Some leftists, like Malcolm Harris and David Austin Walsh, interpreted the act as a condemnation of genocide.
Swastikas employed against Jews has historically been associated with anti-Semitism. This is the meaning the author of the piece employs.
The Argument
“A swastika clearly has a deep and painful history for the people in our community, it’s a symbol of hatred and death,” a Rabbi
“The swastika, whether used as a banner or a symbol of reversal, mainstreams antisemitism, not just to call for the murder of Jews, but for the killing of all those who stand in their way.”
Leftists “defended the vandalism as a statement against Israel and in support of the terrorists.”
“By defining the Jews as the new Nazis, leftist movements like the DSA justify the mass murder of the Jews, and the violent tactics they use to seize power to fight the Jews.”
Given all that, Swastikas Are Progressive Now.
The Problem
South Africa has alleged that Israel is committing a genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The internationally recognized legal definition of genocide comes from the 1948 Genocide Convention, “the first human rights treaty adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 9 December 1948 and signified the international community’s commitment to ‘never again’ after the atrocities committed during the Second World War.” And contrary to Republican and Israeli talking points, South Africa’s case isn’t baseless. Rather, it’s 84 pages of evidence that includes an entire section titled “Genocidal Acts Committed against the Palestinian People” that alone is a page short of 30.
Thus, there’s the conveniently unmentioned issue that Israel is committing the same atrocities that its people endured. But this missing fact has a certain rhetorical effect: Israel is all victim according to the author. After all, they were attacked on Oct 7, women were raped and murdered, babies had their heads cut off, and this is what the left defends! The historical meaning of the swastika, used to vandalize a synagogue, has only one meaning where atrocities were committed against the victims that were Jews and the left’s use of it against those very victims must carry the very same meaning. thus, the left is antisemitic.
Recognizing that Israel is committing genocide and that narrative kinda just…falls apart. Israel were victims, but they’re certainly not anymore. According to the leftists in the article, painting the swastika pushes the Nazi symbol on the Jews in a new way, it asserts that they’re Nazis, they’re the oppressor that once oppressed them. Israel obviously can’t accept that they’ve become the monster that’s haunted their existence for the last seven decades or so, and her supporters go along with it.
But for the rest of us, it’s clear that when the Head of the Israeli’s Army’s Air Operations Group “described the Air Force as ‘work[ing] together with all the bodies in the IDF when the goal is clear — to destroy everything that has been touched by the hand of Hamas’”, he meant that Jews (specifically, the Israeli military) are the agents of death for Palestinian people.
The problem with your analysis is who was targeted. Isereal Is doing bad things and a Jewish temple in Pennsylvania was targeted.
If the black Panthers committed a bunch of crimes would it be permissible to put a burning cross at a church/mosque that supported the black panther movement?
Anti-semitism runs strong with the left. They’ll jump through hoops to justify killing Jews.
They ignore why Israeli has to police Gaza and the West Bank. They call Jews, the indigenous population colonizers. That’s like calling Indians colonizers.
When you remember the Nazi used the democrats to form their racial laws. It all makes sense.
The answer from the left is simply to genocide the Jews. The Jews shouldn’t defend themselves.
I figure the reason peeps won’t reply is because he knows putting a burning cross in front of a church is a terrible thing but doesn’t want to admit swastikas on temples is just as bad.
Israel is doing to the Palestinians what the Nazis did to Jews. Presumably, the synagogue supports Israel’s genocide of Palestinians (I have no idea, frankly. It matters…but not at the moment). And thus, if you accept the new interpretation of the swastika as a mark of hatred and the wish for genocide generally (rather than the mark of hatred and the wish for genocide of Jews specifically), then the swastika acts as a protest against Israeli violence against Palestinians by attempting to remind them and their supports of what was done to them.
So, I’ll meet you half way: What would have to be done for a burning cross in front of a church to be warranted in the same way the swastika is warranted on a synagogue? Well, they would have to do more than “commit crimes”. They’d have to basically embody the ideals they hate. Just as Jews have become the Nazis for the Palestinians, the Black Panthers would have to terrorize communities, arbitrarily lynch its members, and generally violently enforce a sense of black superiority in those communities. And if a burning cross ended up in front of a black church in support of those atrocities, the symbol could be interpreted in the same way as the swastika on a synagogue.
Both are obviously bad, but that’s the point. It should be grotesquely offensive.
The black Panthers were involved in shootouts/turf wars with the black nantionalists, they kidnapped and tortured people, pouring boiling water on a member for 3 days before shooting him and dumping him in a swamp. Had female members savagely beat to keep them in line. Ambushed police officers, traffic narcotics…
Does that meet your criteria where you would condone someone going full klansman and putting burning crosses at churches and mosques that supported the black Panthers?
They have to embody the ideals they hate towards another group.
