Do you have a source about the Zionism thing? Because antisemitism was alive and well for most of western history. And for me personally seeing Israel starve a bunch of children in Gaza make me hate Israel / IDF, not the Jewish baker down the street.
Do you have a source about the Zionism thing?
gestures vaguely at every Zionist conflating Israel with all Jewish people
You can’t just pretend that committing a laundry list of atrocities is acceptable while calling yourself representative of a wider group of people without some of the less discerning and/or more conspiracy-minded people taking you at your word and resenting the people as a whole.
Not saying that antisemitism is in any way acceptable, of course, but just like brutal oppression breeds terrorism, committing or defending things that should never be accepted while saying that you represent all of Jewdom is going to teach some people the wrong lessons.
Because antisemitism was alive and well for most of western history
Yes, and it has traditionally been mostly caused by the othering of Jewish people by conservative clergy or politicians trying to keep their “flock” in check, but that’s not the main cause anymore.
While the “traditional” causes still exist, in a world where most people can read about and watch atrocities on TV, the Hasbara talking points meant to mollify and deceive the masses are no longer working, so instead of convincing people that the atrocities are necessary for Jewish people to be safe, some people are being convinced of another lie: that the atrocities are the kind every Jewish person would do if given the chance
And for me personally seeing Israel starve a bunch of children in Gaza make me hate Israel / IDF, not the Jewish baker down the street.
Same here, but not everyone is able and willing to make that distinction while the war criminals themselves and their most ardent defenders keep insisting that there’s no difference.
The thing is, gesturing vaguely at something we thing is obvious, is not really a source. Even 1+1=2 has to be proven. I suspect that Zionism is just used as a pretext to be antisemitic by people who were going to anyways. But I also don’t have any data to back it up.
The thing is, gesturing vaguely at something (…) obvious, is not really a source
Yeah, it’s not like there’s a lot of people honestly and precisely detailing how they developed their bigoted attitudes. That doesn’t mean that you can’t reason your way to a logical conclusion, though.
