The problem is that Yaakov thinks most of the world hates Israel because its Jewish, whereas most of the world actually hates Israel because of the shit it stirs up. This leads to overall Jewish hate. Basically, he suffers from "don't hate me because I'm beautiful" syndrome.
So in until 1947 people just hated Jews for being Jews, but then in 1948 everyone magically stopped hating Jews, and from then on focussed their anger on the world's only Jewish state (what a coincidence!), which was constantly stirring things up giving people an excuse to hate Jews. So really it's the Jews who are responsible for antisemitism!
There's no doubt that anti-zionism is a distinct political position from antisemitism. But you're kidding yourself if you think antisemitism is not a huge undercurrent in both anti-zionist and pro-Palestinian circles.
A really good example of this is the campaign to boycott Israel by pro-Palestinians. One might think that right from the off, people of white European ancestry would find the idea of boycotting the world's only Jewish state a bit uncomfortable - 'gee guys, isn't this power dynamic a bit too familiar, could we maybe think of something else?' - but apparently not. However, when the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas explicitly
opposed the boycotting of Israeli goods and services, so-called 'pro-Palestinians' were outraged! Hell, even Chomsky thinks boycotting Israel is going too far, but it seems some Europeans just can't resist the urge to get back to old habits and boycott the Jews! Even when it's not in the interest of (or supported by) the people they're supposedly trying to help.
I think it says worlds about the BDS movement that they are more attached to their tactics than their cause.
The UK was regularly rocked by IRA bombs between the 60s to the 90s. My own town has a momument to the people killed by explosions deliberately planted in pubs. We didn't respond by levelling half of Dublin or expanding Northern Ireland ever southwards with the backing of bulldozers. We responded with a long, patient, police and intelligence mission, identifying those individuals responsible and arresting them (sometimes wrongly, but at least we could release the Birmingham Six, rather than scraping them out of body bags). We eventually came to a settlement and talks continue to this day.
Chris, I'm no republican, but this is essentially nonsense. There was a military occupation of Northern Ireland, with over 27,000 British troops deployed in the province at the height of the conflict (for context, that is far more than were ever stationed in Afghanistan, and for extra context about 46,000 troops were used in the
invasion of Iraq in 2003). The SAS were used aggressively to hunt down and ambush IRA members/units, there were numerous incidents of the state killing unarmed civilians, and last year it came to light that
the British Army operated state-sanctioned death squads for 18 months in west Belfast. And that's before you get to incidents like
Bloody Sunday and state collusion with Loyalist forces.
All in all, I don't think the conflict in Northern Ireland is necessarily the best place to launch a critique of Israeli policy from, especially as the conflict has its roots in the settlement of Ulster by British colonists, and the resulting displacement and subjugation of Catholics.
If Israel could make peace with Egypt, then why can't they work something out with Hamas? After all, if I make them my friend, have I not destroyed them as an enemy?
Those are very different situations. After all, even Egypt doesn't get on with Hamas. I think people need to realise that Hamas are not like Fatah, and that militancy and Jihad are central to the spirit and aims of their organisation. That being said, Israel hasn't exactly jumped over itself to draw up a peace deal with Fatah either, so it's only half of an excuse.
Actually, no. But its easy enough to find. I read it quite awhile back, and didn't feel it necessary to keep a link to it. It shouldn't be hard to find, however.
Found it.
It doesn't say that all Jews must be killed, only that they are enemies for (in some cases) good reasons. It does state that Jews can live peacefully under Islam so long as they don't try to claim dominance over Islam. (Paraphrasing)
Though they are going to dissolve Israel. Also, Hama's has politically denounced the charter as irrelevant and not being followed.
Yeah, but they also say it can't be changed for "internal reasons". It's hard to see what that could mean other than it having significant internal support, even if Hamas would like to gloss over it in public.