| Topic: | Re:Re:Re:Pope calls for an immediate end to the barbarity in Palestine. | |
| Posted by: | Steven Rose | |
| Date/Time: | 28/07/25 15:28:00 |
| Regarding Robert's concern that he may be walking past people in Putney filled with hatred for Israel, I think prejudice might be a better word than hatred. This prejudice is not necessarily synonymous with anti-Semitism in the traditional sense. I doubt whether any of the contributors are Nazis. One or two could be described as anti-Zionists. They believe that the State of Israel is illegitimate, having been created upon land stolen from the Palestinians. This is a form of anti-Semitism since Israel was created as a Jewish homeland by the UN in the aftermath of the Second World War. But in my opinion most of the vociferous critics of Israel on the Forum have simply adopted the Palestinian cause in such a way that in their eyes the Palestinians can do no wrong and the Israelis can do nothing right. The main characteristics of this prejudice are 1) a reluctance to mention Hamas or the hostages and 2) a determination to convict the Israelis of inflicting ethnic cleansing, mass starvation and genocide on the Palestinians. And the worst aspect is that these critics of Israel only listen to arguments which confirm their views while ignoring contradictory evidence. They are seemingly impervious to rational argument. I can understand that people feel sympathy for the plight of Palestinian civilians and are critical of Israel's conduct of the war. What I don't understand is the one-sided nature of this criticism. |