Is the American public turning on Israel?

[Landslide Lyndon]

You can thank Netanyahu for Israel becoming a partisan issue. The guy is capable of killing his family if he believes that will result in some kind of short-term political gain for him personally.

[All Along The Watchtower]

You can thank Netanyahu for Israel becoming a partisan issue. The guy is capable of killing his family

ok this isn't necessary

[The Undefeatable Debbie Stabenow]

I think (and hope) Americans are not "turning on Israel" as much as they are starting to be bothered by the United States' policy regarding Israel, which especially under this current administration often appears to be blind loyalty (culminating in the moving of the embassy to Jerusalem). I think Obama was on the right track towards the end of his presidency when he began to take a step back from the United States' traditionally vigorous support for Israel, even just a little bit (notably not vetoing the UN resolution condemning Israeli settlement expansion). It's also probably within the United States' own best interests to move towards a more neutral position on this issue, because with each day that we continue to seemingly solely consider Israel's interests, we more and more forfeit our credibility as a negotiating broker between Israel and Palestine.

I personally don't have strong feelings of love or hatred for either Israel or Palestine, but our current government (both the current presidential administration and the legislature) is deeply pro-Israel overall, so I would like to see some politicians more sympathetic to Palestinian causes brought into the fold in order to even the playing field out a bit. I think human rights and the well-being of citizens on both sides should be our priority, and both Israel and Palestine often come short on promoting those things, so we should always being willing to stand up against either one when they commit any sort of serious misstep instead of always overlooking the Israeli government's violations in this regard. Even many of the staunchly pro-Israel people I know still disagree with many of the Israeli government's decisions, such as their reaction to the Gaza protests and the settlement situation.

[Meclazine for Israel]

....but also, the political opportunism of Clash of Civilizations-types on the Far Right who constantly scream about how the violent browns Arabs/Muslims are out of control and how Israel is on the front lines of The War.

That is exactly where this will end up.

We have tried negotiating with the Palestinians for >40 years and nothing has ever come of it.

Some kid in 10 years time will pick up rocks, fire a mortar or strap on a vest and attack Israel.

Whilst ever Fox News shows live mortar attacks from Gaza into Israel, this further entrenches the exact point you are making in the minds of millions of people worldwide.

Israel becomes the defined front line against the ideology that brought down the Twin Towers on September 11th.

It really is that simple for many people.

We have a generation of people who basically experienced a Pearl Harbour experience in our life time.

People dont forgive or forget. It is part of or psyche.

[CookieDamage]

The one thing that is really bothersome about some anti-Israel people is that they always say something like "well, if I could go back in time, I'd prevent zionists/Jews from coming to Palestine and settling." And I always wonder if they know how bad that would be for Jews in Europe. Like, no, the existence of Israel didn't save Jews from the holocaust, but Israel was a home for many Jews who were fleeing post-war pogroms and expulsions from Middle East countries and generally anti-semitic environments. Preventing Jews from ever even settling there would have disastrous consequences for them all over the world. The rise of right-wingers in America and Poland and all these countries isn't a very welcoming sign, so when people say Jews should have never gone to Palestine, or Jews should "go back to where they came from" I hope they know they're sending Jews back to an increasingly anti-semitic and dangerous world.

EDIT: It's especially funny when some white college student from Wisconsin wants Israeli's to pack up and leave "indigenous land"... As if he or she isn't living on an entirely colonized continent.

[dead0man]

They think carving out some chunk of Germany post WWII and giving that to the Jews would have been a good idea.  Imagine being a European Jewish person in 45-46.  Would you really want to live surrounded by and living in the homes of a people that just tried to murder your entire race? Maybe, MAYBE, if they hadn't just suffered through two millennia of anti-Semiticism it wouldn't have been a horrible idea.  But they had.  Sure, Arabs hated Jews just as much Nazis did, but they had (have) incompetent militaries.  The survival of the Jewish people was much more likely in Levant than in Leipzig, easier in Palestine than in the Palatinate.


Plus, ya know, their homeland and all.

