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SteveB's avatar

I think it's "All of the above" for the protesters here.

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Adam Johnson's avatar

So, more or less, it's consistent with the "BDS" movement of the past 20 years?

I haven't been following super closely, but the horrors in Gaza have certainly captured my attention.

Do you have any insight into whether the protesters there think Israel has a right to exist at all, notwithstanding what any particular Israeli government is doing?

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SteveB's avatar

I can't speak for the protesters, of course, but I believe it is consistent with the goals of the BDS movement.

"Do you have any insight into whether the protesters there think Israel has a right to exist at all..."

Well, the claims that the protesters want to push all Jewish Israelis into the sea is a ridiculous lie, to start with. If your definition of "Israel" is "A Jewish state, explicitly designed along religious lines, giving Jewish religious leaders greater rights over public policy than people of other religions and non-religious people" then I would say the protesters oppose that vision of what Israel should be, preferring a democratic, multi-ethnic state with equal treatment for people of ALL religions.

The comparison I'd make is to Christian Nationalists, people in this country who believe "The United States is a Christian Nation" and that Christian leaders should therefore have outsized influence over public policy. Or Narendra Modi's vision of Hindu Nationalism.

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Adam Johnson's avatar

I understand you can't speak for them. Side note, I'm a little surprised that no prominent public spokespeople have emerged yet, nor does there seem to be any centralized leadership. The longer the Gaza horror continues, the more organized the opposition will become.

I'm not a student of any of this, but I do know that, in as much as any state has an identity, Israel has always considered itself "a Jewish state." What that has meant in practice for Jews and non-Jews alike, has been the subject of terrible conflict for many years.

I greatly appreciate your "on-the ground" perspective, thanks again.

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Bernard Cleyet's avatar

This is why many consider it an apartheid state. If the right of return occurred, would the dominant creat a secular state, or go the way of Iran?

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SteveB's avatar

I think it's interesting to note that if you tell a Christian Nationalist that you oppose their particular religious vision for what this country should be, they will claim that you want to DESTROY AMERICA.

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Adam Johnson's avatar

Ultra-nationalist nuts, whether motivated religiously, racially, or culturally, have been responsible for some of the worst disasters in modern human history, and are certainly working hard to do their worst today in Israel, America, Russia, Iran, and elsewhere.

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