I agree with the title “Reaffirming the State of Israel’s Right to Exist” and much of the language, but I’m voting No on the resolution because it equates anti-Zionism with antisemitism. Antisemitism is deplorable, but expanding it to include criticism of Israel is not helpful. pic.twitter.com/YWBDKDCGZB
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) November 29, 2023
Once again, Massie is the only Republican to vote with the Squad 100% of the time on the topic of Israel.
His excuses are becoming more bullshit at each iteration.
Nothing in this billsays disagreement with the Israeli government is antisemitism.
It affirms that denying Isreal’s right to exist is antisemitism.
Once is happenstance. Twice is coincidence. Three times is enemy action. Six times isn’t Libertarian principles, it’s Jew-hatred.
I’m getting really fucking tired of his shtick where he votes no on something that takes a moral stance and costs no money, and then acts like he’s smarter and more principled than everyone else because he’s above the fray.
It’s peak Libertarian bullshit.
Anti-Zionism means you oppose the existence of Israel, not that you disagree with its government’s policy. Yeah, this guy is a squad member in the wrong party.
One more example of why libertarians are stupid and useless…
“Libertarians” doesn’t describe a single minded herd, as “communist” does. The fact that this particular person is evil and that he (reportedly) describes himself as a libertarian doesn’t affect other (or actual) libertarians. As I pointed out before, consider the example of the late SF writer L. Neil Smith, who had far better claims to the designation of libertarian than Massie ever did.
Like I get you point of view jkb, anything wishing for the removal or destruction of Israel is defacto antisemitic in some sense because Jews and Israel and inextricably linked and it is literally about survival for you because of that and you are quite serious about never again.
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Regarding massie, still idk man, maybe, but still idk. Doesn’t really feel like a racism to me, and i think because of how strong that inextricable link is between Jews and Israel, it is very hard to criticize without it bleeding over into being called antisemitism.
Sounds like the actions of the left with the Florida Parental Rights in Education Act. They don’t like it, but factually there is no real issue. So they lie about it (“don’t say gay) and then object to the lie.
There’s a term for that: It’s a Strawman Fallacy.
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They can’t credibly attack the Act on its merits, so they set up crude caricatures of it that are easily knocked down (“straw men”), and attack those instead. The hope is that the Low-Information Voters out there won’t be able to tell the difference between the straw men and the real thing.
In the past I’ve been a “Devil’s Advocate” and tried to give the benefit of doubt about Massie’s “No” votes and his statements regarding Israel, but this is unreal.
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Look, I can understand not wanting to spend money on foreign aid that could arguably be better used for domestic problems. I can understand not wanting to get involved in another country’s violent conflicts. I can understand not liking or agreeing with Israel’s government or Bibi Netanyahu. Hell, I can even understand — up to a certain point — wanting to avoid the “Zionist” label. I get all that.
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But Israel is an ally, and a full-spectrum one at that: we trade with them (economic allies), we share intelligence with them (information allies), we support each other militarily (military allies), and this bill was just an affirmation of Israel’s Right to Exist — nothing more or less. No spending, no American “boots on the ground”, not even an expansion of military aid.
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Therefore, Massie’s official position based on his “No” vote is that one of our strongest full-spectrum allies in the world — and certainly in that region — does not have a right to exist, and if they don’t have a right to exist, then they don’t have a right to defend themselves from invasions or incursions.
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“Devil’s Advocate” or not, there’s nothing I can say to defend that.
To devil’s advocate further and put a finer point on what I was trying to say above, sloppy, uninformed, and/or imprecise language can easily make legitimate criticism be quickly interpreted as antisemitism due to that inextricable link.
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Kind of like how if you pull out the old 13% of the population is responsible for 50% of the crime stat, you are automatically being evaluated as racist, regardless of the further content of your point or words.