This is not a field I have any expertise in beyond my own reflections and experiences. It's not my lane, but it is one I often get sideswiped into.
This promises to go well for me.
Whatever one thinks of the driving factors, politics, motivations, morality or inevitabilities behind Israeli government policy, it's hard to deny some of the consequences (whether you believe them deliberate or not) have been awful.
That many Jews find themselves defending Israel also makes them natural loci for criticism. We are accidental avatars of Israel abroad.
What feels different to me about Jews and Israel is the way such criticism is often phrased and positioned.
Americans being grilled on the war on drugs rarely get asked, "Do you support the US?" Nor was opposition to the UK's presence in Iraq phrased as "I support Iraq."
It's isolating and difficult.
Yet if we seem unduly sensitive, please understand anti-semitism historically rarely began as the absolutist genetic hatred of Nazi theology.
"Jews refuse to assimilate. They are greedy moneylenders. They take the University spots. They look down on us. They own all the media. They refuse to convert to our religion."
It's why we get scared as hell when someone suggests a Jew's political views are funded by "Israeli money."
We know they don't. We know they likely have Jewish friends and would be appalled at the suggestion of prejudice or anti-semitism.
If we seem paranoid or prone to overreaction, it's because people keep killing us.
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