“The resolution suggests that all anti-Zionism—it states—is antisemitism. That’s either intellectually disingenuous or just factually wrong,” said New York Representative Jerry Nadler, who voted present. “The authors if they were at all familiar with Jewish history & culture should know about Jewish anti-Zionism that was and is expressly not antisemitic. This resolution ignores the fact that even today, certain Orthodox Hasidic Jewish communities … have held views that are at odds with the modern Zionist conception.”

  • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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    11 months ago

    The problem with this sort of language is that there are a few different things that people call “anti-Zionism”. One is saying Israel does not have a holy right to the entirety of the land of Israel. Another is saying Israel has no right to exist at all. A third is any criticism of Israel or the Israeli leadership.

    Only the second is antisemitism, as it implies that Jewish people and their nation should not exist.

    Trouble is, it all gets lumped together. Any criticism of the Israeli leadership is fodder for the anti-semites who would wipe out the Jewish people given the opportunity. Any defense of the nation of Israel or the Jewish people is taken as tacit endorsement of the atrocities they are commiting.

    This is an unsustainable level of intransigence that leaves no path forward resolving in peace.

    • Deceptichum@kbin.social
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      11 months ago

      No.

      Saying the state of Israel has no right to exist is not antisemitic either.

      You’re continuing the deliberate mistake of conflating Israel (a political entity) with Judaism, a religion. Not every Israeli is Jewish, nor is every Jew Israeli. Israel is not Jewish peoples nation, Jewish people live all over the world and call many nations their home.

      Also why do you believe people should have an ethno-state of their own?

      • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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        11 months ago

        How do you eliminate the state of Israel without killing a bunch of Jewish people?

        I don’t believe there should be any ethno-states, but that’s not the world we got.

        • Kepabar@startrek.website
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          11 months ago

          It’s very easy to replace Israel with another state in the same place without killing or moving everyone.

          Israel is an ethnostate. Ethnostates are bad. Ethnostates that are religiously motivated are doubly bad.

          Israel could be a secular state that treated all ethnicities equally with zero loss in life or need for anyone to leave the area.

          They chose not to.

          It’s not antisemitism to acknowledge this.

          • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            Oh nation building. The US is pretty good at that. I mean, isn’t that how we got here in the first place? Moving a bunch of religious fanatics out of their holy land to make room for the displaced victims of a genocide?

              • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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                11 months ago

                Not at all, I just don’t think your solution is feasible. The Israeli leadership will not step down peacefully, and Hamas will not accept anything less than total victory. You’re suggesting a third party take control? Or do you think suddenly everyone involved will just forget all the murder and start singing “kumbaya”?

            • soupcat@sopuli.xyz
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              11 months ago

              That’s not how it started at all, the Brits have a lot more to do with this one.

                • soupcat@sopuli.xyz
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                  11 months ago

                  I think I may have misunderstood you, I thought you were saying that America was responsible for Israel.

                  • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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                    11 months ago

                    No that’s my fault, I see why that’s what it sounded like. It was intended as two different points.

                    1. The US has a bad record of nation building.

                    2. Israel exists because of failed nation building, specifically how the UK controlled Palestine and started encouraging Jewish migration to the holy land, displacing Palestinians.

              • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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                11 months ago

                What pivot? That’s the argument presented. “The end of Israel does not require violence because Western nations can build a better nation for the Jewish and Palestinian peoples to live in harmony.” Does that actually deserve a full rebuttal?

        • masquenox@lemmy.world
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          11 months ago

          How do you eliminate the state of Israel without killing a bunch of Jewish people?

          Destroying a state is not genocidal - no matter how much you want to pretend it to be.

          • Decoy321@lemmy.world
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            11 months ago

            I’m not trying to argue against you here, I was just curious about the info and wanted to share it.

            So, it turns out that Buddhism is actually the official religion for 4 countries: Bhutan, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Sri Lanka. It’s also the majority religion for 3 more states: Thailand, Mongolia, and Laos. Total population of Buddhists exceeds 500 mil, about 7-8% of the world’s population according to 2010s data.

            How does this relate to Israel? Precisely fuck all. I just thought it was interesting to share how widespread Buddhism is.

            • Ugly Bob@sh.itjust.works
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              11 months ago

              That works both ways. At different times in history both Arabs and Jews have lived in the areas now called Israel and Palestine.

              The problem is snatching land from the present to punish deeds of the past just creates more sorrow.

        • Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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          11 months ago

          https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Negotiations_to_end_apartheid_in_South_Africa

          One of the most popular arguments against the end of apartheid in South Africa was that the previously-ruling white minority would face violence and persecution. While South Africa has not come all its way in ending the disparity of apartheid since its transition to democracy, those claims that white people would be killed by the nonwhite majority have certainly not panned out

              • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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                11 months ago

                You brought up South Africa as an example of a nonviolent end of apartheid. Do the Palestinians have a leader who believes in a nonviolent end to the conflict in Israel?

                • Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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                  11 months ago

                  Do you think South African apartheid was brought to an end by one guy?

                  There have been lots of nonviolent protest movements in Palestine and there are prominent Palestinian and Israeli advocates for one democratic state

                  • themeatbridge@lemmy.world
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                    11 months ago

                    Do you think the end of South Africa apartheid would have been nonviolent without nonviolent leaders?

                    A one-state secular democracy sounds great. How do you get there from where we are now? There are prominent advocates for a lot of things, but none of those people are in power on either side. As long as Israel is indiscriminately bombing Gaza and Hamas is using their blood to “awaken the revolutionary spirit,” we can’t reasonably expect anyone to compromise without being forced.

    • Strawberry@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      11 months ago

      Only the second is antisemitism

      No. No theocracy or ethno state has a right to exist. Brutal apartheid is baked into these concepts. For some reason most of the world can get on board when it comes to oppressive governments like Iran or even China spreading Han culture. If the myth of “a people without a land to a land without a people” were true there might be a case, but there is no such land, and certainly not in Palestine.

      as it implies that Jewish people and their nation should not exist.

      This is wildly incorrect. The only inherent implication of saying the state of Israel has no right to exist is that the state of Israel has no right to exist. That is, a state foundationally for and only for a certain ethno-religion, forcibly and violently founded in a land already full of people who aren’t a part of that ethno-religion. Such a state is oppressive by its nature, given that the majority of people within its borders of control (and especially people within those borders and displaced from within those borders) are disenfranchised and do not have equal rights under the law or under the enforcement of law.

    • Riccosuave@lemmy.world
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      11 months ago

      Correct because nobody who has any actual power wants peace. What those with power want is to assert their influence.