Hacker News Reader

Comment by 1945 | Hacker News Reader

1945·

Let's directly quote Bibi to drive this point home since you want to imply antisemitic intent.

"I know what America is. America is a thing you can move very easily, move it in the right direction. They won't get in the way." - Netanyahu

That's an occupation with no creative interpretation necessary.

View on HN

Again, this phrasing was invented as part of an antisemitic conspiracy theory that has nothing to do with Netanyahu. I don’t intend to imply any antisemitic intent for someone who didn’t know this, as long as they recognize that they’re not trying to be antisemitic and choose one of the many alternative ways to say “I think my government is too friendly towards Israel” going forwards.

So many words devoted to tone policing. so few words devoted to the actual issue being discussed

The problem is that the tone makes it hard to understand the actual issue being discussed. If someone said e.g. "I think the Dutch government is run by people who unconditionally support Israel", I might respond by pointing out various actions they've taken to oppose Israeli interests. If someone says the Dutch government is "occupied by Zionists", I just don't know what they mean by that, because I've only ever heard the antisemitic meaning of this phrase.

If someone then refuses to explain what non-antisemitic thought they meant to express, I do start to have some questions.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com