International

[Gemini Cricket]

It's such a delicate situation. Sometimes anti-Israel feelings lead to anti-Semitism and anti-Palestine feelings lead to people being anti-Muslim. It's sad and confusing for me. This comment is not directed at anyone here.

[bewitched]

Originally Posted by Gemini Cricket

It's such a delicate situation. Sometimes anti-Israel feelings lead to anti-Semitism and anti-Palestine feelings lead to people being anti-Muslim. It's sad and confusing for me. This comment is not directed at anyone here.

I agree completely (and if you were worried that I would think you were directing that at me, I don't) but I think that is also part of the problem which has prevented a meaningful national discussion about this issue. People are afraid of being branded anti-whatever. With good reason. I mean, look at the quote in my last post. The Obama administration's position is because the president is a racist, anti-Semite not for any rational basis rooted in the idea of what is fair and what is right. Personally, I don't believe that Israel's position is fundamentally anti-anything. I think the Israeli position results from a desire to accumulate as much land as possible, whether because of biblical prophecy or because of a simple desire to expand their borders. On the other hand, I think the government of Israel, and (in more recent history) the Palestinians, have played on people's religious and ethnic prejudices for their own ends and certainly the situation has evolved to encompass anti-this vs anti-that. It is the Israeli government, not the Jewish people, who is at fault here. The fact that it happens to be a largely Jewish government is beside the point and neither excuses their actions nor should it stymie debate and criticism.