#criticizing israel without being antisemitic

[mental-mona]

Legit criticism of Israel vs. antisemitism: questions to ask yourself

What is antisemitism? | IHRA (holocaustremembrance.com) Let's start here. Does whatever you're saying, writing, or drawing go against the basic definition laid out here, or clearly fall into one of the examples given? If it does, you should almost certainly rethink your statement completely; even though this definition isn't legally binding, it's still a pretty darn good metric.

If you replace the word "Zionists/Israelis" in your statement with "Jews," does it sound antisemitic? If it walks like a duck and quacks like a duck, it's a duck, even if it's wearing a dog costume. Your statement is antisemitic; please rethink it and probably also your general attitude.

Are you questioning Israel's right to exist? Sorry, antisemitic again, except maybe if you also question the rights of other religious and/or ethnic groups to their homelands. Jews have an archaeologically confirmed, continuous history in Israel going back 3000 years; they're not some random colonial upstarts. If you want to see former Soviet countries each stay independent and/or Tibet and Taiwan gain freedom from China, you don't get to turn around and claim that specifically Jews aren't allowed to have a homeland.

Are you implying that all Jews are responsible for things happening in Israel? If so, this is antisemitic. Diaspora Jews don't have much if any influence over Israeli politics, and plenty of them disagree with various Israeli policies and politicians. The word "Jews" simply refers to an ethnoreligious group with tons of variation in beliefs and practices, not some kind of powerful monolith. If you don't blame Chinese immigrants for the genocide of Uyghurs or all Muslims for Islamist terrorism, you don't get to blame all Jews for whatever's going on in Israel.

Do you view all Israelis as legitimate military targets for rockets & attacks? Even if you're going with the theory that they're all culpable because they all served in the military, you're still way off base. 1) They don't actually all serve in the army, and 2) by that logic, all veterans in your country are legitimate targets for nationalistic attacks. I'm pretty sure you don't think that. Also, you're forgetting about children and foreign workers; there are few if any places on Earth where those would be considered legitimate military targets. Rockets, bombs, and bullets don't discriminate in who they hit. There have even been cases, including in the current war, where they've harmed Israeli Arabs!

Do you have double standards? If your response to a resistance group, underdog or not, attacking civilians in another country is "that's bad" but your response to Palestinians attacking Israeli civilians is "it's complicated," or worse, "they deserve it," then you need to take a step back and ponder why you think that. It's once again antisemitic. If you believe that all resistance including harming civilians is valid in every region, no exceptions, then that would at least be consistent and therefore not antisemitic. If you think that Israel should just absorb the rocket fire and recent butchery without fighting back, would you say the same for your own country if it had a small neighbor shooting missiles at its major cities, especially if members of a leading faction in that country crossed the border and slaughtered your fellow citizens? If you don't think your country or other countries should just take it, anti-missile defenses or no, then you shouldn't expect it of Israel. Still antisemitic.

Are you viewing Israelis as a monolith? Israelis' views run the gamut on almost every issue you can think of. Just like there are differences of opinion regarding political, religious, and general societal issues in your home country, there are such differences in Israel. Heck, depending on your home country, Israelis' range of beliefs might even be broader than what you're used to! Unless you're affectionately joking about Israeli culture in the same way that you'd joke about American or British or whatever other country's cultural stereotypes, tarring all Israelis with the same brush is not a good idea. Taking a mean, "these people all believe/do objectively awful things" tone is downright antisemitic.

Are you confusing Israel's general population with its government? This should go without saying, but a government policy will never reflect the approval of all or even necessarily the majority of its citizens. There were ongoing mass protests for the better part of a year over the current coalition's controversial "judicial reform!" Just because you don't like something a particular group of politicians has decided doesn't mean that all Israelis agree with that thing and are therefore Bad.  If you wouldn't blame all of your government's unfortunate policies on your country's population as a whole, you don't get to blame all of Israel's. Also, please bear in mind that Israelis vote for parties not people, and then each party's leadership assigns members to the Knesset as it sees fit based on the number of seats it won. A voter can like a party in general, but then be horrified at what some of its members unexpectedly say or do later down the line.

