appropriate. If not, then tell him that's essentially what he just said to you about Israel.

I joke of course because we Jews are never allowed to make comments like this, while everyone else feels so incredibly comfortable telling us that Israel is an abomination and should suicide itself.

I don't know what you do. If you two are close enough, I'd say - privately, not to HR - that you were really upset by his comment. You understand how charged and hard this issue is right now, and whatever his personal beliefs you are not comfortable with this kind of casual "joke" or comment. See how he responds. If you're not close enough - then yeah, HR.

Sorry, OP. This whole period has really taken a lot of people's masks off.

Funny that you view treating people living within the borders of Israel as humans as Israel suiciding itself.