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Anyone who criticizes Israeli government policy is NOT automatically called antisemitic. Millions of Jews inside and outside Israel have protested against Netanyahu and they are certainly not antisemites, nor have they been labeled so. Take a look at this link: 2024 Israeli protests https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2024_Israeli_protests The same is true for non-Jews who protest Israeli gvernment policy. They are NOT always called antisemitic. However, some who do protest against Israel are indeed antisemitic and the accusations of antisemitism are true. Old-fashioned raw antisemitism can masquerade as anti-Zionism and it's entirely right to denounce it as such. Where does the line go between anti-Zionism and antisemitism? Basically, if opponents of Israel use "Zionist" as synonym for "Jew," then it's antisemitism. Holding Jews collectively responsible for the actions of the Israeli government is a modern version of the oldest expression of antisemitism, blaming all Jews for the crucifixion of Jesus. This also goes to the heart of the whistleblower's complaints against the BCC. Jewish employees were being harassed because of what is happening in Gaza, although those employees have no influence or direct involvement in the Israeli government's policy. Updating other common antisemitic tropes, such as Jews control governments, international finance, the media, etc. is also antisemitic. The overriding claim that a a small group of Jews wields undue influence is central to antisemitism. It may be unintentional, but several of @pacovl46's comments are troubling: He apparently supports some heavy-duty retributuion against Israel and its citizens. So I have to ask @pacovl46: are you referring to the elimination of the state of Israel and the dispersal of its citizens? What will happen if Israel gets it "big time?" He is positing a plot by Jews to fulfill a hidden agenda he calls "the Israeli big picture." That's classic antisemitism, straight out of the Protocols of the Elders of Zion. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Protocols-of-the-Elders-of-Zion The existence of a homeland for the world's Jews is what is "provoking and antagonizing" Hamas and other terrorist groups. Through the years, Israel has taken the steps necessary to defend itself and that has had unfortunate consequences for Palestinians. But to blame Israel for the attacks against its citizens is again classic antisemitism. For a widely used and respected definition of antisemitism, check out the International Holocaust Rememrance Alliance page: https://holocaustremembrance.com/resources/working-definition-antisemitism

Comic

Dual pricing is by no means unique to Thailand. It occurs in the U.S. and just about every other country with tourists. The big difference between U.S. and Thai dual pricing is that in the U.S., it's based on local residency rather than nationality. It's illegal in the U.S. to give discounts or other favorable treatment solely on the basis of race or nationality, but it's OK to give discounts based on residency. It's a more common practice in the U.S. than many realize. The neighborhood in which I lived in New York City was visited every day by thousands of tourists as well as tens of thousands of commuters who worked in the area. Full-time local residents with apartments or rented rooms within in the area were given considerable discounts (10% at grocery stores, 20% or more at bars, restaurants, shops and services like hairdressing and dry cleaning). Residents got a discount card from the management of the buildings where we lived. That way the local businesses could charge "outsiders" higher prices while full-time locals paid less. Here's another example from a road trip I took. The Chesapeake Expressway is a stretch of highway of only 16 miles and I paid $8.00 to use it, over 10 times more than a local resident would pay. Only residents of the state of Virginia with a Virginia driver's license are eligible for the discount member rate. The state cranks up the rate on weekends because thousands of tourists use the Chesapeake Expressway on their way to a major U.S. tourist destination, the Outer Banks in North Carolina. Non-U.S. citizens who live in Virginia can get the Expressway discount and the same applied to the "resident discount cards" in NYC neighborhoods. It's a common practice everywhere in the U.S. with major tourist attractions. When I was a child, my family lived close to a U.S. national park. Local residences got free admission to the park. I believe Thailand should give foreign residents who work and pay taxes in Thailand the same price as Thais, but I don't think it is a big problem and certainly not racism.

