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Notes -
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.
Why not both?
There has clearly been mass disinformation in Western nations in recent decades. Journalists will go on air and lie broadly about infectious diseases, government actions, wars, crimes, war crimes, weapons of mass destructions, who pays them etc. Many Jews would be found in prominent positions within their ranks, such as Barri Weiss. Lack of truth will generate skepticism.
Then comes the second part, there is a biological, natural component among many humans referred to as pattern recognition. People will naturally associate stimuli with concepts upon sufficient exposure. This is where the antisemitism will get generated.
There is a very simple solution to the Israeli problem that nobody ever seems to suggest, conversion. Many Jews have historically benefited from simply integrating to the majority population of the country they lived in. Unfortunately, the Jews that are currently remaining are the ones that have generations of experience of earnestly refusing to integrate to the local majority population, and to take in the commands of their respective prophets.
This stubbornness explains why the Israelis seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place, too weak to single-handedly eradicate their enemies, too strong to play dirty like their enemies without losing their more-compassionate allies. So what if they get hated? Should we have Russians on American TV airing their grievances against anti-Russian sentiment on college campuses? Why this desperate need to be liked anyway?
If you're willing to corrupt supply chains and plant bombs in your enemies' pockets in foreign countries, why are you surprised that your enemies will send lone gunners to target your allies in foreign countries?
Why trouble yourself with pro-Palestinian protests on American college campuses instead of building ammo factories in Israel? Why are AIPAC representatives training American congressmen instead of training IDF recruits?
This whole antisemitism thing is quite funny in the years when some other international crisis overshadows what the Israelis do routinely, and the demand for antisemitism by politically-motivated people is greater than the supply.
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