Look, it’s fine. I get that it’s hard to understand. That’s part of the appeal of the original article, where it redirects you back to the historical meaning of the swastika and insists that it’s meaning is fixed.
No true scottsman, I get it. Ambushing police officers and murdering them doesn’t count as hate, ambushing black nantionalists and murdering them doesn’t count as hate, pouring boiling water on a person doesn’t count as hate.
It doesn’t count as black supremacist hate. So, yeah “no true scottsman”, but the entire argument hinges on what a nazi/white supremacist is. It’s not a fallacy in this case. Because there’s a difference between hate generally and a specific kind of hate.
Both are bad. The left doesn’t want admit the Palestinians are trying to kills Israelis. Israel is defending themselves. They can’t explain why Gaza and the West Bank are even policed by Israel. Could it be the Arabs tried to erase Israel?
Let’s just assume it’s okay to round up people who hate you and try to control them. Your assumption, certainly not mine. Then why shouldn’t Israel also extend their police infrastructure to the surrounding Middle East generally?
Until you recognize Hamas is trying to genocide the Jews, you just don’t have credibility.
Okay fine. Hamas wants to exterminate all Jews in Israel.
There. Recognized.
So what? What changed? Do you think I’m taking sides between two groups who want death and destruction for the other? As if I’m defending the rights of Hamas to wage war on Israel in opposition to Israel’s right to wage war on Hamas. Because you’d be wrong.
Remember when they showed the dead German girl. Who went to save her or tell them to stop? Nobody. They cheered.
As a group they are working to genocide the Jewish people.
So don’t be shocked when Israel comes it to stop the group trying to kill them. Don’t be shocked when they monitor everything that comes into Gaza when they use those weapons to attack Israel.
Why do you think the world is turning a blind eye to what’s going on? They know Israel is trying to stop a threat again the Jewish people.
See this is what I hate. You do think I’m defending Hamas and Palestinian aggression despite me saying otherwise all the time. And then you defend Israel’s genocide like I’m arguing for violence, just Palestinian instead of Israeli.
Why do you think the world is turning a blind eye to what’s going on? They know Israel is trying to stop a threat again the Jewish people.
Uhhh they’re not. There’s a reason Israel is losing support internationally.
Israel hasn’t really lost any support. Which country had said they’d use force to stop them? Nobody. Not a single country has issued a use of force to stop them.
Another excellent example of misinformation! Finally, something actually worth my time.
The Facts
The Argument
The Problem
South Africa has alleged that Israel is committing a genocide against Palestinians in the Gaza Strip. The internationally recognized legal definition of genocide comes from the 1948 Genocide Convention, “the first human rights treaty adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on 9 December 1948 and signified the international community’s commitment to ‘never again’ after the atrocities committed during the Second World War.” And contrary to Republican and Israeli talking points, South Africa’s case isn’t baseless. Rather, it’s 84 pages of evidence that includes an entire section titled “Genocidal Acts Committed against the Palestinian People” that alone is a page short of 30.
Thus, there’s the conveniently unmentioned issue that Israel is committing the same atrocities that its people endured. But this missing fact has a certain rhetorical effect: Israel is all victim according to the author. After all, they were attacked on Oct 7, women were raped and murdered, babies had their heads cut off, and this is what the left defends! The historical meaning of the swastika, used to vandalize a synagogue, has only one meaning where atrocities were committed against the victims that were Jews and the left’s use of it against those very victims must carry the very same meaning. thus, the left is antisemitic.
Recognizing that Israel is committing genocide and that narrative kinda just…falls apart. Israel were victims, but they’re certainly not anymore. According to the leftists in the article, painting the swastika pushes the Nazi symbol on the Jews in a new way, it asserts that they’re Nazis, they’re the oppressor that once oppressed them. Israel obviously can’t accept that they’ve become the monster that’s haunted their existence for the last seven decades or so, and her supporters go along with it.
But for the rest of us, it’s clear that when the Head of the Israeli’s Army’s Air Operations Group “described the Air Force as ‘work[ing] together with all the bodies in the IDF when the goal is clear — to destroy everything that has been touched by the hand of Hamas’”, he meant that Jews (specifically, the Israeli military) are the agents of death for Palestinian people.
The problem with your analysis is who was targeted. Isereal Is doing bad things and a Jewish temple in Pennsylvania was targeted.
If the black Panthers committed a bunch of crimes would it be permissible to put a burning cross at a church/mosque that supported the black panther movement?
Anti-semitism runs strong with the left. They’ll jump through hoops to justify killing Jews. They ignore why Israeli has to police Gaza and the West Bank. They call Jews, the indigenous population colonizers. That’s like calling Indians colonizers.
When you remember the Nazi used the democrats to form their racial laws. It all makes sense.
The answer from the left is simply to genocide the Jews. The Jews shouldn’t defend themselves.
