6 ms·

Israeli here - I'll try to write this the least political as I can since I on one hand disagree strongly with the government and on the other my experience has

by inglor 3mo ago

Israeli here - I'll try to write this the least political as I can since I on one hand disagree strongly with the government and on the other my experience has been getting antisemstic (yes, not anti-zionist) comments whenever this gets discussed a lot (and likely downvotes but who cares I've been here 10 years and have more fake points than is important anyway). Israel has several "cores" of technology. The military stuff is shameful (as well as other stuff). It's not just the NSOs (or less infamously the Wiz's/Palo Altos etc). There are plenty of good things though - startups in the biotech/health/classic "tech" space. I'll spare you the long list of stuff like Mellanox that drives Nvidias in data centers and leave the googling of medtech to you. Lots of neutral stuff too.

Matl 3mo ago
> my experience has been getting antisemstic (yes, not anti-zionist) comments whenever this gets discussed a lot I appreciate your experience. I have no doubt there's indeed been an increase in such comments. I think it's important to note that the Israeli government does work very hard to conflate Zionism with Judaism, (which itself seems antisemitic to me), making it harder for some to separate the two. > There are plenty of good things though - startups in the biotech/health/classic "tech" space. That's good to know, as I said in another comment, it may be time for those startups to make themselves heard more, not because they have to, but because it is in their interest if they have any expansion plans going forward, given what a poor PR the Israeli state and firms like NSO, BlackCore etc. give the Israeli tech scene.
- 4gotunameagain 3mo ago
  > I think it's important to note that the Israeli government does work very hard to conflate Zionism with Judaism, (which itself seems antisemitic to me), making it harder for some to separate the two. Yes, they are trying their hardest with their actions to fuel a new way of antisemitism. Turns out if you are a religious fundamental colony that occupies territory based on the bible, that gives bad rap to the whole religion.
  - gwerbin 3mo ago
    [flagged]
    - Matl 3mo ago
      > It's not based on the Bible, it's based on where we know for a fact people actually lived under the Roman empire. If not just speculation based on a 4000 year-old mythical text, it's literal documented history. It's the invocation of a 'promised land', which even Israeli government officials use as a justification for their actions, that is based on (a reading of) the Bible, despite Israel being nominally a secular country. I don't think many dispute there was a significant population of Jews within the Roman Empire, many of which lived in the rough geographical area of present day Israel. I am not sure how any sort of present day 'inherent right' stems from that.
      - gwerbin 3mo ago
        There's plenty of room for debate about the legitimacy of Zionism, and about what (and when) a "return to Zion" should be. Such debate has been carried out vigorously for 200 years. But it has to start from agreement on basic historical facts, and rejection of non-facts founded in bigotry. Israeli government officials are politicians and vary in perspective, but by and large the Israeli government is a big part of the "nasty colonial racist" part. Their perspective exists but is not authoritative, and it is becoming increasingly unpopular around the world (including among Jews).
        sosomoxie 3mo ago
        Which facts? Are you genetically 100% from Palestine? If not, then the fact is you're not Palestinian. Having trace genetics (possibly, possibly not) from people who once lived in a region does not give you or anyone else permission to go ethnically cleanse that region of the actual inhabitants and steal their land.
        gwerbin 3mo ago
- throw310822 3mo ago
  [flagged]
  - RobotToaster 3mo ago
    It's amazing how Trump and Bibi manage to embody the absolute worst stereotypes of their respective cultures. There's something almost Jungian about it.
    - sosomoxie 3mo ago
      It's all Zionists. Israel has been like this since it's very inception. Every Zionist president in the US has abetted them.
      - nailer 3mo ago
        [flagged]
jdw64 3mo ago
