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Comment by lorecore | Hacker News Reader

> The fixation on the term "genocide" has been a major own-goal for advocates of Palestinians

While I, and many others think that Israel is committing genocide, this is not an "own-goal". The only people playing semantics here are Zionists who are staunchly pro-Israel.

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I think you're going to find that "everybody who does not agree with me on the precise particulars of my conclusions is foursquare in league with my opponents" is not the winning strategy it might feel like here.

It was you who made the claim that identifying Israel's actions as a genocide (as agreed upon by many genocide experts and international organizations) was an "own-goal". That is to say that by your logic, if you feel that Israel is committing genocide, you should keep quiet about it because you may turn some mythical constituency into a pro-Israel position by simply stating that opinion.

I don't think the pro-Israel position is "mythical", but I can imagine that if you go out of your way to stay in spaces that affirm your own beliefs it probably does feel that way.

I didn't say that the pro-Israel position is mythical. I said that no one became pro-Israel because people are saying that Israel is committing genocide. They were pro-Israel to start and just use that as a rhetorical device to try to get people to stop saying Israel is committing genocide.

What do you mean by "Zionists"?

The definition of Zionism is: people who believe Israel has a right to exist.

So we're all Abolitionists? Pakistanists?

I don’t understand your reply. What does Pakistan have to do with anything? Abolitionists? Abolish what, Israel? Sure, but I’ve never heard anyone refer to themselves like that.

The point is that the term Zionist makes as much sense as Abolitionist. Abolitionists succeeded. Israel exists. Pakistan exists. If you support the extermination of Jews and the country of Israel, just say so. Pretending that "Zionist" means something is brain dead.

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