Criticize "Israel"? You're an Anti-Semite!?

Question

How can we have a real discussion about Mideast peace if speaking honestly about "Israel" is out of bounds?

Answer 1

it's not. but it's a sensitive issue and feelings usually over-ride common sense. I am the most pacifist, humanist person in the world... but I too have had it out with people who wanted to kill me because I criticized some of Israel's policies. I once assisted with a forum where different Palestinians talked about the issues facing them, and it was severely interrupted by some very very angry people.... I certainly don't want the Israeli people to suffer any more than I want the Palestinians to... but it's just that... all innocent people are equally innocent.

Personally I respect a person's argument far more when they show that they have a true understanding of the issues facing both sides. Otherwise, you're just a close minded bully.

Answer 2

There is a fundamental difference between speaking about Israel and making accusations. If you visit most of the Yahoo message boards to diiscuss news stories related to the Middle East you will find that the VAST majority of anti-Israel postings are straight out anti-semitism with titles such as "Hitler did not complete the job". Most of these are posted by people whose positions are pro-Palestinean or Islamist in nature. The converse is also true that pro-Israeli's often post broad anti Muslim topics.

The ground rules need to be based on solving the problem in the Middle East by considering the Israeli, Palestinean, other Middle Eastern nations, US and European positions. As long as a discussion is based on inflamatory and non-factual points, there can be NO honest discourse.

Answer 3

Let us speak honestly. Not everybody who disagrees with Israel's policies is anti-Semitic; even many Jews do.
However, a great deal of anti-Israel sentiment is driven by anti-Semitism.
I barely mention statements from various middle-eastern governments vowing to wipe Israel off the map.
Israel is the only long-established democratic government in the Middle East, and the most tolerant. Members of all religions are citizens and able to vote. This includes many Muslim Arabs.
The surrounding countries are beset by systemic violations against women, minorities and non-Muslims.
(Iraq is only a fledgling democracy, actually more of a hatchling.)
It is hard to account for so much hostility toward Israel from Western countries, who seem to have so much in common with it, unless anti-Semitism is a factor.

Answer 4

I agree that a verbal substitute approximately Israel is considerable to lasting peace in the midsection East. Israel isn't without fault in the on-going strife in the area and the US shouldn't take sides without delay with Israel in disputes between the warring factions.i don't comprehend why being severe of the Jews and their regulations in Lebanon and the Gaza ability which you're an Anti-Semite.i comprehend that their is a huge Jewish foyer in the US,particularly in Washington D.C., that impacts public opinion to continuously component with Israel no rely what the subject.on the different hand, Israel is surrounded on all sides by utilising their enemies and has no Allies in the area to help them in the event that they're attacked.They do choose the US to be a staunch allie to dissuade her friends (Iran) from thinking two times approximately starting to be aggressive for Anti-Semitic motives.i don't have self belief that Israel's missteps in regulations in the direction of their friends would desire to be out of bounds while discussing peace in the area. i think of all issues would desire to be on the table for communicate and debate approximately each and every of the subjects that divide the techniques in the on-going upheaval in the midsection East.

Answer 5

I am not anti Semitic but i do get it hard to believe that the Jewish people who have themselves been persecuted throughout history could treat the people of Palestine so harshly, have they no memories?The USA have a lot to answer for in this regard they seem to give them free rein to behave as they like, every time a motion of censor is brought before the united nations against the behavior of the Israelis they veto it.Politics it seems are more important than human lives

Answer 6

Real and constructive discussion is certainly possible.

Let's look at two statements though:

I disagree with Israel's policy in the West Bank, and here's why......

And

Israel shouldn't be there, they have no business there whatsoever....

One is discussion, one is accusation. One is fine and rational, the other is emotional and irrational.

Just look to the way you speak and decide which it really is.

Answer 7

The questioner encloses the name Israel in quotation marks. Is there an implication that there is no such place?

But to the point of the question, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. addressed this question. He stated:

". . . You declare, my friend, that you do not hate the Jews, you are merely 'anti-Zionist.' And I say, let the truth ring forth from the high mountain tops, let it echo through the valleys of God's green earth: When people criticize Zionism, they mean Jews--this is God's own truth.

"Antisemitism, the hatred of the Jewish people, has been and remains a blot on the soul of mankind. In this we are in full agreement. So know also this: anti-Zionist is inherently antisemitic, and ever will be so.

"Why is this? You know that Zionism is nothing less than the dream and ideal of the Jewish people returning to live in their own land. The Jewish people, the Scriptures tell us, once enjoyed a flourishing Commonwealth in the Holy Land. From this they were expelled by the Roman tyrant, the same Romans who cruelly murdered Our Lord. Driven from their homeland, their nation in ashes, forced to wander the globe, the Jewish people time and again suffered the lash of whichever tyrant happened to rule over them.

"The ***** people, my friend, know what it is to suffer the torment of tyranny under rulers not of our choosing. Our brothers in Africa have begged, pleaded, requested--DEMANDED the recognition and realization of our inborn right to live in peace under our own sovereignty in our own country.

"How easy it should be, for anyone who holds dear this inalienable right of all mankind, to understand and support the right of the Jewish People to live in their ancient Land of Israel. All men of good will exult in the fulfillment of God's promise, that his People should return in joy to rebuild their plundered land.

This is Zionism, nothing more, nothing less.

"And what is anti-Zionist? It is the denial to the Jewish people of a fundamental right that we justly claim for the people of Africa and freely accord all other nations of the Globe. It is discrimination against Jews, my friend, because they are Jews. In short, it is antisemitism."

Just one more thing. An answer her referred to a place called Palestine. The only place in today's world called Palestine is in the American state of Texas.

Answer 8

Israel rejects the criticism and considers it anti-Semitic because they butcher the Palestinian people who want to liberate their land from Israeli colonialism ...Do not allow anyone to talk about those crimes .

Answer 9

as soo as you stop critizizing everything Israel does