What is it we always tell people when they try and defend use of the Confederate Flag when they try and tell us that they aren't racist and that it has different meanings?
Look do I think Tlaib is Antisemitic...no I do not. Likely she is telling the truth and she was just saying that because she wants peace. Maybe she and the people she hangs with have re-appropriated that saying into something less vile and evil. But that is not what that phrase means to the majority of the Palestinians or the Muslim world and she knows that. It is not about equality and peace as long as two states exist in what they believe is Palestine. It has been the rallying cry since almost the beginning...Palestine from The Jordan to the Red Sea. (river to the sea) Hell Pro-Palestinian groups actually add the "no two states just one" along with it many times even today.
So you can't have it both ways. We chastise people all the time for saying things they might mean one way that another group has deemed unacceptable because it is a slight against them. Yet it seems you want myself and other Jews to just pretend that 70+ years of violence whilst chanting that phrase disappeared because a few mean it another way? That isn't how it works and to expect it as such would be disingenuous especially when others right now are saying the same thing because they want bloodshed.
And again, you seem upset but the only criticism I had of her was going after Biden. I forgave everything else precisely because in a situation like hers it is hard to see the forest from the trees and even made an excuse why she would go after Biden even though it is counterproductive in every way. Me saying she made a mistake is on tactics, I am not telling her how she should feel. I understand her feelings I just think she is letting her feelings cloud her judgement and that is a human thing to let happen. (every Jew I know is doing it and I point it out to them as well) I am going over the top to show empathy for her. I dont want her attacked or reprimanded, I dont want her primaried! (my original post was a rhetorical question not a call to action) Omar trafficked in the same stuff because of ignorance but I still voted for her twice and will every time she is up for election. I don't think her or Tlaib are evil people who hate Jews or Israelis or anyone else. That doesn't put them above criticism though just because I agree with them on most things.
And the thing is, I also get why you don't agree with me. I am not asking you to. These things will affect me in a different way than they will affect you or your coworkers that are Palestinian. When Antisemitism and Islamophobia are skyrocketing over a conflict none of us want it is important we don't let old hatreds re-bubble to the surface out of pain and fear. That is why I said what I said about Tlaib. Because she might not mean it that way, but plenty of the people who heard her say it do. And just like we said hate groups took the words Trump said and used it as a call to action, the non-peaceful actors (Jews and Palestinians alike) who see her say that are going to use that as a means to justify their actions and feelings. Jews will think she is inciting violence against them purposefully (again I do NOT!) and Palestinians will think she is raising a hand in solidarity for their deeds. This whole thing is on a razors edge and I am sick of seeing these two groups be vile towards each other over conflicts started by and exasperated by outside actors.
