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Nope.
There are many valid critiques of the state of Israel.
There are also many antisemites who use "Israel" to antisemitically dogwhistle about Jews.
When someone suggests that Israel is pedophilic and should be deliberately infected with COVID...
That's antisemitism. https://twitter.com/bmcgrub/status/1253389856538898432
There are many valid critiques of the state of Israel.
There are also many antisemites who use "Israel" to antisemitically dogwhistle about Jews.
When someone suggests that Israel is pedophilic and should be deliberately infected with COVID...
That's antisemitism. https://twitter.com/bmcgrub/status/1253389856538898432
And since people are excitedly sharing decontextualized screenshots of me saying-- seven months after the initial incident, and in defense of Ilhan Omar-- that Ilhan Omar's is not an antisemite, but that her "Benjamins" tweet inadvertently invoked an antisemitic trope...
...let's revisit that conversation.
Because it's about just this kind of thing.
If you aren't regularly exposed to antisemitic tropes, it's easy to inadvertently invoke them when making absolutely valid critiques about the state of Israel.
Because it's about just this kind of thing.
If you aren't regularly exposed to antisemitic tropes, it's easy to inadvertently invoke them when making absolutely valid critiques about the state of Israel.
In that conversation, another antifascist had used Ilhan Omar's "benjamins" tweet as an example of how the left tolerates antisemitism, and I objected.
Because, yes, it was a tweet that could be interpreted as agreeing with antisemitic tropes about money-grubbing ZOG Jews.
Because, yes, it was a tweet that could be interpreted as agreeing with antisemitic tropes about money-grubbing ZOG Jews.
But, as I said then, I didn't buy that there was any deliberate reinforcement of those tropes.
The fact is, unless you a) study Nazis and antisemitism, or b) are a Nazi or an antisemite, it's easy to be ignorant of how these tropes get used & evoked. https://twitter.com/gwensnyderPHL/status/1180163160004861952
The fact is, unless you a) study Nazis and antisemitism, or b) are a Nazi or an antisemite, it's easy to be ignorant of how these tropes get used & evoked. https://twitter.com/gwensnyderPHL/status/1180163160004861952
As I said back then, there are disingenuous actors who will call out *any* critique of the state of Israel as antisemitic.
For a lot of people on the left, that deliberate & disingenuous conflation makes us suspicious of antisemitism callouts in general. https://twitter.com/gwensnyderPHL/status/1180167902886060032
For a lot of people on the left, that deliberate & disingenuous conflation makes us suspicious of antisemitism callouts in general. https://twitter.com/gwensnyderPHL/status/1180167902886060032
We hear people screaming wolf, saying it's antisemitic to critique AIPAC or to name the state of Israel's war crimes.
We stop believing the callouts or learning about the dogwhistles.
We tune it out & end up dangerously ignorant of actual antisemitism. https://twitter.com/gwensnyderPHL/status/1180169282417840128
We stop believing the callouts or learning about the dogwhistles.
We tune it out & end up dangerously ignorant of actual antisemitism. https://twitter.com/gwensnyderPHL/status/1180169282417840128
As I said then, I know it because I lived it.
I saw so many disingenuous people calling it "antisemitic" to critique the Israeli state that I began to think, well, if antisemitism only ever gets brought up to defend the Israeli state, maybe there's not much of it left anymore.
I saw so many disingenuous people calling it "antisemitic" to critique the Israeli state that I began to think, well, if antisemitism only ever gets brought up to defend the Israeli state, maybe there's not much of it left anymore.
And by the way, this is entirely in agreement with Ilhan Omar's response to the incident.
She said herself that she accidentally and unknowingly invoked an antisemitic trope with that tweet.
This was me saying I believed her.
She said herself that she accidentally and unknowingly invoked an antisemitic trope with that tweet.
This was me saying I believed her.
When I say Brace Belden pushes antisemitic conspiracy theories about Israel promoting pedophilia, it's not because I think it's antisemitic to critique the Israeli state.
