Reply to I’m banned for calling Jeff Anti-Semitic

Forum Index » Website Feedback

Reply to "I’m banned for calling Jeff Anti-Semitic"

Subject:

Emoticons





More smilies

Text Color: Font: Close Marks

[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Reality: Jeff has stated outright he’s sympathetic to the Palestinian cause so I don’t think there needs to be guesswork there. He doesn’t see his words as anti-Semitic. Do I think he has blinders on? Yes but I think that of many leftists - idealism to the point that it ‘breaks’ their brains.  I do think the statement that led up to Jeff being called an anti-Semite were shocking, especially in regards to Shani Louk. He feels he was adding logic to an atrocious situation, but the visual of seeing that poor girl being paraded around in the state she was in, the torturous calls to her parents, etc, left no need for explanation by anyone. Trying to make that less heinous was not possible.[/quote]

All of us normal people are sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. It's different from supporting terrorists. It's different from supporting the current disproportionate Israeli response (which, BTW, risks the lives of all the hostages).

I don't think many people in this world are anti-Semitic or hate Jews. We just don't want to see Israel annihilate an entire people. Why, if you've spent your existence as a people being discriminated against, do you want to then turn around and do the same thing to others? Israel's behavior in the Middle East these past decades beggar belief, frankly. It has not acted in a humane and civilized manner towards Palestinians.

I can guarantee that if Israel continues in this vein, supported by the US, in a few years everyone will have forgotten the centuries-long European discrimination of Jews, pogroms and Holocaust, and will just know Israel as a barbaric nation that stole land from Palestinians and crushed them into oblivion.

[/quote]

The ugly truth is that the world would have forgotten the centuries-long discrimination, pogroms, and Holocaust of Jews regardless of what Israel does in Palestine, because a significant portion of the world wants all Jews dead. That is the truth I think a lot of Palestinian supporters can’t face. It is why they also insist that Palestine is entirely separate from Hamas and its explicitly genocidal aims, when of course the truth is far more complex and nuanced. It’s because in the horror that is this ancient conflict, it’s very uncomfortable to find yourself on the side of people who have been explicit and loud in their goals of Jewish annihilation.

This is also true to an extent of Israel supporters, who are uncomfortable finding themselves on the side of the extremist settlers who are calling for genocide of Palestinians. But as a non-Jew and non-Israeli, I find I see a lot more Jews/Israel supporters loudly and explicitly distancing themselves from the settlers than I see pro-Palestians distancing themselves from the explicitly genocidal Hamas.

I’ve disagreed with Jeff on many aspects of this conflict, including his characterization of the Shani Louk conversation above (but I have no desire to rehash that here, and will just state that I disagree for the record). But I think it’s deeply unfair to Jeff to call him antisemitic. I report a lot of Islamophobic and antisemitic posts (much more of the latter but there are both) and he deleted then quickly. He also has spoken up when he sees misinformation. He has an open bias — he has been up front — and I think candidly that his analysis is not always correct. But that’s a far cry from being antisemitic. I’m speaking up because as someone who has been absolutely horrified by the loud, open, violent, and extensive antisemitism that has burst forth particularly out of the progressive left, it’s critically important to focus on identifying actual antisemitism. There is plenty of it to target. I see no need to unfairly tarnish Jeff. Please don’t. [/quote]

PP you replied to. Well I can respect your view, not because I necessarily agree with all of it, but because you're intelligent and honest enough to understand nuance. Nuance is in terribly short supply on internet message boards.

[/quote]

Options

	Disable HTML in this message
	Disable BB Code in this message
	Disable smilies in this message

Review message

Search Recent Topics Hottest Topics