It’s actually worse than that. For decades the media, politicians, and the Israeli government have deliberately conflated Israel, the country, with the Israeli government/leadership, the Israeli population, Judaism, the religion, and the Jewish community more broadly (including the diaspora).
So now any criticism of the Israeli government is a criticism of the country, the people, and the religion simultaneously, depending on what’s most convenient.
And there’s a few rather alarming types of political movements that deliberately blur the lines between the people, the state, and the leadership (and in this case the dominant religion) in order to minimize criticism and maximize loyalty…
Yes! Thank you for putting this out there. I always forget about that aspect of it, and I was actually just listening to an episode of Hood Politics (You wasn’t outside part 2) that went over this and had a really good set of clips from a rabbi that expounded on this very topic.
Very nice, succinct example of exactly what I was talking about: by blurring the line between Judaism, the Jewish people, and the Israeli state, folks like you can paint any kind of criticism of Israeli government action, their supporters in media, or allied governments, as antisemitic, thereby shutting down reasonable discussion. Truly a thought terminating comment. Well done.
Such a clear attempt to stop or totally derail conversation. I’ve taken to just blocking these accounts, but that’s only good for me, not the wider community.
It’s actually worse than that. For decades the media, politicians, and the Israeli government have deliberately conflated Israel, the country, with the Israeli government/leadership, the Israeli population, Judaism, the religion, and the Jewish community more broadly (including the diaspora).
So now any criticism of the Israeli government is a criticism of the country, the people, and the religion simultaneously, depending on what’s most convenient.
And there’s a few rather alarming types of political movements that deliberately blur the lines between the people, the state, and the leadership (and in this case the dominant religion) in order to minimize criticism and maximize loyalty…
Yes! Thank you for putting this out there. I always forget about that aspect of it, and I was actually just listening to an episode of Hood Politics (You wasn’t outside part 2) that went over this and had a really good set of clips from a rabbi that expounded on this very topic.
So Cartman was right they control the world.
Very nice, succinct example of exactly what I was talking about: by blurring the line between Judaism, the Jewish people, and the Israeli state, folks like you can paint any kind of criticism of Israeli government action, their supporters in media, or allied governments, as antisemitic, thereby shutting down reasonable discussion. Truly a thought terminating comment. Well done.
Such a clear attempt to stop or totally derail conversation. I’ve taken to just blocking these accounts, but that’s only good for me, not the wider community.