It's because "Jews=pedophiles" is an enormously popular antisemitic conspiracy theory, & he's promoting it.
It's because "Jews=pedophiles" is an enormously popular antisemitic conspiracy theory, & he's promoting it.
And in this case, there's no doubt Belden knows exactly what he's doing.
You just cannot read up on pedophilia conspiracy theories without *immediately* coming into contact with deeply antisemitic content.
He literally does a podcast about this shit.
He knows.
You just cannot read up on pedophilia conspiracy theories without *immediately* coming into contact with deeply antisemitic content.
He literally does a podcast about this shit.
He knows.
And you can be like, "no here's that article about Israel sheltering Jewish pedophiles, he's right."
But Belden isn't critiquing a shitty, fucked up policy.
He's arguing that Israel is *intrinsically* pedophilic.
Just like the Nazis did when that article first came out.
But Belden isn't critiquing a shitty, fucked up policy.
He's arguing that Israel is *intrinsically* pedophilic.
Just like the Nazis did when that article first came out.
Belden's going around "joking" about how his trolls should go to Israel if they get infected with COVID.
That's not "joking" about the state of Israel.
That's "joking" about genocide against Jewish people.
That's not "joking" about the state of Israel.
That's "joking" about genocide against Jewish people.
(And that landlord bit? It isn't random. References to NJ/NY landlords are very specifically an antisemitic dogwhistle of their own, a point the Nazbols tried to leverage when they attempted to co-opt rent strike discourse last month) https://twitter.com/gwensnyderPHL/status/1242621479444979721
(Yeah definitely not a popular Nazi talking point used on not only Nazbol channels but straight up terror Nazi telegram or anything)
Belden is dogwhistling full Wagner operas.
Meanwhile, all of a sudden his anti-idpol supporters have become EXTREMELY outraged about how it's bad intersectionality for a non-Jewish person to call him out for it.
I'm sure that's definitely being done in good faith.
Meanwhile, all of a sudden his anti-idpol supporters have become EXTREMELY outraged about how it's bad intersectionality for a non-Jewish person to call him out for it.
I'm sure that's definitely being done in good faith.
Being Jewish is not a "get out of being a Nazi" free pass, ever.
It is not a get out of "non-Jews pointing out that you profit from a virulently antisemitic enterprise" jail free card.
It is not a get out of "non-Jews pointing out that you profit from a virulently antisemitic enterprise" jail free card.
Intersectional politics on this says, it's not my job to tell other Jews what they are or are not allowed to feel or say or think about the fact that Belden is spouting Nazi propaganda.
It doesn't say I'm not allowed to name the fact that it's happening.
It doesn't say I'm not allowed to name the fact that it's happening.
And isn't it strange that none of these Defenders of Jewish Intersectional Rules showed up when my post about how Ben Shapiro is an opening to a fascist pipeline went viral?
I wonder what that's about.
I wonder what that's about.
I'm sure it's just that they were logged off that day.
I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that antisemites would like to silence a valid critique of a man who is inundating his 40k-plus Twitter following with what is literally Nazi propaganda.
I'm sure it doesn't have anything to do with the fact that antisemites would like to silence a valid critique of a man who is inundating his 40k-plus Twitter following with what is literally Nazi propaganda.
I mean, it couldn't be that the audiences of dirtbag left podcasts are falling into an antisemitic rabbithole because Chapo has introduced them to a bunch of cryptofash that become less and less crypto the farther they fall, right?
It couldn't be that those not-so-cryptos are weaponizing their new troll armies and and directing them to brigade and mass-harass anyone who dares be like, "the emperor has no clothes and uh also he's covered in swastika tattoos."
Right?
Right?
It's definitely far more likely that a crowd of trolls assembled around a bunch of "ironically" antisemitic niche celebrities preaching a virulent hatred of "idpol" all simultaneously became staunch defenders of both Judaism and intersectionalism.
Yeah, that's definitely what happened.
(fin)
