"Iran said they want to destroy Israel. Israel should be worried."
To which you reply: "Well, there are two sides. Israel said they want to drown Palestine."
So now let's ask a follow up question: Israel said they want to drown Palestine, should Palestine worry about Israel?
Secondly, saying "Israel's leadership" said they want to drown Palestinians is a pretty ridiculous claim. Who said it exactly? When? Are they currently Israel's leadership?
Cause Israel is a democracy with many officials. Without something more specific, even if this is a real thing, it's like pointing to US congresspeople from the 1950s saying "segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever" and using that to "prove" that Obama is actually racist.
Whereas Iranian leadership is a dictatorship and the same people claiming they would like to kill all Israelis are the people in power now.
And there are debates about the state of Israels democracy: https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/democracy-means-ju...
That said, you're leaving out context that make clear this is different.
Maybe the biggest difference is - he didn't suggest drowning all Palestinians, unlike the statements calling to "eradicate Israel". He specifically said it's better to drown Palestinian prisoners in the sea rather than release them (as part of a security deal, I believe.) (Which is still a despicable thing to say, don't get me wrong, but a very different thing nonetheless)
Also, the headline from the article that talks about this statement is "Lieberman Blasted for Suggesting Drowning Palestinian Prisoners". His sentiment is far too widespread, but statements like those are still not palatable. (Though to be fair, the situation today is probably worse.)
> And there are debates about the state of Israels democracy
Yeah things are not looking super rosy, but so far everything is speculation. There were also worries about the US's democracy, worries about a potential constitutional crisis, etc. I think it's safe to still call the US a democracy.
Interesting how there is very little discomfit about that from non Israelis.