Kazuhiro Hayashida argues that past victimhood does not confer the right to destroy.
I advocate “Anti-Netanyahuism.” This position makes clear both the target of criticism and where responsibility lies.
Netanyahu seeks to equate political criticism of himself and his government’s policies with hostility towards Jews as a whole. Yet Israel does not represent all Jews, and Netanyahu does not represent all of Israel.
Netanyahu’s deranged military actions are accelerating the genocide in Gaza, and they rival the deeds of the Nazis. I defend the existence, dignity, and traditions of the Jewish people while firmly protesting Netanyahu’s genocidal policies.
Treating criticism of Netanyahu’s government as an attack on all Jews constitutes a displacement of responsibility: the government appropriates the diverse views and wishes of Jewish people and conflates them with its own actions.
What I hold Netanyahu accountable for is the destruction inflicted on another people by a political leader who belongs to a people that has suffered persecution. Upholding the historical reality of the Holocaust and the dignity of the Jewish people is compatible with defending the lives and dignity of the people of Gaza. Past victimhood confers no authority to absolve present wrongdoing.
(Translated from the Japanese)
I am anti-Zionist, i.e., Greater Israel Project. Israel should stay within the 1948 borders
"Kazuhiro Hayashida argues that past victimhood does not confer the right to destroy."
Like traumatized children from a bad family, it can't become an excuse to become a criminal.