This is so stupid, I should probably just walk away, but I think I've been permabanned, so it's worth a try.
The context is a thread titled "Israeli minister says Israel has created and owns the European far right parties". It consists of a screenshot of a tweet auto-translated from french about an Israeli minister talking about building a network of relationships with European far right parties.
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Which mod was PTB: @MysticMushroom1776@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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What sanction was imposed: comments removed (whatever), ban from the community !europe@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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Screenshot of the modlog entry, attached.
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The context of the posts that were originally removed is basically:
- a factual post that OP's title does not follow from the content. The tweet talks about Israel helping build the European far right alliance, not "creating" and "owning" the European far right.
- In response to another user pushing back, I think we got a bit of a misunderstanding with the meaning of the word "conspiracy", with me taking the word literally and arguing that the framing of "conspiracy" is basically an antisemitic trope harkening to the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. There is a bit of (I think respectful) back and forth, which I think basically would have been resolved in a couple more turns.
- The mod intervenes and removes my posts without banning me yet. The mod accuses me of "dismissing anti-Zionism as antisemitic conspiracies", "parroting pro-Zionist rhetoric" and "apologia" and "accusations of antisemitism".
- I respond to the mod, underneath and that gets me banned. I don't seem to have access to the post that triggered the ban, it does not appear in the modlog, but after the mod removed a 3 posts with the accusation of trolling, bad faith, zionist apologia and zionist rhetoric, I basically said "you misunderstood me, but I'm not going to "try to play chess with a pigeon", just FYI I was not trolling, I was arguing in good faith and I was trying to say that we don't need employ harmful antisemitic tropes in antizionist rhetoric". I guess the most offensive thing I said was the pigeon-playing-chess, thing.
- That gets me banned as a "bad faith zionist troll", with a nice little final message "Sayonara you worthless Zionist apologist." Power tripping much?
- Why I think that's unfair, and what I would ask as remedy:
Read my freaking posts. I am not doing zionist apologia. I'm not pushing zionist rhetoric. I am not trolling, and I'm engaging in good faith. I'm repeatedly referring to Israel as the "genocidal Israeli apartheid regime".
What I am doing is pointing out that the conspiratorial framing is unnecessary and harmful. I am not conflating antizionism with antisemitism, I quite specifically say so. What I am saying is that "there exist antisemitic ways of doing antizionist politics", which, I don't know man, I think it's ...pretty obvious? My strongest claim is in the longer of my removed comments:
it is possible to do anti-Zionist politics in an anti-Semitic way. Let's not fucking do that. Let's instead do anti-Zionist politics in an anti-fascist way.
This is basic shit, no? In what fucking way is saying "let's do anti-Zionist politics in an anti-fascist way" even remotely "zionist apologia"?! I mean, come on.
In terms of the substance of my disagreement in the discussion that was interrupted, I honestly think that it was a misunderstanding about the word "conspiracy" that would have been resolved in a couple of turns. In my view, the Israeli regime is publicly organizing the European fascists, so there is no "conspiracy", it's literally in the open. The conspiratorial framing only hurts the antizionist attack, because of its antisemitic roots. Before the mod intervened to gut the discussion, I was trying to clarify the language of "conspiracy" with the other user.
To summarize: I think the mod jumped the gun, being triggered by the word "antisemitism". Yes, the Israeli propaganda machine uses the accusation of antisemitism as chaff, but that doesn't mean we need to turn off our own critical thinking. We can freaking do better than give actual pro-Israeli apologists hooks to accuse the antizionist movement of antisemitism.
As a remedy, just lift the ban, for fuck's sake.
EDIT: I'm unsure how the notifications work, but for full transparency, I have just sent the mod this DM, to let zir know that I started this thread:
If it is bad etiquette to send such a heads up via DM, I apologize and take responsibility.
EDIT2: Seems like some trolls and sock puppets have been brigading the thread and posting zionist shit and unacceptable language directed at the mod. I also see the mod locked the original thread due to some of those sock puppets spilling over to there. That's all just shitty and toxic for any kind of nuanced discussion in our communities, as well as any kind of reasonable resolution to this mess. So stupid. I never meant this to spawn a freaking harassment campaign, this is so frustrating. Boo.
Here's the thing about some of these people: perpetuating the idea that being critical of the Israeli government or Zionism, is the same as anti-semitism, is in the Israeli government's interests. It helps push the narrative that anyone who opposes the Netenyahu government is an anti-semite.
It wouldn't surprise me if at least some supposedly pro-Palestinian voices are managed opposition. People who wittingly or most likely unwittingly are repeating narratives that serve Israeli interests, paint critics of Israel in a bad light, and serve to divide the opposition to Israel internationally.
For example, according to recent polling American Jews are quite critical of the Israeli government. American Jews are more likely than the average American to be critical of Netenyahu, more likely to think that the US is too supportive of Israeli, more likely to think that the US should support the Palestinians more, more likely to be in favour of the establishment of an independent Palestinian state, etc. etc. Who does it serve to alienate Jews in the US? You surely want the Jon Stewarts of this world to be on your side.
It's a bit like an agent provocateur who tries to turn a peaceful protest violent, because it'll allow the authorities to paint protesters as violent thugs and scare off reasonable average citizens from joining protests.
This being said, I assume most people being horrible and undermining the cause they claim to support, are simply complete and utter morons.