Are you criticizing a specific Israeli government policy or action? If you're doing so without falling into "all Israelis are evil" canards or conspiracy theories, then criticize it all you want! That's the whole point of what you should be doing if you object to something! Feel free to put Israel on blast about how it shouldn't destroy terrorists' homes, or needs to make a nondenominational egalitarian prayer area at the Western Wall, or should handle ultra-Orthodox Jews differently, or needs to let humanitarian aid into Gaza, or whatever it is that's bugging you. Feel free to scream about a specific military incident, or warn Israel against repeating the mistakes of 9/11. If you'd say it about a similar thing your country did or is doing, it's probably fair game to say about Israel.

Are you criticizing a specific Israeli politician? Again, this is totally fair! Feel free to post about how a politician is corrupt and horrible and really needs to leave politics and hopefully face legal consequences. Feel free to express skepticism that a politician will do what they say they will, or that they actually have anyone's best interest in mind besides their own, or that they even have a decent idea of how to do their job. If you'd say it about your own country's politicians and it's not a conspiracy theory about them, the criticism is fine to lodge about Israeli politicians.

Are you criticizing a specific aspect of Israeli politics? You're welcome to say that Israel's current Knesset makeup is messed up, or that the ruling coalition has serious viability issues, or even that something about the whole Israeli political system is deeply flawed. Again, if you'd criticize your own country's equivalent without going into wild conspiracy theories, it's fair game to criticize Israel for it. However, I will point out that it's generally a good idea to know more about a country's political system than an average current events article tells you before you criticize it.

[notaplaceofhonour]

“well how can I put it in a way that wouldn’t sound like blood libel/the protocols?”

it’s not how you’re saying it that makes it “sound like” an antisemitism canard, it’s that what you’re saying is an antisemitic canard.

“but somebody in Israel actually did say something about Gaza/Palestine that sounds like they want occupation/ethnic cleansing/genocide”

that’s plausible. it’s not like Israel is any more exempt from having far-right bigots than any other country. so let’s ask ourselves these questions:

who specifically said what in what context?

what position do they hold in the Israeli government & social/political life, if any?

if they’re a soldier in the IDF, what is the status of the investigation (if any) into their misconduct? what were the results?

if they’re a politician, what specific faction (not just “Zionism”) in Israeli politics are they a member of? how representative of the Knesset as a whole is that faction’s platform?

what do other members of the Knesset think of this statement?

is it actually representative of official policy in Israel in practice?

is this an actual official statement/position that this person holds or just harsh words said in anger in the throes of grief?

is this position actually mainstream or fringe in Israel?

am I criticizing this specific person/faction for their actions/positions? or am I using them as a cudgel against Israel in general (be it the entire government or the Israeli public or “Zionists” or Jews who have connections to Israel)

what am I doing to support the factions in Israel that oppose this person/faction & their actions/positions? or am I just using them as a cudgel against Israel in general?

what am I doing to support or offer solidarity to the Israelis negatively effected by these policies/positions/factions?

am I overstating or editorializing what they said in any way? am I overstating the power they have to make it a reality? why?

am I hearing occupation as ethnic cleansing and/or ethnic cleansing as genocide? (these are all bad things but they are different bad things)

am I criticizing this specific person/position or alleging a conspiracy of global proportions, especially involving global finance?

is my justified outrage being manipulated to support positions/beliefs/actions that could harm innocent people in Israel, Palestine, and/or elsewhere?

[cleoselene]

“People say, ‘Oh, he dresses up in an SS uniform, and he has a Star of David on the pig,” he continues, referencing the inflatable pig that’s been part of Waters’ live show for decades. “And I just want to say, ‘You fuckin’ idiots. He’s been doing that for 40 years. It’s satire.’ There’s also a Mercedes sign, a hammer and sickle, and a dollar sign on the pig … He’s bringing to light all the evils of the world. But people confuse that and think he’s an antisemite, which is really stupid.”

*squints* Kid, your dad's an antisemite and a Russiasn apologist. Also, what evil exactly does a religious symbol like the Star of David represent? That it belongs up there with a polluting car company or the symbol of Soviet style communism? Like, what part of "he has a Star of David on the pig" is "bringing light to all the evils of the world" exactly? And how is any answer to that not antisemitic?

[evilkitten3]

kinda fascinating how many people in the notes immediately saw this and decided this post was pro-israel. i've said this before and i'll say it again - criticism of israel is not antisemitic, but a lot of you are.

i keep seeing the increasing amount of antisemitism in leftist circles and as a jewish leftist i don't really like it. i don't like when people refuse to listen to jews when they speak about antisemitism.

nobody is immune to bigotry. just because you are a leftist (or claim to be one) it doesn't mean it's impossible for you to show microaggression.

