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What is the Zionist model of antisemitism*?
Matt Yglesias posted what turned out to be a surprisingly hot take that the downturn in public opinion of Israel is a result of Israeli actions, and that the best way for Israel to fix its public relations problem is to change its actions vis-a-vis the Palestinian issue and foreign policy.
I was surprised at the pushback. This seems straightforwardly true. There was a great chart I saw a few days ago, which I am unfortunately unable to find, which showed that public opinion of Israel has been approximately this low before. It was in 1982 with the invasion of Lebanon and the notoriously brutal siege of Beirut.
Most of the alternative theories fell into two camps.
It’s hard to tell how religious the people in 2. are, but my general impression is, “quite a bit”. Many of them seem to speak of antisemitism as if it were a spiritual fault, another manifestation of the platonic ideal of pure evil. Seen as a spiritual problem, the correct response is to become even more aggressively Jewish. This has the rather large problem of being counterproductive when, e.g. smashing idols goes wrong.
*By “antisemitism” in this post I almost exclusively mean “antizionism”. I use the term to maintain consistency with the pro-Israel literature I am engaging with, not as an endorsement that antizionism = antisemitism.
> Pass an anti-terrorism law that de facto applies only to one ethnicity, which you're already being accused of apartheid-ing, which calls for "death by hanging, carried out in no more than 90 days" as the default sentence.
> "there is literally nothing we can do, the fake news is just going to twist our ethnic death penalty laws to make us seem like monsters"
> "this is why we need to control tiktok"
Damn, can't help but notice this seems absolutely bananas
I'll defend them on this one. Swift execution is the only way to prevent murderers from being released in the inevitable next hostage exchange.
Exactly. Part of the ridiculousness here is that Israelis act in ways that any sensible Western regime should be acting, but get absolutely pilloried for it due to norms of conduct that Jewish thinkers have done their best to encourage off the back of the Holocaust and their outsized influence. If the average Zionist didn't have a sole carveout in their politics for Israel to act belligerently I'd be a lot more supportive of their views.
Can you give two specific examples of this so I know what you are talking about?
So in your view, the "average Zionist" is responsible and accountable for the norms encouraged by "Jewish thinkers"? This sounds rather suspicious to me, but I'll hold off judgment until you've had an opportunity to provide a couple examples.
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Israel has attacked 5 countries in the past few years and has caused what is likely to be the biggest economic crises in decades. That is absolutely not how any sensible regime, let alone Western should behave.
Are you able to name even one of these "5 countries" Israel has attacked, where the country hadn't already either attacked Israel or been used as a staging ground for attacks against Israel?
I take it that you blame Israel for Iran's attempts to block the strait of Hormuz?
Yeah I blame Israel for attacking Iran and starting this war. The Hormuz blockade was an entirely foreseeable consequence of that.
Only if you think the Iranians have no agency.
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I take it that you are unable to name even a single country Israel has attacked in the last 5 years, where the country hadn't already either attacked Israel or been used as a staging ground for attacks against Israel?
Well do you agree that Israel's attack against Iran was an entirely foreseeable consequence of Iran's aggressive and relentless proxy attacks against Israel over the years?
If youre land is already being illegally occupied by Israel I dont think you can in any way be accused of attacking first.
Blockading a strait that you control is very different from bombing another country in an attempt at regime change.
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