Comment by claykkari
1 day ago
> By my reading of just a few of the quotes I'd say she's going well beyond just criticizing Israel. The quotes suggest she believes well known antisemitic conspiracy theories.[0]
I'm assuming you're mainly referring to this accusation by the ADL:
"Albanese claims that Jews “have learnt [sic] that to survive in this world they need to be superior,” invoking the classic antisemitic conspiracy trope of Jewish power and drive for world domination."
Well, except that isn't what she said. The original quote was (still not the full post):
"And so they [Germans] have accepted the Jews, but not all of them. Especially those who have learnt that to survive in this world they need to be superior. No longer a fragile minority. No longer diasporic people. No longer the People of the Book. But the Chosen People. ‘Chosen to dominate?’ One may wonder looking at what Israel has become. But Israel does not represent all the Jews."
So she was talking about Israeli Jews, not Jews in general. That's the whole point of her post. It's ironic that in fact the ADL is being antisemitic here by equating Judaism with Israel.
> "And so they [Germans] have accepted the Jews, but not all of them. Especially those who have learnt that to survive in this world they need to be superior. No longer a fragile minority. No longer diasporic people. No longer the People of the Book. But the Chosen People. ‘Chosen to dominate?’ One may wonder looking at what Israel has become. But Israel does not represent all the Jews."
This quote matches up reasonably well with the antisemitic world domination conspiracy theory.
> So she was talking about Israeli Jews, not Jews in general.
That doesn't make it much better, so you agree she's clearly targeting Israeli's at least in part due to them being Jewish?
> That's the whole point of her post. It's ironic that in fact the ADL is being antisemitic here by equating Judaism with Israel.
These antisemitic conspiracy theories predate Israel being a country. Swapping out Jews for Israeli Jews or Jews that support the existence of Israel in statements doesn't negate the statement being fundamentally rooted in an antisemitic conspiracy theory.
> That doesn't make it much better, so you agree she's clearly targeting Israeli's at least in part due to them being Jewish?
I disagree, I think you're missing her point if you get that impression. That said, she does seem a bit anti-German though.
> These antisemitic conspiracy theories predate Israel being a country. Swapping out Jews for Israeli Jews or Jews that support the existence of Israel in statements doesn't negate the statement being fundamentally rooted in an antisemitic conspiracy theory.
Which part of the above quote is a conspiracy theory? There do in fact exist jews which consider themselves the chosen people, and who want to dominate Palestine Lebanon Iran Syria etc, and who consider themselves superior to others (e.g. saying Palestinians aren't even people), including many in israel's current government.
Indeed, many of their words and actions are evidence for an ongoing international case against israel for genocide. I guess there's a globe-wide conspiracy theory against israel for doing nothing wrong?
Given that proper context, the quote reads to me as defending jews like me against the condemnation that israel regularly rightly receives for its behavior.
Also, please stop doing this:
> Swapping out Jews for Israeli Jews or Jews that support the existence of Israel in statements
When you take a criticism of the behavior of a limited group of people, and try to extrapolate it to all jews based on their identity, you are propagating a common antisemetic trope, and engaging in collective blame spreading, which is hurtful. Jewish people have agency, we don't just do whatever israel tells us to do.
The trick of pretending to be only anti-Zionist is old as the Polish ethnic cleansing of all its leftover Jews in the 1960s.
The equivalent would be the UN designating as special rapporteur for American racial issues someone who has said they have nothing against Africans, only against African Americans.
> The trick of pretending to be only anti-Zionist is old as the Polish ethnic cleansing of all its leftover Jews in the 1960s.
She's not even trying very hard to be subtle since she even references "Jews" in some of the antisemitic conspiracy theory related statements as opposed to "Zionists".