Personally, I think you're going through a hard time. An individual and a country are different, but people do rely to some extent on the image of a country when judging an individual. I agree with your logic, so I'll give you an upvote
redsocksfan45 3mo ago
[dead]
bradleyjg 3mo ago
No one has ever called me a kike or Christ killer. No one has ever accused me of controlling the media or banks. No one has spray painted a swastika on my house, or my synagogue for that matter. My nation, the most powerful in the world, puts a menorah in its halls of government every year for Hanukkah. The legislative and judicial branches have Jewish members at the very top level. The head of government has a Jewish son-in-law. Even online, I see much more pervasive criticism of my nation than yours. Yet, listen to Zionists and I’m practically living in Weimar Germany. That dog won’t hunt. People have criticisms of Israel. They may be fair or unfair. Address them on the merits and leave the rest of us out it. It has nothing to do with Jews qua Jews.
- throw26832 3mo ago
  [flagged]
  - bradleyjg 3mo ago
    During the Troubles in the 80s was Northern Ireland rilled with anti Protestantism? Just a bunch of people that hated all Protestants for no reason?
    - throw26832 3mo ago
      I’m not sure what point you are making, that the antisemitism is justified?
      - bradleyjg 3mo ago
        That wasn’t anti Protestantism and this isn’t antisemitism. You should defend Israel and its actions directly on the merits. Why is that so difficult?
        throw26832 3mo ago
        You’ve lost me there, TBH. We’re on a thread where an Israeli, who expresses strong disagreement with the government, says that they are often getting purely antisemitic comments. And your response is that you in America have never been called a kike. FYI: kike is out of fashion because it gets you banned. The antisemites now use Zio, (a trick already used in Poland in 1968 to ethnically cleanse the last remaining Jews), and HN is open to the whole world. I’ll leave you with links to some recent “anti-Zionist” comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48522533 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48522533 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48270295 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48270295 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48188132 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48188132 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48462075 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48462075 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48462289 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48462289 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48340382 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48340382
kombine 3mo ago
> Israeli here - I'll try to write this the least political We are more than two years into full-on genocide and you hesitate to be political? This position reminds me of many Russians who prefer to "stay out of politics" because there are "two sides" to the conflict and it's an uncomfortable topic for them.
- mhb 3mo ago
  [flagged]
  - Matl 3mo ago
    Is this the disgusting attempt to deny the Gaza genocide it sounds like?
    - mhb 3mo ago
      [flagged]
      - kombine 3mo ago
        The genocide, as concluded by literally every independent body, including Israeli historians specialising in genocide.
        mhb 3mo ago
        [flagged]
nobodyandproud 3mo ago
Your PM Netanyahu is a disaster. Your religious hardliners seem to love him. Even someone neutral to sympathetic can’t help but look on in disgust at your PM and his supporters. Edit: The point being that it tarnishes everything that Israel does, and makes fault-finding way too easy.
- kombine 3mo ago
  Let's not pin it all on Netanyuhu, he is a good representation of his society.
  - joxdosba 3mo ago
    It is an indisputable fact that when polled, most Israelis openly support genocide.
    - timoshishi 3mo ago
      Can you provide these sources?
      - joxdosba 3mo ago
        First google result https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-06-03/ty-article/.premium/a-grim-poll-shows-most-jewish-israelis-support-expelling-gazans-its-brutal-and-true/00000197-3640-d9f1-abb7-7e742b300000 https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-06-03/ty-article/.p... At least according to this study, almost all Israelis are monsters who openly support genocide.
