From Judaism 101:
Misunderstandings, in matters concerning religion, are inevitable and understandable. Falsifications and distortions, especially for polemic and/or propaganda purposes, are not.ÂA gezierah is a law instituted by the rabbis to prevent people from accidentally violating a Torah mitzvah. We commonly speak of a gezeirah as a "fence" around the Torah. For example, the Torah commands us not to work on Shabbat, but a gezeirah commands us not to even handle an implement that you would use to perform prohibited work (such as a pencil, money, a hammer), because someone holding the implement might forget that it was Shabbat and perform prohibited work. The word is derived from the root Gimel-Zayin-Reish, meaning to cut off or to separate.
If one wants to find criticism of the practices and policies of Israel, one need look no farther than any Jewish newspaper or magazine. Tikkun, Moment, Ha'aretz, the Forward, The Jerusalem Post -- all are and have been highly critical of Israeli Governments and their policies, past and present. Criticism of Israel appears rather often, to say the least, in other Western media as well, in spite of the blatant canard that they are all "controlled by Jews."Â
Further, criticism of Israel is not automatically synonymous with antisemitism, in spite of the commonness of that shovelful of manure as well. What IS antisemitic is holding Israel to standards that differ from those applied to any other nation, especially its enemies. Howling about the "human rights abuses" of Israel -- even though no one says that the Israelis are blameless in that regard -- while ignoring those of, say, Syria, Iran and Saudi Arabia -- is nothing if not inconsistent, and sometimes even hypocritical.Â
It is also antisemitic, or at least evidence of a polemic agenda, to conflate the policies and practices of the state of Israel with the teachings of the Jewish religion, and most especially those of modern, liberal Judaism. You will find no more vehement critics of the "settlements," of targeted assassinations, and of various "security" restrictions placed on peaceful Palestinians than American Jews, often for the very specific reason that those seem to violate Jewish teachings; and yet we are often accused of being cheerleaders for those very policies. Â Support for the right of existence of the state of Israel does not entail or imply unquestioning support of Israeli governments or policies, any more than opposition to those policies implies antisemitism -- or agreement with those who seek the total destruction of the state of Israel and the expulsion or extermination of every Jew in the Mideast, as the Palestinian terror organizations explicitly do. Â
It will be interesting to observe the responses, if any, to this post. Â Watch carefully and see if they involve actual responses and rebuttals to these FACTS -- or if they consist of mere denials of them, accusations that "Jews lie," and unsupported parroting of propaganda.Â
Open and honest debate on this subject is not only possible on this forum; it is common. I have posted links to dozens of such debates on another thread. Â It is also common for blatant hate- peddling and repeated unsupported claims of fact to result in banning -- though it is much more common for the members who engage in such tactics to simply slink away in silence when they are unable to actually defend and debate their claims. Â
Further bulletins as events warrant.Â