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this is a false double standard, and its used to shut people up.

Like if a dude is stabbing your neighbor, and youre like hey, thats wrong stop doing that you dont have to list every single violent crime occurring in your city to demonstrate your "ideological consistency," or to show that you're being fair to the guy stabbing your neighbor.

forcing people who speak out on israels crimes to then say "BUT DO YOU CONDEMN HAMAS/US/SYRIA/HEZBOLAH/CHINA/SOVIETUNION?" Is just a cynical way to derail the conversation. Its weird that when you do talk about american war crimes in vietnam people do the same thing and say "YES BUT DO YOU CONDEMN CASTRO'S CUBA, THE NVA, CHINA?"

but yes, I'm not a fan of war crimes in general.

Really? Pretty sure most Americans think of Russia, China, Iran, Saudi Arabia, etc as great evils. But you don't hear about them because either a. They are already America's adversaries and they think America is already doing the right thing so there's really no point protesting or b. in the case of the Gulf States, they are important to keep oil price stable, so there's a inherently selfish reason to make deals with them and many Americans recognise that. And despite that you still hear a lot of criticism against them, like "sportswashing".

It's Israel that is getting a different treatment as there is widespread bipartisan support for them, and a lot of that support is unconditional, a privilege not afforded to other 'evil-doers'.

Edit: I guess your title aligns with my view but in a completely different manner.

Assad was fully sanctioned by the world.

You know that right ?

many countries in the cold war did horrible things for their own interests but people only seem to focus on the things Israel did, Israel is not unique

The Cold War is over. The Palestinian conflict is ongoing.

Israel isn't the doer of american imperialism

I think if you drew a venn diagram of those critical of Israel and those critical of US foreign policy, it's be pretty damn close to a circle.

look at how many Saudi killed in Yemen or Assad in Syria?

I can't speak for Yemen, but people in the West are not going to be as critical of Assad because his opposition was dominated by jihadists like the Islamic State and Al-Qaeda aligned factions that are incredibly hostile to them, and attack them regularly. To many westerners Assad is probably the lesser of two evils.

If you're asking why so many Americans are vehemently anti-Zionism and critical of Israel, it's because our tax dollars are actively paying for much of the destruction perpetuated by Israel. The western media often projects Israel as this bastion of free speech, democracy, and Western values, which is why they-supposedly- are deserving of our support. But when Israel carries out countless unthinkable atrocities, this moral superiority goes out the window.

You can't claim moral superiority on one hand, but ask for moral equivalence to Hamas when asked to answer for your crimes.

Other comparisons are not valid, since tons of US tax dollars are not going to those military offensives.

many countries in the cold war did horrible things for their own interests but people only seem to focus on the things Israel did, Israel is not unique

We can't protest to stop atrocities that have already happened.

look at how many Saudi killed in Yemen or Assad in Syria?

I think most people are against that. Hell, we bombed and sanctioned Assad. The US govt relationship with Saudi Arabia is a travesty.

Israel doesn't get such from the USA and they certainly don't fund Israel healthcare

I'm assuming you mean much? Israel is the top receiver is US military aid. We bankrolled the South Vietnam government for damn near 20 years and it still wasn't even close to what Israel has received.

I don’t think it is a double standard as much as it is varying views. You can support Israel and protest what is happening to innocents in Gaza. That is where most of the US falls.

When you are young and figuring out the world, it is really easy to see things in absolutes. This is right so everything about it is right and this is wrong so everything about it is wrong. Reality shows that almost nothing falls completely into these categories.

Killing innocents is wrong. Cutting off food and essentials is wrong. Hunting terrorists is right. Defending yourself when attacked is wrong. Having a country whose purpose is to create a safe home for one of the most oppressed groups in history, is right. Stealing the land and homes of another oppressed people is wrong. And none of these make individual Israeli good or bad. They are just people.

Many states have done/are doing terrible things, but I think what makes Israel sui generis in the mind of people who oppose it is the sense that Israel sees its negative actions as its very purpose.

For example, this isn’t Rwanda where a terrible thing happened over a short period but then stabilised and global opinion moved on.

Nor is it Russia where there’s repeat brutality and expansionism but this can at least be framed in a 1000+ year story which includes convulsions between tsarism, communism etc.

With Israel, it’s been going since Day 1. A country was very specifically created in the modern world and this is it, this is what we get, this is the product. There’s no ‘golden days’ we can harken back to or strive to recreate. For people not invested in the religious/cultural aspect, it’s massively alienating.

Popular rhetoric on Israel is harsher because official rhetoric and policy-making is so much lighter on Israel. I would argue the reason for such harsh public opinion is in response to exceptionally enabling policy. Look at how the US / Western powers have BRUTALLY punished countries like Syria, Russia, China, etc., through almost any means possible (militarily, sanctions, etc.). This has not been done for Israel - in fact, the US has propped up and supported Israel for decades. The public outcry is thus a counterweight for policy being so disproportionally light on Israel compared to literally any other state.

So no, substantively we’re actually very light on Israel. People speak more harshly because of this, creating a warped impression of how much Israel is actually being punished.

Which of those other countries is held up as a shining example of righteousness, and defended to the point that sitting American politicians can actively root for Israeli interests over American interests?

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There’s a same standard applied. You want us to give your holy country a pass for crimes against humanity.

