Whoever paid for the billboards, antisemitic hate is on the rise in the US.
One can denounce antisemitism and recognize that criticism of the state of Israel when deserved is not the same.
https://www.statista.com/chart/amp/9128/anti-semitic-incidents-are-surging-in-the-us/
Here is more about the group putting up the billboards. I am against antisemitic hate. Clearly, the billboards are controversial within the Jewish community.
https://forward.com/culture/503633/jewbelongs-billboards-are-everywhere-what-are-they-selling/
the dot org on the billboard redirects to this dot com
https://www.jewbelong.com/more/antisemitism/
Which does not seem to "recognize that criticism of the state of Israel when deserved is not the same".
Their definition of what counts as acceptable criticism of Israel excludes criticism of their treatment of Palestinians, and almost all international criticism?
"Iran and Syria are worse" is the lowest of low bars for judging the human rights record of a government.
… there are many valid criticisms of Iran and Iran's treatment of Palestinians is not high on that very long list, but it's at the top of any list of reasonable criticisms of Israel.
My distinction between criticism and antisemitism would be whether it recognizes (for example) the difference between a Russian or Ukrainian moving to Tel Aviv and a US American moving to the West Bank.
Love the sign. We may need it here.
Now, do a billboard about the mistreatment and repression of Palestinians, and the official right-wing Zionist ruling coalition government's explicit policy of apartheid and direct support for illegal settlements and direct terrorist assaults on Palestinians.
Yes, antisemitism is very, very wrong. Hatred and violence directed at Jewish people is not acceptable. Neither is hatred and violence directed *by* Zionist fascists towards anyone else.
^^
Whataboutism is a debate tactic aimed at distracting the proponent by diversion to an irrelevant (although often adjacent) subject.
This reply post is a good example of the technique.
The original post is about the Jews and antisemitism.
Jews and Israel are not synonymous.
Never said that they were, and I did note that antisemitism is most definitely not acceptable.
However, it is NOT "whataboutism" to note the actions of the current Israeli government, its exploitive use of Zionism, and its claim to represent all Jewish people in the diaspora, to justify their ethnic cleansing policy.
That is as legitimate an issue as classic antisemitism. The charge of "whataboutism" goes both ways.
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