Palestine Israel

[cityhammer]

I think it's important not to generalise too much.

Jewish people are some of the loveliest and funniest people on the planet.

Look at our very own Elliott Cantor, a lovely guy.

Also, at famous Jewish people like Larry David, Bernie Saunders, Jason Alexander etc... all very nice, generous and funny people.

It's important not to conflate Jewish people with the actions of the Israeli Government. Sanders in particular is very outspoken against the current Israeli regime.

I think you missed the point of blue matt's comment. it think he was referring to meeting Israelis rather than Jews.

The problem is that criticism of Israel gets roundly condemned as being anti-semetic, which of course it isnt. Criticism of the nation of Israel is not criticism of the Jewish faith and any attempt to portray it as such is divisive imo.

[Rjk]

I think you missed the point of blue matt's comment. it think he was referring to meeting Israelis rather than Jews.

The problem is that criticism of Israel gets roundly condemned as being anti-semetic, which of course it isnt. Criticism of the nation of Israel is not criticism of the Jewish faith and any attempt to portray it as such is divisive imo.

Criticism of Israel CAN be anti-Semitic, but it isn't always.

For example - If a prominent Jewish entertainer has done something - let's say David Baddiel has released a new children's book, and is holding an online Q&A about it, but instead of asking about the book, some people repeatedly ask him to denounce the actions of the Israeli state, and message him criticising the state of Israel - something he has absolutely nothing to do with.

that would seem pretty anti-Semitic, and it is the kind of thing that happens a lot

[surge]

In my opinion, if there is going to be any real change we need to be speak about the complex, usually ugly relationship between the nations (and their representatives) 6 weeks on from now when another news story has become more prominent. But how many comments do you think this thread will be getting at that point?

An interesting part of the story described below:

Twenty years ago, the prime minister of Israel was assassinated. The killer was a lone gunman, Israeli and Jewish, just like the prime minister. Lots of witnesses saw it happen; the assassin confessed immediately, that night, and has never recanted. But today, oddly, lots of people don’t believe it happened that way. And a question hangs over the country: did this act change the fate of the nation?

Part 2:Ephron takes the shirt Rabin was wearing on the night of the assassination from Israel to the U.S. to have it examined by a gunshot expert. A right-wing activist describes what the assassination meant to her and her settler movement -- a political victory. Hagai, the accomplice, argues with his mother over the details of the murder, and it becomes clear that even she believes in the conspiracy theories.

https://www.thisamericanlife.org/570...ht-in-question

[blue matt]

I think you missed the point of blue matt's comment. it think he was referring to meeting Israelis rather than Jews.

The problem is that criticism of Israel gets roundly condemned as being anti-semetic, which of course it isnt. Criticism of the nation of Israel is not criticism of the Jewish faith and any attempt to portray it as such is divisive imo.

I have nothing against the Jewish people at all ( infact I found " Friday night dinner " fairly entertaining ), my reply was in reply to Goats about meeting Israelis and the group i met were horrid people, they must have all finished IDF service and gone travelling and ended up in Sydney, they hated nearly everyone, but as AfricanBluebird points out, we shouldnt think that they are all the same, i was unfortunate to have spent far too many hours in the company of them, as I said I was relieved to have met the Lebanese girl and that gave me a excuse to not speak to them without causing too much offence to my group of mates ( and housemates )