ok, this still applies, but in hindsight, me perceiving someone being critical of Israeli civilians potentially leading to antisemitism while also finding the idea of someone perceiving me as fascist for defending criticisms of Hamas outlandish is a bit hypocritical.
~ on a entirely separate note but bc this has been referenced again and i wasnt present at the time of this post, there is no "danger of criticism of israel leading to antisemitism." this is a specific propoganda apparatus that zionism has spent decades building and the process of the zionist state achieving hegemonic control over defining, investigating, and criticizing "antisemitism" (quotes bc its rly what it considers to be antisemitism, under the philosemitic redefinition, which is very different from actual antisemitism).
most zionists are not jewish, the largest zionist organizations are explicitly christian, and the primary material forces that are responsible for the 'creation' of the zionist entity as a State and for maintaining it over the past 80 years have nothing to do with jewish people. to the extent there is any connection between zionism and actual antisemitism, the connection is that zionism has allied with antisemitism throughout its history (both before and after 1948), and they feed off of each other by design. the likud tried to form an alliance with hitler and mussolini during wwii. theodor herzl always propogated that antisemites (ie euroamerikan antisemites, antisemitism was a specifically european phenomenon but also herzl didnt gaf about the colonized world he was only thinking of europeans) would be the biggest allies of zionism bc antisemitic europeans didnt want jews in their own countries. zionism materially requires the continuation of antisemitism around the world in order to incentivize people to leave their homes and become settler colonists, and it works to produce such antisemitism by carrying out imperialist violence in the name of jewish people and insisting that the only way to oppose that imperial violence is to be antisemitic. this can be seen historically in the zionist entity's alliances with the most extreme white supremacist governments around the world ever since 1948. in the cases of apartheid south africa and Pinochet's military dictatorship in chile, the zionist state was one of the biggest suppliers of weapons to these regimes and they would not have been able to carry out their mass crimes at scale without its assistance. ('supplier' can be in quotes bc the zionist entity was mainly acting as a middleman for eg the us government to ship weapons to these regimes, enabling the us to pretend to adhere to a boycott of apartheid south africa or to distance itself from the pinochet regime that it had itself installed). israel today openly discusses the importance of its alliances with antisemitic regimes in poland and hungary, and eg in 2021 when poland passed the restitution law denying all future legal claims regarding property in poland stolen by nazis, there were some initial symbolic/performative reactions but ultimately zionism and particularly far right zionism (ofc all zionism is far right, but the 'far right within zionism') was very clear that the value of its alliances with fascist regimes in eastern europe were much more important than the conditions or safety of jewish people in those countries.
antizionism and antisemitism are associated in discourse entirely because of an ideological campaign that has fought to do so, and to present white supremacist zionist organizations like the ADL as "authorities on antisemitism." the ADL has propogated violence against black and indigenous leftists throughout its history, its is ofc absurd for an organization that has acted to defend white supremacy at every turn to be represented as an "authority on antisemitism", but this is the world we live in under the philosemitic redefinition and weaponization of antisemitism.
https://droptheadl.org/
"in assigning itself the role of “protector of Jews”, white Euro-America becomes responsible for defining who is a Jew and who is a threat to the Jews. When philosemitic white Euro-America is defining the Jew, that they will then “protect,” they find that the real Jewish community doesn’t so neatly fit into the box they have crafted for us. Because of the contradictions created by the philosemitic definition of Jew, in the public conscience, Jew necessarily becomes a term removed from the Jewish people and antisemite becomes a fluid category which serves as a rhetorical tool to push philosemitism. Jews become ideas, as opposed to real people. This is why Mike Pence can host a Christian “rabbi” in the wake of an antisemitic massacre.
"The Jewish people who agree with philosemites about the definition of antisemitism are publicly ‘respected’ while the Jewish people who disagree with the philosemitic definition of antisemitism are discredited and delegitimized. The Jewish people who agree with this definition are bestowed with the ability to be spokespeople about what antisemitism is and how it must be fought. The people who refuse to accept that philosemitic redefinition of antisemitism, including Jewish people, are conversely held to be a threat to the Jews."
criticism of israel does not carry a "danger of leading to antisemitism". if anything carries a "danger of leading to antisemitism", it is limiting one's criticism of israel in a way that keeps within the boundaries of philosemitism.
"The anti-fascist anti-colonial struggle being waged by the anti-zionist resistance, against genocidal zionist colonialism, is piercing the heart of the systems of global white supremacy and ‘western civilization’ that have made philosemitism a core component of their identity. and it is these very systems that produce antisemitism in the first place. In this way, every booby trap set by the anti-zionist resistance which detonates under a tank on its way to raze a Palestinian neighborhood and every well-placed sniper shot brings us closer to a world without antisemitism.
In effect, it is those deemed ‘antisemites’ by the philosemitic white supremacist world that are fighting antisemitism. We must join them in this fight, celebrate their successes and mourn their martyrs, study their tactics and ideas, and do everything in our power to put an end to the zionist genocide." (
https://emcohen.medium.com/the-only-way-out-is-through-e9f209d05338)