[taibhsearachd]

ANTISEMITISM PSA!

Voltaire never said this! It was first said by an American neo-Nazi in 1993, and is explicitly about Jews and how you're "not allowed" to question the Holocaust.

I understand a lot of people don't know this. I don't think you're a Nazi just because you quote it, because Nazis LOVE to misattribute it to Voltaire and spread it around.

If you post this quote in discussions about Israel, you're 100% being antisemitic, because you're buying into "Jews are wealthy through illicit means and run the world behind the scenes" conspiracy theories from the FUCKING MIDDLE AGES. And also has that spicy hint of Holocaust denial still clinging to it.

You're allowed to criticize Israel. Please do. Please do it without literally quoting Nazis.

[sunbeamedskies]

You are not inherently an antisemite for criticizing Netanyahu or actions of the Israeli government.

You ARE inherently an antisemite if you excuse/justify/celebrate when random Israeli civilians are murdered.

Israel contains half the world’s Jews- you can’t celebrate half the world’s Jewish population dying without being an antisemite.

Watch how some so-called “activists” react to the antisemitic DC murders. If you don’t hear Jews crying out about what happened, you either follow no Jews or only tokens.

[xclowniex]

I think as a society we moved way to fast past David Duke being at a pro Palestine protest.

David Duke... the former grand wizard of the KKK.

Profesional white supremist neo nazi attended a protest for brown people, and everyone still claimed there was no antisemitism present.

Let me rephrase that.

A man who dedicated his life to hating brown people and jews, rocked up to an event meant to support brown people and protest the only jewish country, and people denied that there may be an antisemitism problem.

Being pro Palestine isn't inherently antisemitic. You can criticize Israel without being antisemitic. But if David fucking Duke of all people, shows up to your protest and is on your side, maybe, just maybe, there is an antisemitism problem in your specific protest

[akajustmerry]

not sure how to say this without it being misconstrued but I as a Lebanese person who's family has fought against Zionism, and as a bonafide movie enjoyer do not know how to discuss the increase in Hollywood films (The Brutalist, A Real Pain, September 5, Lee, Emilia Perez, etc) centering Israel and the Holocaust. I do not know how to discuss that these films will be used in one way or another (intentionally or not) to manufacture consent for the US Backed Zionist genocide of Palestinians in Palestine. I don't know how to voice criticism of how the influence of military funding in Hollywood shapes patterns in which films are made and awarded that ultimately align with foreign policy - WITHOUT that criticism being dismissed antisemitic, or conspiratorial. I'm not saying at all that these films aren't important stories, or are without artistic integrity because I don't think that. It's just......again, I do not know how to say this without it being misconstrued in bad faith. I was born in the mid-90s. I grew up on post 9/11 media. I know what US-made, Hollywood-produced soft propaganda looks like and it looks like a lot of film and television being greenlit and celebrated that also happens to align with and even justify the USA's imperialist foreign policy.

[ms-demeanor]

Hey if you're thinking about reblogging a really edgy meme about Israel maybe a) don't, and b) check and see if the other people sharing that meme have literal fucking swastikas in their blog description and ask yourself why you're seeing the meme in the first place.

It's not hard to support Palestinian liberation without being antisemitic. Please make the effort to look at the sources you're seeing and at least, bare fucking minimum, the bar is on the floor, ensure that you're not reblogging holocaust deniers in your criticism of attacks on civilians.

Like. You should actually be doing a lot more than that to reject antisemitism now and always. but, genuinely, if you can't be bothered to check that you aren't sharing posts about Israel that were created by holocaust deniers then you should just not reblog anything. You have nothing to contribute and you are actively making things worse.

[germiyahu]

This phenomenon of so called Leftists throwing up their hands at the tiniest pushback, or criticism, or suggestions on how to not actively be antisemitic needs to be studied. Because what do you mean instead of just accepting that an antisemitic troll claiming to be on your side said "Zionist Occupied Government" and denouncing this and moving on with your life... you double down, defend, and deflect. It's classic DARVO, but like, when people are very patiently and slowly explaining how this is a literal KKK Nazi white supremacist fascist phrase, it's not enough? You don't care?

