I don't know if there's maybe something to this analysis on a global scale (certainly I've got zero confidence in the good faith of Saudi and Qatari foreign policy), and it's absolutely the case that there's an insidious strain of antisemitism hiding in advocacy for Palestinians, but plenty of people I talk to about this problem are observant Jewish people; they're absolutely not antisemites, or getting "played", any more than people who advocated against apartheid were getting played. The situation is by all accounts very, very bad.

I don't disagree with you, but I think you and GP are both correct. Lots of people care about this issue and think that things should change and/or that Israel is "in the wrong" so to speak (I myself am one such person).

However, you said "maybe something to [GP's] analysis on a global scale" and also " The situation is by all accounts very, very bad."

From an Israeli perspective, this is the thing that bothers me. The situation re: Israel/Palestine is bad, but it's also nuanced and complicated and has very few paths forward, even to people very motivated to solve the problems. (Even if I had any political power, I really don't know what I would do at this stage.)

And yet, the way the situation is talked about on a global scale makes it seem: 1) way worse than it really is, 2) loses a lot of nuance and makes Israel look way worse than it really is, 3) makes the issue appear far more important compared to other problems happening in the world.

And the reason for the above is because of GP's analysis (or at least, that's what it seems like to me): a lot of countries have a huge interest in making the situation the one that people focus on. It's easier for many Muslim countries to make their citizens focus on a bad situation in Palestine (ignoring their own complicity in it), and thereby distract them from far, far worse situations happening literally every day.

I don’t say “everybody.” I said “most people.” Across the entire Muslim world there is a feigned concern for Palestinians that’s mainly about showing solidarity with other Muslims in opposing the existence of Israel. I’m not talking about random Americans who happen to jump into the cause.

>it's absolutely the case that there's an insidious strain of antisemitism hiding in advocacy for Palestinians

There's a rather more insidious strain of state supported Islamophobia and Israeli racial supremacy hiding in almost every trumped up accusation of anti-semitism.

It comes routinely from institutions who purport to speak for Jews.

For example, there's an institution named "stop antisemitism" who recently tried to offer money to dox a writer from The Onion for a joke that could in no way be construed as anti-semitic in any way, shape or form: https://www.dailydot.com/debug/the-onion-stop-antisemitism/

These people did not make a mistake. They weren't being incautious or overly zealous. They are simply racists.

You've been using HN primarily for political and ideological flamewar. I refer not only to the barrage of comments you've been posting on this topic, but your comments on other topics also. Using HN primarily this way will get you banned here—it's not what this site is for, and it destroys what it is for. This is long-established moderation practice: https://hn.algolia.com/?sort=byDate&dateRange=all&type=comme....

Since we've warned you many times before (going back years actually) and you've continued to break this rule, I've banned your account. If you don't want to be banned, you're welcome to email [email protected] and give us reason to believe that you'll follow the rules in the future. The rules are here: https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html.

No, this isn't because of any of the topics you've been posting about, and certainly not the current one. We actually don't care which political (or ideological, or whatever) side you're on. It's because your account has repeatedly and consistently been breaking HN's rules despite our many requests to you to stop. Not cool.