        perpetualpear 3mo ago
        I wouldn't be surprised if the results of a poll for actual genocide would be the same, but expulsion is not genocide. I really wish people would stop diluting the meaning of genocide at every opportunity.
mhb 3mo ago
What is shameful about the "military stuff"? Isn't that's what is protecting you from your neighbors and their patron?
- lostlogin 3mo ago
  Recent events have taken ‘protection’ to a whole new level that’s extremely controversial. It seems unlikely that you don’t know that.
  - mhb 3mo ago
    Sorry for not being able to parse "military stuff" with the same precision as you. Especially since there are plenty of people who post here who won't work on defense-related activities despite availing themselves of their protection.
LightBug1 3mo ago
I didn't downvote you. You're Jewish (I stand side by side with Jewish brothers and sisters against Israel), you've expressed disagreements with the Israeli government. We're likely on a similar page then. However: > There are plenty of good things though - startups in the biotech/health/classic "tech" space. Besides the point. I truly won't touch anything from that Apartheid, gen0cideal state. c.f. the boycott of South Africa during Apartheid. Same principle.
- _DeadFred_ 3mo ago
  Israeli designed/made chips are in phones, computers, all over the internet. Same with Israeli made software. Anyone using/posting to the internet is touching/supporting quite a few things from Israel.
  - LightBug1 3mo ago
    You are very intelligent...... https://iea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/mister-gotcha-4-9faefa-1.jpg https://iea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/mister-gotcha-... To be clear, the job of the ordinary citizen in this situation is not to opt out. I criticise China often and yet my phone has Chinese chips. Would you have me shut up about China?. And so it is with Israel. The job of the ordinary citizen is to do what they reasonably can to protest the gen0cidal, N'azi behaviour of its current administration with the support of a significant percentage of its populous. Given how the troubles have turned a significant number of the population into blood-thirsty land thieves, the country should be de-N'azified like they did to Germany after WW2. You're welcome.
  - sosomoxie 3mo ago
    Nazis made rockets and medical advances. That didn't make Nazi Germany positive in any kind of way.
  - netsharc 3mo ago
    OMG, really?! Well then, because they did all those beneficial things, then I'm fine with Israel bombing hospitals, schools, and killing children by starving them while they sleep on the pile of rubble that was their home! /S
gatlin 3mo ago
I never understood this: the Palestinian children whose family and limbs are torn from them for Israeli sport are also Semites. It seems like the ultimate erasure to claim "antisemitic" for only Jews.
- rendall 3mo ago
  Semitic does not refer to people nor to a race of people, but to a family of languages including Hebrew and Arabic. The man who coined the term "antisemitic" used it to describe his own views which were specifically anti-Jew. The only erasure is the attempt to diffuse the term to include Akkadians, Amharics, Carthaginians, Phoenicians, Black Israelites, adherents to the Nation of Islam, all 1.3 billions Arabs, what-have-you, when it always and only ever referred to anti-Jew hatred.
- tartoran 3mo ago
  European origin jews are not semites btw. Antisemitism is a misnomer, when they refer to antisemitism they refer to Jews only.
- repelsteeltje 3mo ago
  Etymologically you're correct that semites refers to [all] people from middle east and horn of Africa. But the label is from the European perspective, where it was used to refer to Jews. I'm sure that if they'd had a say in it, they would not have referred to themselves as Jews. But yeah, there is indeed some irony in the term "antisemitism" in the context you describe
- woodruffw 3mo ago
  There is no such thing as a "semite." It's an archaic racial category that 19th century German race science used since "anti-semite" sounds more scientific than "Jew hater." Consequently, that's why it's applied to Jews rather than a larger pseudoscientific racial group. (More broadly, "they're semites too" is the "Elon Musk is African American" of I/P discourse. You can recognize extraordinary human tragedy without re-using race science.)
  - 3mo ago

