I'm sure this person despises Netanyahu, opposes the Occupation, and wants a Gaza ceasefire. But they can't handle Israel being called out as an apartheid state, particularly within its 1948 borders. So (I'm guessing) they lash out with "what about Iran/Iraq/Syria/Afghanistan???". - ThreadSky

letsdestroy.bsky.social • 9 days ago

I'm sure this person despises Netanyahu, opposes the Occupation, and wants a Gaza ceasefire. But they can't handle Israel being called out as an apartheid state, particularly within its 1948 borders. So (I'm guessing) they lash out with "what about Iran/Iraq/Syria/Afghanistan???".

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souptism.bsky.social•9 days ago

I don't get these people. Netanyahu is essentially a dictator and the government is run by Kahanists, but also somehow Palestinian citizens aren't systematically discriminated against and israel is a liberal democracy. They could even say it started with him but they just deny it, makes zero sense

letsdestroy.bsky.social•9 days ago

I think it's two things. First, they want to believe there's something good and salvageable about Israel. Second, they get extra defensive because the criticism is coming from a place of antisemitic bigotry.

letsdestroy.bsky.social•9 days ago

Add in a (not unfounded) fear of antisemitism and it's easy to placate one's conscience with the idea that people focus their criticism on Israel over other countries because it's the one and only Jewish state. There are many other countries out there that abuse human rights, it's true.

letsdestroy.bsky.social•9 days ago

However:
1. Israel actually is a pretty serious case on its own merits. In particular, the war on Gaza is *extremely* bloody and destructive.
2. The apartheid system over Palestinians is morally reprehensible and has persisted (and gotten worse) for decades.
3. Israel gets an enormous amount of...

letsdestroy.bsky.social•9 days ago

American and western support. They could not have flattened Gaza without billions of dollars in imported bombs, shells and advanced weapons, mainly from the US.
4. We are told that Israel is an ally that we must support, a democracy that doesn't do war crimes, and how dare you criticize it.

letsdestroy.bsky.social•9 days ago

I think there's a kernel of truth to the idea that Israel also gets more attention *because* it is a "Jewish state". I think its existence is bound up in the west's (well-deserved) collective horror and guilt around the Holocaust, and in the (somewhat more questionable) turn towards philosemitism.

letsdestroy.bsky.social•9 days ago

I'm not sure that Germany or the West at large ever fully dealt the Holocaust or what it said about the evils within our own societies. Supporting Israel helped to paper over that dark chapter and legitimize the continuance of more or less the same systems of nationalism, capitalism and imperialism.

letsdestroy.bsky.social•9 days ago

So while there are many regimes that abuse human rights throughout the world, even if we were to criticize all of them, our deep complicity in enabling the abuses of Israel would render those criticisms so hypocritical that we'd be laughed out of the room. The fact that criticism of Israel is...

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