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

They think carving out some chunk of Germany post WWII and giving that to the Jews would have been a good idea.  Imagine being a European Jewish person in 45-46.  Would you really want to live surrounded by and living in the homes of a people that just tried to murder your entire race? Maybe, MAYBE, if they hadn't just suffered through two millennia of anti-Semiticism it wouldn't have been a horrible idea.  But they had.  Sure, Arabs hated Jews just as much Nazis did, but they had (have) incompetent militaries.  The survival of the Jewish people was much more likely in Levant than in Leipzig, easier in Palestine than in the Palatinate.


Plus, ya know, their homeland and all.

Not to mention, it would have been about ten years before the Soviets rolled in with tanks and put that Jewish bantustan under communist rule anyway.

[All Along The Watchtower]

Sure, Arabs hated Jews just as much Nazis did

no

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

Sure, Arabs hated Jews just as much Nazis did

no

The leader of the Arabs in British Palestine literally asked Hitler to exterminate the Jewish population in the region when he invaded.

[Rookie Yinzer]

U.S. policy regarding Israel is god-awful and I'm tired of being called anti-Semetic for feeling that way. They commit atrocities on a daily basis and we are supposed to keep sending them billions of dollars of our money their way like blind sheep.

[All Along The Watchtower]

They think carving out some chunk of Germany post WWII and giving that to the Jews would have been a good idea.  Imagine being a European Jewish person in 45-46.  Would you really want to live surrounded by and living in the homes of a people that just tried to murder your entire race? Maybe, MAYBE, if they hadn't just suffered through two millennia of anti-Semiticism it wouldn't have been a horrible idea.  But they had.  Sure, Arabs hated Jews just as much Nazis did, but they had (have) incompetent militaries.  The survival of the Jewish people was much more likely in Levant than in Leipzig, easier in Palestine than in the Palatinate.


Plus, ya know, their homeland and all.

As opposed to “the Arabs” in Palestine - as if all Arabs are interchangeable and should be expected/demanded to just up and move elsewhere in the Arab world. No homeland for them in Palestine, even though they had been living there for 1000 years by the 20th century.

In this particular context (among others), the Middle East has paid for Europe’s sins (and, indirectly, those of the US - turning away ships with Holocaust refugees on board really has aged well!).  Surely that’s not right?




 

[Stand With Israel. Crush Hamas]

U.S. policy regarding Israel is god-awful and I'm tired of being called anti-Semetic for feeling that way. They commit atrocities on a daily basis and we are supposed to keep sending them billions of dollars of our money their way like blind sheep.

You should probably focus on the much larger-scale atrocities (if we're defining them that way, which I don't) that the US is committing on a daily basis, if you don't want to be called anti-semitic for fixating on Israel.

[dead0man]

They think carving out some chunk of Germany post WWII and giving that to the Jews would have been a good idea.  Imagine being a European Jewish person in 45-46.  Would you really want to live surrounded by and living in the homes of a people that just tried to murder your entire race? Maybe, MAYBE, if they hadn't just suffered through two millennia of anti-Semiticism it wouldn't have been a horrible idea.  But they had.  Sure, Arabs hated Jews just as much Nazis did, but they had (have) incompetent militaries.  The survival of the Jewish people was much more likely in Levant than in Leipzig, easier in Palestine than in the Palatinate.


Plus, ya know, their homeland and all.

As opposed to “the Arabs” in Palestine - as if all Arabs are interchangeable and should be expected/demanded to just up and move elsewhere in the Arab world. No homeland for them in Palestine, even though they had been living there for 1000 years by the 20th century.

except neither I, nor the British in 1947 said it was ONLY for Jews.  If you recall, the Arabs had most of Palestine, but they were like you and thought only one Flying Spaghetti monster should be able to be worshiped in the area so they tried to "push 'em in to the sea".  Thank Og that didn't work out for them.  Arabs can and do exist in great numbers in Palestine, much larger numbers than in 1947.  Arabs that can play well with others can do quite well in Israel.