by inglor 3mo ago

Matl 3mo ago

> my experience has been getting antisemstic (yes, not anti-zionist) comments whenever this gets discussed a lot I appreciate your experience. I have no doubt there's indeed been an increase in such comments. I think it's important to note that the Israeli government does work very hard to conflate Zionism with Judaism, (which itself seems antisemitic to me), making it harder for some to separate the two. > There are plenty of good things though - startups in the biotech/health/classic "tech" space. That's good to know, as I said in another comment, it may be time for those startups to make themselves heard more, not because they have to, but because it is in their interest if they have any expansion plans going forward, given what a poor PR the Israeli state and firms like NSO, BlackCore etc. give the Israeli tech scene.

4gotunameagain 3mo ago
> I think it's important to note that the Israeli government does work very hard to conflate Zionism with Judaism, (which itself seems antisemitic to me), making it harder for some to separate the two. Yes, they are trying their hardest with their actions to fuel a new way of antisemitism. Turns out if you are a religious fundamental colony that occupies territory based on the bible, that gives bad rap to the whole religion.
- gwerbin 3mo ago
  [flagged]
  - Matl 3mo ago
    > It's not based on the Bible, it's based on where we know for a fact people actually lived under the Roman empire. If not just speculation based on a 4000 year-old mythical text, it's literal documented history. It's the invocation of a 'promised land', which even Israeli government officials use as a justification for their actions, that is based on (a reading of) the Bible, despite Israel being nominally a secular country. I don't think many dispute there was a significant population of Jews within the Roman Empire, many of which lived in the rough geographical area of present day Israel. I am not sure how any sort of present day 'inherent right' stems from that.
    - gwerbin 3mo ago
      There's plenty of room for debate about the legitimacy of Zionism, and about what (and when) a "return to Zion" should be. Such debate has been carried out vigorously for 200 years. But it has to start from agreement on basic historical facts, and rejection of non-facts founded in bigotry. Israeli government officials are politicians and vary in perspective, but by and large the Israeli government is a big part of the "nasty colonial racist" part. Their perspective exists but is not authoritative, and it is becoming increasingly unpopular around the world (including among Jews).
      - sosomoxie 3mo ago
        Which facts? Are you genetically 100% from Palestine? If not, then the fact is you're not Palestinian. Having trace genetics (possibly, possibly not) from people who once lived in a region does not give you or anyone else permission to go ethnically cleanse that region of the actual inhabitants and steal their land.
        gwerbin 3mo ago
throw310822 3mo ago
[flagged]
- RobotToaster 3mo ago
  It's amazing how Trump and Bibi manage to embody the absolute worst stereotypes of their respective cultures. There's something almost Jungian about it.
  - sosomoxie 3mo ago
    It's all Zionists. Israel has been like this since it's very inception. Every Zionist president in the US has abetted them.
    - nailer 3mo ago
      [flagged]

jdw64 3mo ago

Personally, I think you're going through a hard time. An individual and a country are different, but people do rely to some extent on the image of a country when judging an individual. I agree with your logic, so I'll give you an upvote

redsocksfan45 3mo ago

[dead]

bradleyjg 3mo ago

No one has ever called me a kike or Christ killer. No one has ever accused me of controlling the media or banks. No one has spray painted a swastika on my house, or my synagogue for that matter. My nation, the most powerful in the world, puts a menorah in its halls of government every year for Hanukkah. The legislative and judicial branches have Jewish members at the very top level. The head of government has a Jewish son-in-law. Even online, I see much more pervasive criticism of my nation than yours. Yet, listen to Zionists and I’m practically living in Weimar Germany. That dog won’t hunt. People have criticisms of Israel. They may be fair or unfair. Address them on the merits and leave the rest of us out it. It has nothing to do with Jews qua Jews.

throw26832 3mo ago
[flagged]
- bradleyjg 3mo ago
  During the Troubles in the 80s was Northern Ireland rilled with anti Protestantism? Just a bunch of people that hated all Protestants for no reason?
  - throw26832 3mo ago
    I’m not sure what point you are making, that the antisemitism is justified?
    - bradleyjg 3mo ago
      That wasn’t anti Protestantism and this isn’t antisemitism. You should defend Israel and its actions directly on the merits. Why is that so difficult?
      - throw26832 3mo ago
        You’ve lost me there, TBH. We’re on a thread where an Israeli, who expresses strong disagreement with the government, says that they are often getting purely antisemitic comments. And your response is that you in America have never been called a kike. FYI: kike is out of fashion because it gets you banned. The antisemites now use Zio, (a trick already used in Poland in 1968 to ethnically cleanse the last remaining Jews), and HN is open to the whole world. I’ll leave you with links to some recent “anti-Zionist” comments: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48522533 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48522533 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48270295 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48270295 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48188132 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48188132 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48462075 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48462075 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48462289 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48462289 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48340382 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48340382

kombine 3mo ago

> Israeli here - I'll try to write this the least political We are more than two years into full-on genocide and you hesitate to be political? This position reminds me of many Russians who prefer to "stay out of politics" because there are "two sides" to the conflict and it's an uncomfortable topic for them.

mhb 3mo ago
[flagged]
- Matl 3mo ago
  Is this the disgusting attempt to deny the Gaza genocide it sounds like?
  - mhb 3mo ago
    [flagged]
    - kombine 3mo ago
      The genocide, as concluded by literally every independent body, including Israeli historians specialising in genocide.
      - mhb 3mo ago
        [flagged]

nobodyandproud 3mo ago

Your PM Netanyahu is a disaster. Your religious hardliners seem to love him. Even someone neutral to sympathetic can’t help but look on in disgust at your PM and his supporters. Edit: The point being that it tarnishes everything that Israel does, and makes fault-finding way too easy.

