General Discussion
Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsOf course criticism of Israel isn't anti-semitic unless...
you invoke anti-semitic tropes in doing so.
leftynyc
(26,060 posts)why this is such a difficult concept.
femmocrat
(28,394 posts)what a trope is! Is it like a meme?
Decoy of Fenris
(1,954 posts)leftynyc
(26,060 posts)a figurative or metaphorical use of a word or expression.
"he used the two-Americas trope to explain how a nation free and democratic at home could act wantonly abroad"
femmocrat
(28,394 posts)I did look it up, but wondered if it was some new term that we are using now. LOL
DemocratSinceBirth
(99,724 posts)Dennis Donovan
(18,770 posts)DemocratSinceBirth
(99,724 posts)Dennis Donovan
(18,770 posts)Got it.
democratisphere
(17,235 posts)Perrenial Voter
(173 posts)could be accurately described as anti-Semitic. If you study the early history of Israel, you'll see a history of extremely effective propaganda that effectively deflects from what should be the real issues by. For example, there was a famous incident in which Zionist militias forced resident Arabs in Haifa onto boats and into exile. When an Arab leader was asked what would happen if they defeated the Zionist militias he said that the Jews who were born in Palestine would be allowed to stay and those that were foreigners would suffer the same fate as the Arabs in Haifa. However, the propagandists declared to the world that he said they would "drive them into the sea," and that has been used ever as proof that Arabs would not tolerate Jews. In a similar way, they insist that Israel is a Jewish state, which carries all of the implications of any ethnic- or religious-state: the exclusion of or second-class citizenship for minorities. When Arabs say that they can accept a secular Israel but not an ethno-nationalist Jewish state, they call them anti-Semitic, but it would more accurate to call Israeli policies anti-Semitic, with discrimination against and persecution of Arabs.
Codeine
(25,586 posts)Anti-Semitic is a word with a specific meaning, regardless of the more general definition of the root word. Arguing that it means hatred or prejudice against all Semitic peoples is like arguing that swastikas are okay because they were around before the Nazis.
Words and symbols have the meaning we have collectively ascribed them, and that particular term refers to discrimination, hatred, or prejudice directed at Jews.