Netanyahu says Hamas Gaza chief Mohammad Sinwar has been killed

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120. Can we start with the post that you reacted to?

I did read the exchange between both of you, so now I know what you see as antisemitic about it. My admittedly clumsy way of detecting antisemitism is if I read or hear something and it sets off an icky, slimy feeling inside me. While thanks to my English great grandfather I have Jewish ancestry, I'm not Jewish and haven't had to deal with antisemitism, apart from being gobsmacked when people in real life resort to it. I'll give you an example in a minute.

I suspect that most at DU would agree on what's antisemitic a lot of the time, and the only time there's disagreements is when Israel is involved. I've seen plenty of antisemitic posts over the years (eg referring to Israel as Nazis or collectively blaming all Jews for what Israel does), so I'd agree that there is a lot when it comes to Israel. When someone says Israel or the Israeli government is carrying out war crimes or starving Gazans, that's not antisemitic to me. It's the same as saying the US is putting people on planes and dumping them in prisons in third countries, or that the US has threatened to invade Canada, Panama and Greenland. Where it would become antisemitic for me is if rather than saying Israel, something that some folk over at Reddit seem allergic to, someone says 'The Zionist entity is carrying out war crimes.' The icky, slimy feeling tends to happen a fair bit when I see or hear comments about Zionists and what's happening in Gaza, even though talking about Zionists and Zionism is fine if it's talking about the history of Israel, if that makes sense.

Anyway, that's why I don't think the comment you reacted to was antisemitic or meant to be, but when you talk about the history of betrayal and destruction that Jews have faced over time, I actually understand the sensitivity.

While I was typing, I thought of a second real life experience of exposure to antisemitism. The first was when I was studying years ago and the class was WWII. My class was discussing the Holocaust and the aftermath of the war, and one of the other students argued that Israel should never have been created, and while they were arguing it, repeatedly referred to Israel as 'the Zionist entitlty'. While the teacher shut them down, they didn't correct them, and just let it slide.

The second was a close friend, who decided to express her views to me on the conflict as we talk politics a fair bit. Instead of talking about Israel, she said 'the Jews'. I'm not sure where that came from or why, but she knows now that conflating Israel and all Jews is pretty stinky, even though I still don't understand why she didn't already know that.

I just realised I didn't even ask you a question and just rambled. Sorry! Have a great weekend.