kombine 3mo ago
Let's not pin it all on Netanyuhu, he is a good representation of his society.
- joxdosba 3mo ago
  It is an indisputable fact that when polled, most Israelis openly support genocide.
  - timoshishi 3mo ago
    Can you provide these sources?
    - joxdosba 3mo ago
      First google result https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-06-03/ty-article/.premium/a-grim-poll-shows-most-jewish-israelis-support-expelling-gazans-its-brutal-and-true/00000197-3640-d9f1-abb7-7e742b300000 https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2025-06-03/ty-article/.p... At least according to this study, almost all Israelis are monsters who openly support genocide.
      - perpetualpear 3mo ago
        I wouldn't be surprised if the results of a poll for actual genocide would be the same, but expulsion is not genocide. I really wish people would stop diluting the meaning of genocide at every opportunity.

mhb 3mo ago

What is shameful about the "military stuff"? Isn't that's what is protecting you from your neighbors and their patron?

lostlogin 3mo ago
Recent events have taken ‘protection’ to a whole new level that’s extremely controversial. It seems unlikely that you don’t know that.
- mhb 3mo ago
  Sorry for not being able to parse "military stuff" with the same precision as you. Especially since there are plenty of people who post here who won't work on defense-related activities despite availing themselves of their protection.

LightBug1 3mo ago

I didn't downvote you. You're Jewish (I stand side by side with Jewish brothers and sisters against Israel), you've expressed disagreements with the Israeli government. We're likely on a similar page then. However: > There are plenty of good things though - startups in the biotech/health/classic "tech" space. Besides the point. I truly won't touch anything from that Apartheid, gen0cideal state. c.f. the boycott of South Africa during Apartheid. Same principle.

_DeadFred_ 3mo ago
Israeli designed/made chips are in phones, computers, all over the internet. Same with Israeli made software. Anyone using/posting to the internet is touching/supporting quite a few things from Israel.
- LightBug1 3mo ago
  You are very intelligent...... https://iea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/mister-gotcha-4-9faefa-1.jpg https://iea.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/mister-gotcha-... To be clear, the job of the ordinary citizen in this situation is not to opt out. I criticise China often and yet my phone has Chinese chips. Would you have me shut up about China?. And so it is with Israel. The job of the ordinary citizen is to do what they reasonably can to protest the gen0cidal, N'azi behaviour of its current administration with the support of a significant percentage of its populous. Given how the troubles have turned a significant number of the population into blood-thirsty land thieves, the country should be de-N'azified like they did to Germany after WW2. You're welcome.
- sosomoxie 3mo ago
  Nazis made rockets and medical advances. That didn't make Nazi Germany positive in any kind of way.
- netsharc 3mo ago
  OMG, really?! Well then, because they did all those beneficial things, then I'm fine with Israel bombing hospitals, schools, and killing children by starving them while they sleep on the pile of rubble that was their home! /S

gatlin 3mo ago

I never understood this: the Palestinian children whose family and limbs are torn from them for Israeli sport are also Semites. It seems like the ultimate erasure to claim "antisemitic" for only Jews.

rendall 3mo ago
Semitic does not refer to people nor to a race of people, but to a family of languages including Hebrew and Arabic. The man who coined the term "antisemitic" used it to describe his own views which were specifically anti-Jew. The only erasure is the attempt to diffuse the term to include Akkadians, Amharics, Carthaginians, Phoenicians, Black Israelites, adherents to the Nation of Islam, all 1.3 billions Arabs, what-have-you, when it always and only ever referred to anti-Jew hatred.
tartoran 3mo ago
European origin jews are not semites btw. Antisemitism is a misnomer, when they refer to antisemitism they refer to Jews only.
repelsteeltje 3mo ago
Etymologically you're correct that semites refers to [all] people from middle east and horn of Africa. But the label is from the European perspective, where it was used to refer to Jews. I'm sure that if they'd had a say in it, they would not have referred to themselves as Jews. But yeah, there is indeed some irony in the term "antisemitism" in the context you describe
woodruffw 3mo ago
There is no such thing as a "semite." It's an archaic racial category that 19th century German race science used since "anti-semite" sounds more scientific than "Jew hater." Consequently, that's why it's applied to Jews rather than a larger pseudoscientific racial group. (More broadly, "they're semites too" is the "Elon Musk is African American" of I/P discourse. You can recognize extraordinary human tragedy without re-using race science.)
- 3mo ago