Sale

In an Opinion piece, the Editorial Board of The Wall Street Journal does a good job of brushing off the Amnesty International report. Basically, the WSJ says Amnesty had to change the definition of genocie to make the accusation fit. https://www.wsj.com/opinion/amnesty-international-report-israel-genocide-hamas-gaza-811acf05?page The Propaganda War on Israel Never Stops Amnesty International lends its once-good name to the genocide lie. From the people who brought you “Israeli apartheid” comes another trendy smear: “Israeli genocide.” With a new report Wednesday night, Amnesty International assures its good standing in the anti-Israel herd. The price is to swallow an inversion of reality.

Man

Discombobulated

I'm going to be giving lumps of coal to all the bad guys who go to Pattaya.

Captain Obvious says: Because the "little people" don't agree with your take on the situation. Stockholm Syndrome has nothing to do with voting in elections. In fact, if you read the Wiki entry to which you linked, Stockholm Syndrome may not even be a real syndrome. Basically, the response by the hostages in Sweden in 1973 was very specific to the situation in the Stockholm bank and has rarely been observed elsewhere since then.

Noodles

@placnx What sources do you consider to be reliable on the Israel-Hamas conflict? What sources do you use to get your information? Please name any mainstream or alternate media; international organizations (official or NGO); think tanks; professors and other experts; government spokeman or any other source of information on the conflict you feel is reliable. Do you believe that the leaders of Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran are more truthful than Netanyahu?

The response by both the Korean Parliament and the public to the attempt to impose martial law is very encouraging. They beat back the attempt and hopefully Yoon will face impeachment. It seems the democratic spirit has established itself well in the minds of South Koreans.

Ship

IDF troops are known for unconventional fighting methods but I imagine both styles of fighting ties would be outside their experience.

South Korea president backs down from martial law order after MPs vote to block it https://www.bbc.com/news/live/cn38321180et

I don't know why it's so hard for some to grasp that Pattaya can flourish as both a family destination and an "adult oriented" Paradise. The bar and commercial sex scene is there for those who wantt it but is easily avoided by those who don't. I know numerous families with children of all ages who have had great family vacations in Pattaya and avoided the commercial sex side of the city. With a bit of research and planning, it's totally possible. My British niece, her husband and two children (boy 10, girl 7 at the time) visited me in Pattaya some years ago. On my advice. they stayed at the Centara Grand Mirage Beach Resort on Wong Amat Beach in NaKlua. The resort has its own waterpark and private stretch of beach as well as a huge Kids' Club with a ton of activities for children from 8.00 a.m. until 6 p.m. Aside from a trip to Paris Disneyland, they thought Pattaya was the best family vacation they ever had. The kids never saw anything sleazy and the little girl cried when it was time to check out of the resort because she liked it so much. The family did most of their sightseeing during the morning or early afternoon, before most of the commercial sex businesses get going. They used car service to get around and there was nothing sleazy for the kids to see. Of course they avoided WS, LK Metro and above all, Soi 6. They never ventured out with the kids after dark. My niece said they'd seen far more inappropriate behavior on trips to Spain and Greece than in Pattaya. Drunk chavs and chavettes are far worse than bar girls. There's plenty for families to do in and around Pattaya. The Russians don't seem to mind pushing kids in strollers down WS or Soi 6 and that's up to them. But for the families that want to avoid any glimpse of the sex scene, it's easily enough done.

That's a myth. Pattaya was never an R & R destination for U.S. military personnel during the Vietnam War. Bangkok was, but not Pattaya. Very, very few U.S. R & Rers ever made the trip to Pattaya becauswe it was indeed a "sleepy fishing village" at the time. It had only two hotels and a handful of bars and restaurants. Even the USAF troops stationed at U Tapao didn't visit Pattaya much. They had a shack bar areas, first Kilo Sip, then Newland, closer to the base. Charter tourist groups, mainly from Germany and Scandinavia, spurred Pattaya's development as a tourist destination in the early 1970s, with the P4P angle coming a few years later. Remember, the first go go bar in Pattaya didn't open until 1978. The R & Rntroops had an enormous effect on Bangkok's commercial sex scene, but not Pattaya's.

