Thursday, May 15, 2003

I am not pro-Israel, and I am not a Nazi for saying that.

Amptoons makes some salient points in this post.

Too many zionists forget that zionism is not Judaism. Not all Jews are zionists. Not all zionists are Jews. Someone who refers to zionism is not talking about "the Jews." Someone who criticizes zionism is not being anti-Jewish.

Every year, the word "anti-Semite" is degraded more. Accusations of anti-Semitism are flung about far too quickly and easily; zionists are becoming the boy who cried “wolf!” The goal, presumably, is to delegitimize criticism of Israel, by labeling all but the most mild, spineless criticisms "anti-Semitic." But I'm afraid the result will be just the opposite; calling legitimate criticism "anti-Semitic" will wind up legitimizing real anti-Semitism. And that sucks.


I agree. Calling people who criticize Israel anti-semetic reduces your legitimacy the same way that neocon chickenhawks calling crippled war heros unpatriotic reduces the legitimacy of the Republican party.

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