What counts as antisemitism?
By Ashley Church
Irish politician Conor O'Brien once described antisemitism as 'a very light sleeper' by which he meant that it is never far from the surface and always ready to flare up.
Indeed, it's on the rise again. The months since October constitute the worst period of antisemitism since WW2 and attacks on Jews have increased exponentially as students, the woke, the MSM and white supremacists have converged in an orgy of unrestrained hatred.
But what about you? Are you part of this phenomenon of neo-antisemitism?
Take this quick test to find out:
- Do you instinctively assume that the Israelis are the 'bad guys' and the Palestinians are the 'good guys' - without any real understanding of the issues and history?
- Do you use the term 'genocide' to describe what Israel is doing in Gaza, even though you've never actually checked the meaning of that term?
- Did you remain silent while real genocide was taking place in other parts of the Middle East, with over a million people being killed in wars there over the past 20 years?
- Do you view the terrorists who took part in the unprovoked attack of October 7 as 'freedom fighters', despite the fact that they murdered over 1,200 people in cold blood, raped dozens of women, beheaded babies and are still holding over 100 hostages?
- Do you accept the Gaza death toll being reported through media, even though this number is completely unverified and comes from the Hamas controlled Gaza Health Ministry?
- Have you called for an end to 'the occupation' - even though Israel had zero presence in Gaza between 2005 and 2023?
- Do you believe that Israel practices 'apartheid' even though 20% of the population of Israel is Arab and these people have the same rights as all other Israelis?
- Have you ignored the fact that the Hamas Charter calls for, first, the annihilation of Israel and every Jew in the world and then you (as a corrupt westerner)?
- Do you think this could all be resolved if only Israel would agree to giving the Palestinians their own state - even though Israel has agreed to this on multiple occasions and the Palestinians have rejected it?
- Do you believe that the Jews are behind global initiatives to control the world even though such conspiracy theories border on the insane?
- Do you refer to the Jews as 'colonisers' even though their historic ties and contemporary claim to the land of Israel are overwhelming?
- Do you believe that Israel should 'return the land' even though no independent 'state of Palestine' has ever existed, in history?
- Did you buy into the claim that Jesus was a 'Palestinian', despite overwhelming evidence that He was Jewish?
- Do you feel defensive when faced with facts such as these?
If you've answered 'yes' to any of these, you're harbouring distorted antisemitic views, and I would encourage you to examine them.
My article at www.voicesforisrael.co.nz is easy to read and will give you clear information about what's really going on in Israel.