"Fake" is an inappropriate word in this case. It's a false accusation of genocide. Pro-Palestinians are equating a large number of civilian deaths with genocide and that's just wrong. According to the definition of genocide used by the U.N. in the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, the intent mof genocide is "to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group." See Article II at https://www.un.org/en/genocide-prevention/1948-convention Israel's intent is not to eliminate the Palestinian people but Hamas as a terrorist organization. A large number of civilians have died in Gaza because Hamas used them as human shields to protect its tunnel system and other military targets. The situation is akin to the civilian deaths caused by Allied aerial bombing in Germany and Japanduring WWII. An estimated 100,000 civilians were killed in the fire bombing of Tokyo, while over 100,00 civilians immediately died from the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The Dresden fire bombing killed at least 25,000 civilians and the bombing of Hamburg about 43,000. Tens of thousands of other civilians died in the bombing of other cities in Japan and Germany. Why would the Israel bombing of civilians in Gaza be considered genocide when the Allied bombing of German and Japan isn't?

That's correct. As Chief Prosecutor for the ICC, Karim Khan can request a warrant, but only the ICC panel of judges has the power to issue it. Khan was in a bit of a bind when it came to the Oct 7 attacks. He was forced to request warrants for the leaders of Hamas as well as Israel, It would be blatantly antisemitic to go after Netanyahu for responding to the Oct. 7 attacks but ignore the Hamas leaders who ordered the terrorist murders of Israelis and non-Israelis. However, an ICC warrant on a living Hamas leader would put Israel's opponents in a very sticky situation. South Africa, the State of Palestine and some other Muslim and non-Muslim nations which had ratified the Rome Statute would be bound to arrest the Hamas leaders as well as Netanyahu and Gallant. Obviously those countries weren't going to do that, which would make the ICC warrants an absurd exercise. How can the State of Palestine or South Africa demand other countries arrest Netanyahu while harboring Hamas leaders with warrants? There are plenty of Hamas leaders still living who were complicit in the Oct. 7 attacks but it is highly doubtful Khan will request warrants for them. Ironically, South Africa had been trying for seven years to withdraw from the Rome Statute. In 2015, South Africa refused to arrest Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir on an ICC warrant during his visit to the country. Al-Bashir had been accused by the ICC of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Darfur. In 2023, South Africa renewed its intention of withdrawing from the ICC because of the arrest warrant on Russia's Putin. Putin was at that time scheduled to visit South Africa for a BRICs summit in August. https://www.reuters.com/world/africa/south-africa-try-withdraw-icc-again-ramaphosa-2023-04-25/ https://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-34509342

The video below gives an excellent explanation of how the Nazis "sold" the Holocaust to the German people. The situation is eeriely similar to the concerted campaign to destroy Israel that Iran, Hamas, Hezbollah, various Muslim countries and support groups all over the world are carrying out today, especially through the U.N. and its agencies. I can see from some of the posts on AN that the new wave of antisemitism has won over converts. History is indeed repeating itself.

Israel is the homeland of and haven for the world's Jews. It's the only country with a Jewish majority population. It's the best guarantee Jews have for survival should antisemitism ever lead to another attempt at the Final Solution. Today 7.2 million Israeli Jews stand against 450 million Arabs and 1.8 billion Muslims to defend their homeland, a battle that's been going on for 76 years. I've read plenty of odd stuff on AN, but the "statements on Israel" to which @save the frogsrefers have to be among the weirdest. The article to which he links (https://medium.com/the-judean-peoples-front/is-everything-about-israel-fake-51bf250b9dc9) is a REFUTATION of the "fake nation" claims. The author of the linked article does an excellent job, so no need for me to comment futher on it. I'll just say that if anyone thinks Israel is fake, try attacking its citizens. You'll get a very real response.