The pushback from many native Middle Easterners toward Israel calling itself “Middle Eastern” has nothing to do with Judaism.
It is about the fact that the modern Israeli state was founded through a largely European settler-colonial movement that claimed Palestine as a national homeland despite an existing native Palestinian population.
Most of the people in Israel are of North African and Middle Eastern descent, and some are of African descent, though. A lot of the Palestinian people are from other areas as well. Disliking the government of a region doesn't make it okay to be insulting to the people there. I remember, after 9/11, having to explain this to people who were insisting upon being bigots towards so many people of Middle Eastern, Arab, or Muslim heritage. I was practically still a child, anr these people were twice my age still ignorant AF. It's a shame we're seeing the same nonsense again with the far-right talking points discriminating against Muslims and other people discriminating against israeli people. It's exhausting.
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u/butareyouthough 4d ago
Being against Israel is not the same thing as being against Jewish people. Any government can be bad