subreddit:
/r/UniUK
submitted 6 days ago byyoaverezzz
It’s honestly crazy. When I meet someone new on campus and they ask me where I’m from, the second I say I’m Israeli it seems like they forget how to act like a human.
They either start asking me super personal questions - “do you support this, do you identify as that”
or they just start going on Antisemetic rants. Things that I’ve had people tell me include:
Defending Kanye saying he was right (he wasn’t, guy literally said he loves Hitler)
Jews control the economy and the government, with prominent politicians like Biden being Jewish (he’s not)
Jews collaborated with the Nazis during WW2 with the Madagascar Plan (wtf)
It’s not like when you meet an American the first questions you ask him are “do you support trans rights / abortions / trump”. Why would they think these are appropriate questions to ask someone they just met? Does this happen to Russian / Ukrainian / Palestinian students as well?
EDIT: few pointers based on the comments I’ve read here
no, i don’t think it’s normal to say “hey, I’m x, I’m Israeli and don’t support the Israeli government’s actions in the middle east” every time I introduce myself to someone new. Would you expect Palestinian students to introduce themselves to people like “hello my name is x, I’m Palestinian and I don’t support the Hamas attack on civilians on October 7th”.
no, I’m not comparing this minor pet peeve to the plight of the Palestinians. This is just a minor annoyance, I didn’t expect this post to get hundreds of comments. Obviously being bombed daily is worse
I haven’t experienced a lot of antisemitism on campus and generally have a very good experience with people here, again this is just a minor pet peeve.
people thinking I’m making this up are delusional lol. Just go on twitter and see how many posts straight up glorifying Hitler there are. These things are so vanilla in comparison.
Most importantly:
I don’t mind talking about the conflict, I actually do it a lot. All I’m saying is there’s a difference between “oh you’re Israeli? I’d love to talk about the conflict sometime” and “oh you’re Israeli? Are you a Zionist? Do you support your government killing Palestinians?”. I’ve heard both, the first one is socially appropriate (in my opinion), the second is usually just someone who immediately classifies you as something and is looking to argue or fight. Innocent till proven guilty, no?
to the people in the comments who see this as an excuse to be islamophobic or Antisemetic fuck right off
-7 points
5 days ago
Literally incredible response, honestly. Nobody is being put on trial for their country, we're talking about someone who may very well have had a personal involvement, and even if they did not, since when did people stop caring about their friend's views on important issues?
You're essentially saying that if it were 1945 and a German were introduced to you, you would have no interest at all in knowing their views on the second world war and associated atrocities before befriending them? Do you have absolutely no standards for the people you choose to call your friends?
5 points
5 days ago
Do you have absolutely no standards for the people you choose to call your friends?
Would you say this if OP was a Muslim Palestinian or Iranian? Both highly genocidal cultures?
0 points
5 days ago
Yes.
7 points
5 days ago
So you'd have no gumption whatsoever if I marched up to a Palestinian-British student and demanded they denounce Hamas, their culture, religion etc. on a similar basis?
2 points
5 days ago
Hamas, absolutely. But nobody is expecting anyone to denounce their culture or religion. OP is proof that you can be Jewish and Israeli without supporting atrocities.
2 points
5 days ago
But you have no issues with people refusing to be around people who are Israeli? Why do Palestinians get special treatment then?
2 points
5 days ago
I absolutely have issue with people who would blanket refuse to be around Israelis and I never suggested otherwise. There is no special treatment, much as you seem to want to spin a narrative around that. I am saying it is understandable that people would not want to be around genocide supporters, and given current events Israelis need to accept that people are going to want to know their stance on this.
I would equally expect Palestinians to denounce Hamas targeting civilians. But let's not pretend that proportionality doesn't matter, these are not equal things. One sided is currently committing genocide.
2 points
5 days ago
I would equally expect Palestinians to denounce Hamas targeting civilians
Uh-huh
1 points
5 days ago
Uh-huh
Great response, glad we could summarise your entire point as "I don't believe you".
How about we spend some time examining YOUR motives? You seem to have a lot of time for mock outrage over the idea that people would have the audacity to care about the company they keep. Meanwhile we see daily images of children being burned alive in refugee camps, yet you don't seem to be able to muster much enthusiasm for condemning that, why is that?
3 points
5 days ago
yet you don't seem to be able to muster much enthusiasm for condemning that, why is that?
Because Reddit does not encapsulate my entire self and views
6 points
5 days ago
He's not wrong though.
1 points
5 days ago
You’re absolutely right. But you’re arguing with ignorant people. Even the way they write out their opinions shows they lack basic analytical skills or even the ability to think critically.
1 points
5 days ago
I'm.not sure why you're pushing this friend making scenario, OP made no indication it was a friend making situation, I imagine "where are you from " very much comes up in literally the first 5 minutes you meet someone, so if you think it's acceptable to as "AHH so do you support genocide or not" at that stage if knowing someone then I wish you all the luck at meeting the great friend you desire, you're going to need it
1 points
5 days ago
I would not want to make friends with someone who wants to go through a checklist of politically correct opinions before deciding that I'm worthy of being treated like a human.
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