Thread by @shevereshtus

Celebrities attacking Israel or showing 'solidarity with palestine' is common not because of antisemitism, but because it's the easiest low-risk way to establish an illusion of social consciousness with as little backlash or cost possible.

A cynical thread about self-serving PR.

1) Brand recognition

The I/p conflict is by far the most recognizable out there. Did you know that 31 armed conflicts killed more people than the I/p clashes from last year? That all of them had a far higher ratio of civilians:combatants deaths? Neither does the average IG user.

When you express an opinion on I/p, everyone immediately knows what you're talking about. If you talk about Tigray, most of your fans won't know what you're referencing, and the impact is going to be minimal. If you talk about other conflicts, you might ruffle the wrong feathers.

No one who has any stake in the Chinese market, or gets Chinese money through American-owned Universities or companies is ever gonna say anything about the Uyghur in China. Nothing to gain, everything to lose. You think they want to learn mandarin so they can apologize on video?

2) Low Risk

Ever since the end of the Six Day War, there has more or less been an agreement in the Western World about the I/p conflict. As far as the political Left/the art world/the media/academia are concerned, Israel is the bad guy. No two ways about it.

Sure, political perception in America differs from Europe, and your average citizen tends to be more pro-Israel, but it it was always the 'trendy' thing to be when it comes to Left/art/media/academia.

And thanks to the latter, America is slowly trending towards the European view

So not only are you going along the consensus with your peers, but there are two corollaries:

a) 'If the pro-Israel public gets offended, so what?'
b) 'If Jews get offended, so what?'

The Pro-Israel side doesn't riot, stop speakers from doing their speeches, boycott, threaten or organize campaign for the most part. B&J is the exception, not the rule. How many people stopped listening to Pink Floyd because of RW? How many Dua Lipa fans dropped her as a result?

At the end of the day, most people on the Israel side who hear a musician or artist or intellectual make an anti-Israel statement will simply shrug it off, say it's expected, and keep buying their product. People are just used to it, expect it even. Just shrug it off and move on.

And even if some significant part of their pro-Israel fanbase stops giving them their money, it's usually a tiny portion of their audience. To be pro-Israel, the way someone like Morrissey did, is much more of a risk of alienating a much bigger section of your base.

As far as Jews, the popular perception goes: 'Sure, the Holocaust was bad, but it's been a long time, you guys have a lot of money, you're white, you guys are safe in the west, you're clearly stronger than the palestinians you have Hollywood & tanks and they have bottle rockets'

In other words, who cares about your feelings (or reality)?

So what if per capita we're victims of the most hate crimes in the US, we need to armed security in synagogue or school in Europe, that it's either illegal/a death sentence for us to travel as Jews in most of the MENA?

So what if most of those 'facts' are wrong? It's the public perception.

As long as you do not cross the line into overt anti-semitism, you will be told that 'Jews complain too much about anti-semitism', comments about the 'Jewish lobby', etc. Our feelings do not matter.

3) Jews running interference

There are enough Jews who are willing to go along because:

a) they believe the narrative
b) they run around those circles & don't want to alienate their peers/lose out on opportunities etc.
c) They are fans of the people making these statements

People are willing to close their eyes when someone they idolize does or says something they disagree with. As long as you have so many Jews who are willing to simply go along with or give cover to anti-Israel statements from celebrities, it isn't gonna stop.

When you take all of these facts in account, why should any celebrity *not* make such statements?

They get a rabid fanbase who will promote them because they stick it to the Zionist entity, they won't lose money from the pro-Israel fan, or it will be offset by the other side etc

Most importantly, no one that is important for them in their professional life, whether it's media outlets, or universities, or their political parties, is gonna go ahead and contradict them or tell them to toe the line.

It's not gonna get better. In fact, it's gonna get worse.

In fact, expect it to get exponentially worse in the near future.

Thankfully, we're called Hebrews after Avraham Avinu, who stood on one side of the river while the world stood on the other. We'll manage. Not only manage, but we'll thrive & ultimately prevail.

Am Yisrael Chai.