I'm Jewish clergy, which makes it even harder for me to express my thoughts on Israel and it's government. I worked for a proudly stated Zionist congregation, and I know without a doubt that if I had been honest with my thoughts on the Israeli government, I'd have been fired on the spot.
I’m Jewish clergy, which makes it even harder for me to express my thoughts on Israel and it’s government
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me.
It's very sad that someone with such an ironclad defense against charges of antisemitism is afraid to speak out. Not that I blame you a bit for keeping quiet—I keep my criticism very muted IRL and I have a lot less blowback to worry about.
I remember how people reacted to Bernie Sanders speaking in defense of Palestine. A lot of people want to act like Israel and the Jewish people of the world are one and the same and like they obviously aren’t.
I think there's a pretty key difference between expressing sympathy and support for Palestinians, which I've seen plenty of from all kinds of people - including most recently literally Obama - and looking at the murder of over a thousand civilians and saying "this is fine and justified".
I've seen little to no criticism of people who have merely expressed simple support and sympathy, and much more criticism of people doing apologia for the intentional murder of children. If that were to change, I would be greatly concerned, but that's not really what I've been seeing.
Speaking at a UN general debate on the Middle East in New York, Guterres created fury when he said: “It is important to … recognise the attacks by Hamas did not happen in a vacuum. The Palestinian people have been subjected to 56 years of suffocating occupation.”
He also said no injustice to the Palestinians could justify the appalling attacks by Hamas
Israel's response is deny visas to UN reps. You've had your head in the sand
Yep, I saw that, and Israel is being stupidly hard-headed, which is hardly unusual. I'm by no means saying that they're perfect at all, and I'd actually agree that the contextual resentment and anger that Palestinians have towards Israel is justified, even if the terrorism is not.
He also said no injustice to the Palestinians could justify the appalling attacks by Hamas
I would agree with that, and I think most people would. Again, I'm by no means saying that the IDF is remotely perfect or that they're not being too harsh in their response, but there's a meaningful difference between collateral damage in an extremely dense urban environment and storming a village to shoot every civilian you can find, up to and including children. That is something that I would say can never be justified, ever.
Again, this is not to say that the IDF shouldn't be criticized for the severity of its retaliation, just to be explicitly clear.