Israel Bans Omar/Tlaib

[Dill]

(08-19-2019, 06:55 PM)Sociopathicsteelerfan Wrote: Here's the thing.  You and I probably agree on way more regarding the conduct of Israel than we don't.  The problem is you can't expect for legit criticism to be couched in anti-Semitic terms and expect it to not taint the well. 

Agreed. The question here is what counts as anti-semitic. Just saying that the Israeli state "lies" does not fit that bill for me. 

In the first place, ALL states lie, including the US. If I point out a specific case of such lying, it doesn't mean I "hate" the US or Americans.

In this case, Israel does misrepresent its history and treatment of Palestinians.

If someone protests this by connecting it to some "inherent" dishonesty of Jews as a people then, yes, that is anti-semitism.
If someone criticizes the one-sided, distorted depiction of the conquest of Palestine which used to be on the Israeli state website, that is not, in itself, anti-semtism.

But to repeat, I agree that people can muddy the waters and shoot themselves in the foot if they stupidly deploy rhetoric either drawn from or easily analogized to common anti-semitism. E.g., If find it perfectly normal and ok if an American Jew who happens to work in a bank contributes to AIPAC, but if were to criticize AIPAC as a group of "Jewish bankers" I would certainly be guilty of anti-semitism, even if the group does have Jewish bankers, because the banking is immaterial to such group membership and goals, and material only to a stereotype, deployed in lieu of a real argument.