As a Jewish American, I can. Thanks to Israel, I get faced with a lot more antisemitic bullshit, especially from people who think that, as a Jew, I must support Israel. Once society does decide Israelis are the same as Nazis, people like me are kind of fucked.
I blame Israel, obviously. They’ve emboldened antisemites in the rest of the world and created new ones.
Zionists, Israelis and Jews aren’t (and shouldn’t be treated as) the same group, though. I mean there are ignorant people who don’t understand the difference, but ignorant people are gonna be ignorant either way.
The problem is that this sort of thing emboldens bigots and it’s not hard for bigotry to spread once it’s started.
It’s a very short step from rightfully blaming Israel for this genocide to wrongfully blaming all Jews for it.
The same thing happened when Israel cracked down on the intifadas. I kept having to explain that I didn’t support Israel when people pointed fingers at me and they didn’t always believe it. But even the accusation is pretty damn bigoted and it didn’t happen only once and from plenty of people on my left-wing side of the spectrum sadly.
Admittedly, I’ve only had to do that once so far since this current genocide has started, but I doubt it will be only once.
If you don’t think these sorts of situations make bigotry far worse, ask any Muslim that was in America after 9/11. Or even any Sikh considering lots of idiots who suddenly embraced bigotry thought turban = Muslim.
As a Jewish American, I can. Thanks to Israel, I get faced with a lot more antisemitic bullshit, especially from people who think that, as a Jew, I must support Israel. Once society does decide Israelis are the same as Nazis, people like me are kind of fucked.
I blame Israel, obviously. They’ve emboldened antisemites in the rest of the world and created new ones.
Zionists, Israelis and Jews aren’t (and shouldn’t be treated as) the same group, though. I mean there are ignorant people who don’t understand the difference, but ignorant people are gonna be ignorant either way.
The problem is that this sort of thing emboldens bigots and it’s not hard for bigotry to spread once it’s started.
It’s a very short step from rightfully blaming Israel for this genocide to wrongfully blaming all Jews for it.
The same thing happened when Israel cracked down on the intifadas. I kept having to explain that I didn’t support Israel when people pointed fingers at me and they didn’t always believe it. But even the accusation is pretty damn bigoted and it didn’t happen only once and from plenty of people on my left-wing side of the spectrum sadly.
Admittedly, I’ve only had to do that once so far since this current genocide has started, but I doubt it will be only once.
If you don’t think these sorts of situations make bigotry far worse, ask any Muslim that was in America after 9/11. Or even any Sikh considering lots of idiots who suddenly embraced bigotry thought turban = Muslim.