It's clear that the "pro Palestinian" left have been fully infiltrated by fascists, both Western fascists who have always been nakedly antisemitic and are finding the perfect avenue to mainstream their Jew hatred... and Islamist fascists who simply never cared that Jews are a global minority group that has faced oppression and violence in multiple different continents, they don't care about social justice or fundamental human rights. It's not part of their intellectual tradition.

The "pro" Palestine movement has been captured by people who have decided that a) Palestine is emblematic of all of the problems of the world, and that b) every Jew is worth sacrificing to correct these problems, because c) if Palestine is emblematic, aren't Zionists responsible for everything then?

Now the prevailing thought is that someone should be able to call for violence against Jews, someone should be able to harass or even assault Jewish Americans, because bringing it up, complaining, taking a stand, that's the equivalent of telling them you like children blowing up, you like hundreds of thousands of people being homeless and food insecure, you like prisoners being detained in Guantanamo conditions without due process, where anyone can torture them as revenge even if there's no proof they're an actual Hamas member.

Is there a reason they argue like Republican Fox News addicts? I guess that kind of explains how easily the "movement" is falling apart to literal fascists.

They say "nobody cares about your hurt feelings ZIONIST!" if you mention literal stabbings and firebombs. They say "but we should talk about how pervasively synagogues indoctrinate the vast majority of Jewish people with Zionist ideology." They roll their eyes because "don't you know Palestinians are suffering 200x what these cushy American Jews could even imagine?" Facts don't care about your feelings uwu~

But at the end of the day, they care a lot about their own feelings, much more so than the facts. They feel entitled to hate all Jews all over the planet, to secretly revel in antisemitic rhetoric and acts, to want to take out their impotent frustration and despair on any and all Jews they'd like. This is very much about their feelings and not any Jewish people's feelings.

They've been waiting for this, or many of them never cared at all. Now it's finally Leftist to quote Nazis and openly make fun of Jews who are getting stabbed. Now it's finally Leftist to call for incinerating all of Israel and maybe we should consider a lot of Diaspora Jews too, you know they can't be trusted! Oh but don't forget to honor the victims of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, innocent civilians should never have been targeted by America's vicious imperial violence!

The fact that it took this substantial contingent of watermelon twitter less than a year to go full mask off like this... is that revealing or troubling?

[vague-humanoid]

Within hours of the Palestinian armed uprising, and as Israel vowed revenge on the people of Gaza, police forces across Canada put out messages saying that they would ramp up patrols to protect Jewish Canadians.

No such messaging was put out promising to protect Palestinians. Critics say their suffering and grief was dismissed, as they were demonised and treated as a threat.

Statements by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), and city police in Vancouver, Edmonton, Calgary, Hamilton, Toronto, Ottawa and Montréal were widely decried as racist. Some Jewish critics of the Israeli state suggested that the coordinated messaging was no coincidence and likely influenced by Zionist organisations in Canada. They have also said that it is antisemitic to suggest Jewish people are a monolith or view the Israeli state or Palestinian resistance similarly.

While police had to clarify that there were no apparent threats to Jewish communities in their cities, nonetheless, the messaging signalled to Palestinians and the Palestinian solidarity movements that any planned protests would be subject to intensified surveillance and possibly criminalisation.

These fears were almost immediately realised, as photos circulated on social media showing Toronto cops confronting Palestinians and allies and trying to take down flags and banners hung in support of Palestine. People noted that the police presence was atypical as banners had previously been hung at the same location without harassment.

This reminds us that policing — in settler-colonial societies like Canada — has always been a central force for dispossession, displacement and containment.

@el-shab-hussein @quasi-normalcy

[thatweirdtranny]

i don’t know how you can look at jews’ consistent alarm-raising over the rise of antisemitism during the last several months, and see how scared jews have been, and still claim any accusation of antisemitism is an attempt to derail criticism of israel — as if jews haven’t been criticizing israel without sinking to antisemitism since the state came into existence

i don’t know how you can gaslight jews about antisemitism not being real or that serious and still call yourself a leftist when you’re nothing but a monster

[shizucheese]

So about that Dropout Tweet...

There's a common trend in influencer/ content creator apologies, where the person doing the apology will say they are sorry for the harm that they did, claim they are taking ownership of it and using the whole situation to become a better person, etc. etc. Usually in a way that makes it sound suspiciously like it was written by ChatGPT.

