Comments by "MarcosElMalo2" (@MarcosElMalo2) on "Biden: Downplaying Hamas' October 7 attack must stop" video.

Please explain why Zionism is flawed. Anti-Zionism (from what I have seen of it) is a criticism of Zionism that is flawed and based on falsifications of history or ignorance of history. Theories of settler colonialism don’t apply to people returning to their homeland, rejoining fellow Jews that were already living there. Jews were living in the Levant even after most of them were exiled. The Ottoman Empire invited back the Sephardic Jews that were expelled from Spain in 1492. Invited isn’t even the right word. Jews were encouraged to immigrate to the middle east by the Ottomans because the Ottomans saw them as a group of hard working, educated, and resilient people. This stands in stark contrast with the treatment of Jews during most of their time in Europe. Jews would settle in one country for a century or two only to be expelled by that countries rulers. This happened time and again. They were not considered citizens in their countries of residence but as foreigners. And some call them European colonists? They were European refugees, fleeing a Europe that had hated them and attacked them for a millennia before that hatred culminated in the Shoah. Israel needs to declare a ceasefire immediately and immediately expedite the delivery of humanitarian aid. We have influence on Israel and we should use that influence to push for these two things. But the Anti-Zionism I’ve heard expressed in these protests IS anti-semitism. I don’t care what Bernie Sanders says. And it’s all very fine to criticize the nationalism of others when you’re enjoying all the benefits of living in a stable nation-state. Why aren’t you protesting against the Palestinians’ desire to have their own state? Your anti-nationalism seems selective, and that is highly sus.
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@feffygracie Not wanting a Palestinian state might or might not be Islamophobia. Israel has a right to exist and Jews have the right ti their homeland. The Palestinians also have a right to a state. There is some jawboning among Jews that the Palestinians are just random Arabs without a true identity. Even if this was true 100 years ago, it is not true today. The Palestinian identity has been forged in a crucible of repression. Maybe you can justify the repression, but you cannot deny its effect. Palestinians have a shared identity. They deserve their own homeland free from Israeli control. Just the same, Anti-Zionism is anti-semitism. I explained why in another comment, but I’d be happy to hear a rational and informed argument about why it isn’t.
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@DaleHartley You are repeating a falsity that the Jews all left the Levant when they were exiled and didn’t return until recently. The historical facts are that Muslim rulers at various times have allowed groups of Jews to Return. My favorite example is in 1492, when Spain expelled its Jewish population and the Ottoman Empire invited them to return to the Levant. Before that, under the Mameluke caliphate, there had been a sharp decline, but there were still Jews in Jerusalem even then. So the idea that all the Jews left and just weren’t there before Zionism is untrue. The historical evidence is for the opposite.
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@sunnybear178 That’s completely false. Even under the Mamelukes, there were still Jews living in Jerusalem. Under the Ottoman Empire, Jews were invited to settle in the Levant. A huge number of Sephardic Jews were expelled from Spain. The Ottomans invited them to resettle in the Middle East. By the time the British took control of Palestine, there was already a large population of Jews living in Palestine and throughout the Middle East, because the rulers of that area had been encouraging their return. That’s not an invasion.
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@DoYouKnowWhatThisMeans I think you meant to write anti-Zionism in your first sentence. Otherwise I agree with everything you’re saying. Anti-Zionism is a thin disguise for anti-semitism. The arguments for it are lacking in historical evidence, cherrypick evidence from very recent history, and are usually incoherent when explained. I would like to hear a convincing argument for anti-Zionism.
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