LiberalFox

From my experience much of what might be considered antisemitic on the left stems from emotional immaturity and black and white thinking. Day to day it is more the product of an empathy gap, what some might call 'microaggressions'. That's usually due to ignorance rather than a genuine attempt to be hurtful. As you trend towards the right and far right then it's increasingly more about supremacist beliefs and thought patterns and finally you have the people who take pleasure in causing suffering to other people. This is observational - I'm not myself Jewish. I'm also speaking of what I think motivates people who are antisemitic rather than what makes something specifically antisemitic.

I'm not anti-Israel but I think it's unjust what is happening in Gaza. We can debate hypothetically what 'we' (Britain) would do if faced with a similar situation but we aren't and we wouldn't be because we're a European nation whose borders and relationship with neighbouring countries have been established over 100's if not 1000s of years and our sovereignty is respected. If some British based group went and carried out an atrocity in say France and killed a bunch of people then it wouldn't be seen as acceptable for the French air force to respond by dropping bombs on a British housing estate, killing 100 civilians. But if you live in Gaza it seems you have no state to back you up. If you don't like Hamas you can't vote them out. If you don't want to live there you can't leave either. Who decides how many children it is acceptable to kill in order to destroy Hamas? In reality it is Israel with the USA acting as the ultimate backstop. For all the talk about Israel being surrounded by enemies I'm not sure that holds true. Egypt and Jordan are both US client states. The USA makes sure Israel's armed forces massively overmatch any of them. There's really no world where either of those countries are able to intervene militarily. They have to make their case to the US who then ask the Israelis to be a bit more careful. Iran is the source of Israel's greatest military threat and groups like Hamas are its proxies even if it doesn't control them directly. I fail to see how this is going to make the region more peaceful. Will it remove the motive for young Palestinians to become drawn into extremism? Will it neutralize Iran's claim to be the only nation standing up for Palestinians? Who is going to run the Gaza strip once the IDF have declared victory? Who is going to pay to rebuild all the homes and schools and places of work that have been destroyed? I feel like the only hope is that Israel elects a far more moderate government in the near future and that increased world attention makes this a much bigger issue for whoever wins the US presidency. Of course as a British person while I'm free to be critical of things my government does in the present and historically, I don't need to fear that this could be used as a pretext for the complete destruction of the British state and result in my forced removal from my own country. I've always found it a bit easier to understand and sympathise with Israel. As I understand it the desire is for a Jewish majority state with continuous and defensible borders. The state of Israel has given Jewish people somewhere they don't have to barter for their rights and provided access to the most holy sites in Judaism. I do think Israel and the existence of a Jewish state is a good thing.

Fair enough. I know a bit about Israeli history and talk a little with some Israelis (over the internet) but I won't pretend to know everything. I'm aware they are usually very willing to consider negotiating over hostages so wondered if there's been a sudden shift in policy.

Hasn't Netanyahu refused to meet with families of hostages or attend any of the funerals for the people who were killed? Doesn't seem like a man particularly bothered about his own people.

If it was the thread about moderation then don't take it personally. It says nothing about you but a lot about them. People tell on themselves. Well done for not reacting.