This question is probably best answered by any Jewish people on this thread (
frogwoman ?), and obviously the answer will be down to personal experience/social circles. Also, apologies if it's slightly off topic for this thread or clumsily worded. Do most Jews feel close ties with Israel and take criticism of Israel as anti-semitic? How do they feel when the topic is discussed? I'm not sure I know any Jewish people IRL (though have a couple as FB friends) so would be interested to know.
I don't mind being asked about it, as people spend an awful lot of time assuming what Jewish people think about Israel and not asking them,
I don't feel a great deal of connection to Israel personally, but a lot of Jewish people have lots of family there, go on holiday there every year, have spent gap years or long periods there in their youth, and/or have been brought up with the attitude 'God forbid, should the worst happen here [meaning, something like the Nazis], Israel is there for you' and therefore many feel 'My Country Right or Wrong'. I think most British Jews do feel that way and will in genera make excuses for Israel - though i should point out very few have anything against Palestinians and I suspect a lot of people (wrongly) assume Jews and Palestinians have some kind of genetic hatred between one another, which is not the case at all.
I do feel some identification with Israel in the form of a kind of burden due to its actions because it is supposed to be 'my country' to some extent and know that some feel I should somehow be accountable for it, partly as they assume I will support it unreservedly.
I don't feel that criticism of the Israel government is antisemitic. I think some people fall into a trap of antisemtism because they assume Jew=Israeli and all Jews must be totally behind Israel on principle. I feel annoyed in a possibly pedantic way that I feel self-conscious is petty about people saying Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinians because while they certainly don't give a shit about killing innocent people and children (which is obviously vile), I don't feel they are motivated by a desire and plan to murder all Palestinians and it feels a bit goady, like saying 'Oh, Jews had genocide committed on them and now LOOK! THEY'RE the ones committing genocide, I am so clever pointing that out'. And that kind of thing drives Jews away from feeling comfortable joining protests in support of Palestinian rights. That and the occasional thundercunts like the guys driving through Golders Green shouting 'Fuck the Jews, rape their daughters'
Convoy drives through London shouting 'f**k the Jews, rape their daughters' who I know are totally minority, but really not fucking helping.
Don't get me wrong, many Jews would also be loath to join protests because of pushback they may get from their own communities as well. So yeah, it's complicated.