I figure the reason peeps won’t reply is because he knows putting a burning cross in front of a church is a terrible thing but doesn’t want to admit swastikas on temples is just as bad.
Well, I feel like you’re missing the point.
Israel is doing to the Palestinians what the Nazis did to Jews. Presumably, the synagogue supports Israel’s genocide of Palestinians (I have no idea, frankly. It matters…but not at the moment). And thus, if you accept the new interpretation of the swastika as a mark of hatred and the wish for genocide generally (rather than the mark of hatred and the wish for genocide of Jews specifically), then the swastika acts as a protest against Israeli violence against Palestinians by attempting to remind them and their supports of what was done to them.
So, I’ll meet you half way: What would have to be done for a burning cross in front of a church to be warranted in the same way the swastika is warranted on a synagogue? Well, they would have to do more than “commit crimes”. They’d have to basically embody the ideals they hate. Just as Jews have become the Nazis for the Palestinians, the Black Panthers would have to terrorize communities, arbitrarily lynch its members, and generally violently enforce a sense of black superiority in those communities. And if a burning cross ended up in front of a black church in support of those atrocities, the symbol could be interpreted in the same way as the swastika on a synagogue.
Both are obviously bad, but that’s the point. It should be grotesquely offensive.
The black Panthers were involved in shootouts/turf wars with the black nantionalists, they kidnapped and tortured people, pouring boiling water on a member for 3 days before shooting him and dumping him in a swamp. Had female members savagely beat to keep them in line. Ambushed police officers, traffic narcotics…
Does that meet your criteria where you would condone someone going full klansman and putting burning crosses at churches and mosques that supported the black Panthers?
No.
They have to embody the ideals they hate towards another group.
Look, it’s fine. I get that it’s hard to understand. That’s part of the appeal of the original article, where it redirects you back to the historical meaning of the swastika and insists that it’s meaning is fixed.
No true scottsman, I get it. Ambushing police officers and murdering them doesn’t count as hate, ambushing black nantionalists and murdering them doesn’t count as hate, pouring boiling water on a person doesn’t count as hate.
No, all of that definitely counts as hate.
It doesn’t count as black supremacist hate. So, yeah “no true scottsman”, but the entire argument hinges on what a nazi/white supremacist is. It’s not a fallacy in this case. Because there’s a difference between hate generally and a specific kind of hate.
Both are bad. The left doesn’t want admit the Palestinians are trying to kills Israelis. Israel is defending themselves. They can’t explain why Gaza and the West Bank are even policed by Israel. Could it be the Arabs tried to erase Israel?
Why doesn’t Israel police Lebanon, too?
Let’s just assume it’s okay to round up people who hate you and try to control them. Your assumption, certainly not mine. Then why shouldn’t Israel also extend their police infrastructure to the surrounding Middle East generally?
They do in self defense.
The problem is Egypt won’t take Gaza back and Jordan won’t take the West Bank back.
That’s why they are out in limbo. Nobody wants them.
I had to look that up…and of course, it’s false. Plus, it’s as if Israel is just offering either territory to either country.
I’m calling it. I’m done.
Did you even read the answer. It confirms what I said.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jordanian_annexation_of_the_West_Bank
The October was genocide as well. Until you recognize Hamas is trying to genocide the Jews, you just don’t have credibility.
Okay fine. Hamas wants to exterminate all Jews in Israel.
There. Recognized.
So what? What changed? Do you think I’m taking sides between two groups who want death and destruction for the other? As if I’m defending the rights of Hamas to wage war on Israel in opposition to Israel’s right to wage war on Hamas. Because you’d be wrong.
And the Palestinians are Hamas and support Hamas.
Remember when they showed the dead German girl. Who went to save her or tell them to stop? Nobody. They cheered.
As a group they are working to genocide the Jewish people.
So don’t be shocked when Israel comes it to stop the group trying to kill them. Don’t be shocked when they monitor everything that comes into Gaza when they use those weapons to attack Israel.
Why do you think the world is turning a blind eye to what’s going on? They know Israel is trying to stop a threat again the Jewish people.
See this is what I hate. You do think I’m defending Hamas and Palestinian aggression despite me saying otherwise all the time. And then you defend Israel’s genocide like I’m arguing for violence, just Palestinian instead of Israeli.
Uhhh they’re not. There’s a reason Israel is losing support internationally.
Israel hasn’t really lost any support. Which country had said they’d use force to stop them? Nobody. Not a single country has issued a use of force to stop them.
If they did, you’d probably call them antisemitic and leftist.
When someone does it, we can have that discussion.
Most Israel hate is nothing more than thinly veiled anti-semitism. When you call the native people colonizers, you play your hand openly.
I had a witty response to this but it’s objectively horrible so…I’ll just say that it was really good.