“We hope the world hears us and knows that the people of Israel are not the government of Israel,” said one protester.
Israelis protested on Saturday night, calling for a ceasefire and the resignation of hardline Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Tens of thousands took to the streets in Tel Aviv to demand that the government reach a deal with Hamas to secure the release of Israeli hostages in Gaza.
They also called for new elections, accusing Netanyahu of prolonging the conflict to keep himself in power.
I keep seeing this comment but what people seem to not realize is they won’t be called anti-semitic. We assume they will because that’s what we’ve seen a lot from some groups, but they don’t see anything inconsistent with not applying it more widely. Calling someone anti-semitic (outside of legitimate cases which sadly have happened a lot as well) is just an easy cudgel bad faith actors deploy because it’s basically an automatic W in an argument/accusation.
So you’re saying Israelis protesting the genocide won’t be called antisemitic while non Israelis still may and those doing the name calling don’t realize their hypocrisy? Just trying to understand.
The people who are throwing around the term “anti-Semitic“ to critique basically anybody who criticizes Israel and its government are unlikely to critique people who live in Israel protesting this, yes. I’m sure we can find examples of people who will, but likely they will just kind of pretend it’s not happening or tell themselves it is a small minority that doesn’t need to be addressed (or whatever mental gymnastics they feel like using)
They don’t get called antisemitic, they get called “self hating Jews”.