And then they'll go on to say something along the lines of "But we've been getting a lot of death threats guys, and that's bad!" As if the fact that they're getting death threats somehow absolves them of at least some of the guilt of whatever it is that made the apology necessary in the first place. As if it means they're the real victims here.

Apparently Dropout decided to just skip the "ChatGPT apology" part and jump straight to the "We're getting physcal and legal threats" part. Followed up with them once again saying they support Palestiniens and ending it with "We reject antisemitism, Islamophobia, and all forms of bigotry, and welcome all to our platform who treat others with respect, empathy, and human dignity."

And they did it on Twitter, and only Twitter. You know, the website that's notoriously overrun by Nazis. Nothing on Tumblr or Instagram, where the original statement that sparked all of this (which has since been taken down) were posted.

@dropoutdottv, @samreich, this is not listening to the Jewish members of your community who are speaking out about antisemitism. This is reinforcing the antisemitism that those Jewish members of the community are speaking out about. Because what this Tweet does is paint everyone who spoke out against the antisemitism in your original post with the same brush as the people who were sending you threats.

Which, let me be clear, they should not have been doing and I wholeheartedly condemn.

But the actions of the people sending you threats of violence and threats of legal action do not invalidate the things being said by the people who haven't threatened you with anything worse than a boycott. I have literally seen people say "the fact that they got threats just proves they were right." Is that the outcome you were trying to achieve with this?

People who did bad things get death threats all the time; refer back to the beginning of this post. Does that make their critics wrong then, too? Or is it only now, when the accusation being made is that a nerdy comedy network beloved by people on the left did an antisemitism?

I honestly can't tell if you have no publicist helping you out with one, a bad publicist that needs to give you your money back, or an evil genius publicist that knew that if you made a post like this one, it would distract from the fact that you're being accused of antisemitism, maybe even act as a dog whistle to to paint anyone who accuses you of being antisemitic of being "Zionists" (meant in the derogatory way, where people claim they're only talking about people who uncritically support the Israeli government and their actions in Gaza, but then in practice will use it against anyone who believes Israel has the right to exist, including those who want a two state solution, whose hearts break for the people in Palestine, and call Netanyahu a fascist and probably want him gone more than even the people calling them "zionists" do). Maybe even make up for all of the subscriptions you're losing over this and even gain a few by catering to the antisemitic leftist crowd.

Is that really the kind of culture you want to cultivate? If not, then do better. Acknowledge the Jewish voices that are speaking out. Listen to them. And do it in a way that doesn't bring up any other marginalized group. Because like...fuck, man, I reject Islamophobia, and all forms of bigotry too. And I'm sorry you guys are receiving threats; that truly does suck and I hope everyone that works for you guys are staying safe.

But you're specifically being accused of antisemitism. Can you really not reject it all on its own without including other forms of bigotry in the same statement?

And do it on a platform that *isn't* run by an infamous antisemitic, and overrun by more antisemitics? (You can turn off comments and reblogs on Tumblr and comments on instagram, in the same way you disabled replies on your Tweet, you know.)

Here, I'll even write the statement for you: "Earlier this week, we made a statement regarding accusations that Dropout was platforming zionists. At the time, we made a statement focusing on our support of the Palestinian people. We stand by this statement. However, we have received feedback from several members of our community that some of the things that we said were inappropriate insensitive to the Jewish people. "Zionist" and "Zionism" mean different things to different people, ranging from "people who support the Israeli government's actions in Gaza" to "people who believe that Israel has a right to exist and the Jewish people have the right to self-determination." We had meant it in the context of the former definition, but we understand that many Jewish people identify with the later, including many people who are disgusted by the Israeli government's actions in Gaza, and we should have been more sensitive to this fact. Additionally, we would like to reiterate that, to our knowledge, nobody who has appeared on Dropout has openly stated support for the Israelie's actions in Gaza, and several of those accused have voiced their support for a free Palestine. We would like to take this moment to remind everyone that just because a person is Jewish, and may have ties to Israel, does not inherently mean they condone the actions of the Israeli government in Gaza, and to suggest otherwise is antisemitic. We at Dropout reject all forms of antisemitism and are committed to providing a safe space to everyone regardless of religion or ethnic background. We apologize if we made the Jewish members of our community feel like that was not the case."

