In yet another reality-denying ritual of fealty to the pro-Israel lobby, members of Congress absurdly voted to say Israel was neither an apartheid state nor racist. Only a few progressives, including members of the Squad, stood firm in opposing the measure.

  • flossdaily@lemmy.world
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    1 year ago

    Yeah, the issue is that Israel lost the the global public relations war decades ago. Law makers in the US generally understand the facts, which is why they almost universally support Israel, but trying to get the public to understand an issue this nuanced is impossible.

    Meanwhile, all the unwaivering, mindless, ignorant hatred of Israel has made it so that Israel perpetually in a “damned if they do, damned if they don’t” situation.

    If they ignore rocket attacks, no one gives them credit for restraint. If they do surgical attacks, they get vilified for collateral damage.

    It’s there any other county other than Israel that CALLS THEIR ENEMY ON THE PHONE AND GIVES THEM TIME TO EXIT A BUILDING BEFORE BLOWING IT UP? Israel literally does this when they find terrorist headquarters. No casualties, just blowing up a building… And yet they are accused of genocide.

    Remember when they built a fence along their border to keep out suicide bombers? They were vilified them, too.

    Truly, it doesn’t matter how passive or defensive their actions are… a ANYTHING they do is met by accusations of apartheid and genocide.

    If the international community won’t reward or even ACKNOWLEDGE Israel’s restraint, is it any wonder that their government is becoming more right-wing and hardline?

    These ignorant attacks on Israel are having the opposite effect. Accusing Israel of evils they aren’t guilty of means that we aren’t having honest and productive conversations about what behaviors they are engaged in that really do have the potential to be changed by international pressure.

    • Smallletter@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      Yeah I’m gonna distance myself from you here. I’m not pro Israel. They have done and continue to do some horrible shit and I’ve seen first hand the effects of that. The unfiltered hatred some people there possess shocked me. They did not lose the public relations war, their actions alone have made their public relations what it is.

      I was just advocating for nuance and honesty.

      • Smallletter@lemmy.world
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        1 year ago

        I’m gonna distance myself from you here… What Israel has been doing is wrong. They haven’t "list the

      • 133arc585@lemmy.ml
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        1 year ago

        “One of, if not the most, powerful international issue lobby is that of the pro-Israel crowd.”. More background is available here.

        Some of the top recipients 2021-2022:

        Candidate Office Amount
        Brown, Shontel (D-OH) House $1,018,786
        Stevens, Haley (D-MI) House $797,226
        Ivey, Glenn (D-MD) House $756,695
        Luria, Elaine (D-VA) House $723,458
        Irwin, Steven (D-PA) $689,487

        The top recipient of pro-Israel funds in the 2018 midterms was Sen. Robert Menendez (D-N.J.) with $546,507. Menendez is the ranking member on the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) received the second-most with $349,437.

        When looking at the overall numbers for all Pro-Israel bribe money to congress, there are 16 members of congress who have received over $1M USD. Here are the top 10:

        Candidate Amount
        Biden, Joe (D) $4,226,604
        Clinton, Hillary (D) $2,357,112
        Kirk, Mark (R-IL) $2,294,469
        Lieberman, Joe (D-CT) $1,996,274
        McConnell, Mitch (R-KY) $1,953,160
        Schumer, Charles E (D-NY) $1,725,324
        McCain, John (R-AZ) $1,492,616
        Menendez, Robert (D-NJ) $1,397,195
        Wyden, Ron (D-OR) $1,284,376
        Levin, Carl (D-MI) $1,245,913