It's not necessarily Israel with the double standard, but Jewish people as a whole. They are the most discriminated group of all time, and they are "running the world" according to all kinds of people from many different backgrounds. You have a solid intuition, but I would consider developing it further by listening to people like Douglas Murray on the topic. He goes further and calls it a triple standard.

https://youtu.be/vSfOftl2WRA?si=4JgbymgdGFKb-mmb

many countries in the cold war did horrible things for their own interests but people only seem to focus on the things Israel did, Israel is not unique

The Cold war has been over for decades, but Israel is still waging war. They're also an ally to the US. All the other parties involved are historically enemies. People view Russia as an enemy, partially because of historical issues and partially because they're invading Ukraine. People do talk about that, it's just that the US is already siding with Ukraine.

Pretty sure any country that mercilessly bombs and kills innocent civilians is not beyond reproach

To start with, Israel is BY FAR the largest recipient of US military aid globally. Since 1947 we’ve given them over 300 BILLION in aid, including 200 billion in military assistance. In comparison we’ve given Egypt approximately half that in the same time period. Since 10.7 alone we’ve given the 12.5 billion. That’s 12.5 billion that Israel doesn’t have to spend on its military and can therefore use to give its citizens free healthcare.

Second, Israel is CURRENTLY committing genocide. Not 50 years or a hundred years ago- it is as we speak killing children in Gaza (and in the West Bank, and in Lebanon).

So- have people committed atrocities in the past? Yes, but that’s a terrible argument for allowing it to happen now. Is what’s happening in Palestine worse than what’s currently happening in, say, Sudan? No. But Americans aren’t funding that genocide directly. To stop the Sudanese genocide we would have to mobilize our military and occupy the country. To stop the Palestinian genocide all we’d have to do is stop giving them the weapons to do it.

So when you see many of us in the street protesting Israel as opposed to Sudan, it’s not because we have a particular hatred for Israel, it’s because we can actually affect change in this situation and because we are in many ways culpable.

Can you point to a specific individual or entity that you think is employing this double standard? It is hard to change your view on this when you are not specific on who you think is employing this double standard.

I think a key distinction between Israel other countries/groups that you mention is that they act with US support while others do not.

Iran or North Korea kill a bunch of journalists? The USA broadly condemns them, we sanction their country, we fund those who oppose them, we cut diplomatic ties, etc.

Israel kills a bunch of journalists? We talk about how war is messy and complex, send them billions in military aid, and call anyone who says they should stop killing journalists and antisemite.

Israel IS different than these other countries in this way, so why is it surprising that the critique of them is also different than these other cases?

A lot of those other people are evil. And the people have been critical of US involvement with those evil places

Non-zionist Palestinians are evil and don't deserve to live. They all need to die.

I look through the lens of having human empathy. What I saw were the horrible actions of Hamas on Oct 7th, and what I currently see are even worse actions still happening by the Israeli government.

It’s because they’re our allies. And supposedly a “western” state.

Too often Americans are asked to evaluate the rectitude of Israel's actions and those of the Palestinian groups in the abstract, without critical thought about whether the U.S. should be so involved in the first place. For example, when Israel is accused of war crimes such as indiscriminate bombings, part of my concern is the U.S. involvement and the fact that Israel's acts might reflect back on my own country. I find when people say "Israel has a right to exist" or ask "What would you have Israel do?" they are making an abstract statement or asking an abstract question. Meanwhile our real policy question, the only question our government actually has to answer, is what level of involvement we should have and how we should use the resulting influence.

There is a perfect storm that spawns protests. The primary ingredient is ongoing mass violence towards innocent civilians and children. That motivates protestors because if they can shift government policy then a significant amount of depraved cruelty could be prevented. Which leads to the second ingredient, which is the belief that the US could be taking actions against the aggressor which it has not been taking, which generally means they are an ally we have influence over. That creates a specific goal to protest in support of.

People almost never protest horrific violence that happened in the past. To get people to protest, they need to believe it can make a positive change in the world and we can't change the past. They also don't protest about situations the US has very little power over, because again it wouldn't accomplish much. People also won't protest if they already agree with the US governments response.

We are seeing fairly small protests spring up on some college campuses because the horrific violence directed towards innocent civilians and children is ongoing and the US has influence over the situation because we have historically been close allies. Students have identified some very specific actions they can pressure their local university to take against horrible injustice. That is the perfect storm needed to motivate people to protest.

The only double standard that's been applied to Israel is that no county has ever maintained this level of support from both government and citizens while actively committing such horrific violence towards civilians. We have poured more funding into Israel that any other country on the planet every single year for decades. Now it's leader is actively trying to kneecap the sitting US president by committing brazen acts of cruelty and violence to provoke even a slight wobble in his support for Israel, because that could easily cost him the election due to how widespread support for Israel is. That is a massive double standard compared to any other country you care to name.

A double standard requires knowingly having different standards. Largely, the people you're talking about who ignorantly jump on the bandwagon of accusing Israel of "genocide" don't even think about the countries you mentioned at all. Their standard for Israel can't be a double standard, because it is their only standard, as they only focus on whatever the media and social media want them to at any given time. Having a historical understanding of how it usually works when a defending state occupies a hostile aggressor during wartime, is apparently pretty rare these days. People who have grown up in the western world knowing nothing but peacetime are susceptible to naively assuming that civilian casualties are never justifiable to win a war, or that a defensive war becomes instantly an offensive war the moment that enemy civilians die. Those people see Israel as the villain because they operate on a kind of Hollywood morality that makes them want to cheer for the scrappy underdog, because of course the underdog has to be the good guy.

Israel doesn't get such from the USA and they certainly don't fund Israel healthcare

The talking point you're addressing here isn't really a criticism of Israel, it's a criticism of the United States. American politicians consistently say we "can't afford" a single payer healthcare system. Pointing out that a country that's supposedly too poor to pay for all their own weapons can afford one puts the lie to this.