See how easy that was? I feel something like this is the bear minimum, and if you had said the things in the last three paragraphs from the start, you could have avoided having to say everything in the first two paragraphs and the apology at the end.

That's...pretty much everything I have to say on the matter. To anyone reading this: Do not use other Jewish people to silence Jewish voices.

Do not use people of other marginalized groups to silence Jewish voices.

Just...maybe just listen to what we have to say without twisting our words and putting words in our mouths? Maybe?

Thanks for reading.

I'm so tired.

[unbidden-yidden-deactivated20240]

I'm not 100% sure how to articulate this, but something that has been bothering me about I/P discourse (especially in the last month, it's gotten so much worse) that I haven't seen talked about in a productive way is the "yoking" effect that the extremist ugly takes create for the good-faith people just trying to talk about their issues. And I see it on both sides, and have felt compelled to act this way myself.

Essentially, when I talk about antisemitism (especially the significant spike in the last month), my goal is focused on educating people about the antisemitism and urging them to do something about their own behavior, help groups that are working on it, and/or become part of the people working on advocacy to that effect. I just want to talk about the antisemitism, and have that stand as a topic on its own terms. But the problem is, I'm a Jew and extremists on both sides have made it so that anything I post about this requires disclaimers that I also support the rights, freedoms, and care about the lives of Palestinians also. And I do! But that's not the point. The point is that Jews facing antisemitism should be able to talk about this without bringing in a whole separate topic to prove we're worth listening to. And I saw this with Israelis trying to talk about the grief they were feeling after the Hamas pogrom; they couldn't do it without either including some kind of statement about wanting peace, separating Hamas from Palestinians as a whole, etc. or face relentless antisemitic abuse.

And this effect comes both from outside people [supposedly] supporting Palestine being awful unless the Jew in question attaches sufficient disclaimers, as well as [supposedly] pro-Israel people who couldn't help themselves from spouting off dumb racist shit in their posts on otherwise valid topics.

But as I've watched things play out, and Western outsiders become more and more antisemitic in their [supposed] support of Palestine, I've noticed Palestinians and their not-antisemitic allies having to couch their [valid] criticisms of Israel with caveats about how antisemitism is not okay, or else face harassment when talking about their legitimate issues - even ones that aren't about Israel at all.

That's what I mean by "yoking" - this inability to talk about ourselves and our own issues without bad faith actors coercing us to address the other and "prove" that we're worth listening to. It's dehumanizing, because it means that our legitimate issues are always and only ever able to be discussed in the shadow of the other. They aren't allowed to stand on their own without risking harassment.

Anyway, I think the reasons we got here are complicated, but I lay most of the blame at the feet of uninvolved westerners using this conflict as a proxy for their own problems. I don't know that there's a way to fix this at this point, either, because the discourse has become so unbelievably toxic. I think the closest thing I've got is just the suggestion that if you see a Palestinian (or ally) talking about Palestinian issues and not being antisemitic about it, don't derail what they're saying even if they don't specifically denounce Hamas outright and/or antisemitism in their post. And if Jews (including and especially Israelis) are talking about antisemitism and/or legitimate issues and aren't being racist or Islamophobic about it, don't derail what we're saying even if we don't offer caveats denouncing the Israeli government and/or Islamophobia/anti-Arab racism in that specific post.

We can support each other in the face of danger and want peace without having to constantly be forced to talk about other issues and divert focus from our own issues.

[xclowniex]

fuck you Israel is the biggest driver of antisemitism

Is the multiple civil wars in Africa the biggest driver around anti black racism? Is the Chinese government the main driver for anti Chinese racism? Are hamas, houthi, hezbollah, AL Qaeda, etc the main drivers of Islamophobia?

Because the answer to all of those example is no. The main driver for those bigoted views are people who treat all groups as a monolith, where if one person does something bad then that bad thing is applied to everyone else.

The same goes for Israel. Israel didn't set out to cause antisemitism. And it's actions shouldn't. You can criticize the Israeli government without being antisemitic, and the failing to do so lies not with Israel, but with the individual who is antisemitic.

You should not be scrambling to justify your bigotry. Bigotry should not be something that is justified. Israel is not holding you at gun point forcing you to be antisemitic or they'll kill you. You make the choice every day on whether or not to be antisemitic.

[dvar-trek]

Of course you can criticize Israel without being antisemitic. It's just that none of you are fucking doing it!