r/moderatepolitics • u/awaythrowawaying • 2d ago

News Article US Justice Department sues UCLA alleging antisemitic educational environment

https://www.reuters.com/world/us-justice-department-sues-ucla-alleging-antisemitic-educational-environment-2026-05-26/
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u/SmoothAnus 1d ago

I am bringing up the Zionist movement because that is the movement for a Jewish state.

The idea that a Jewish state is intrinsically tied to Jewish identity is false. It's not true historically, and it's not true even today. Zionists want it to be so that they can claim religious persecution any time someone objects to Israel's actions, but it isn't.

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u/knign 1d ago

Zionist movement is one which created the Jewish state. Today Israel is an existing state, which you can love, hate, support, boycott, criticise, be indifferent to, or anything else, but bringing "Zionism" into this as about as relevant as bringing Pilgrims into debates about today's U.S. policies.

And Israel is factually the Jewish state. Trying to argue that it has nothing to do with Jewish identity is absurd.

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u/SmoothAnus 1d ago

Ok, say Israel is the product of Zionism. Thanks for confirming.

You can be Jewish and not support Israel. Heck, you can be Jewish and actively opposed to the existence of Israel. Being Jewish and supporting Israel are two different things.

Criticizing Israel is not the same as criticizing Jews.

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u/knign 1d ago edited 1d ago

You can also be an Israeli and hate everything Jewish. Unironically, I do know people like that (not talking about Arab Israelis).

So what? Israel is still the Jewish state.

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u/SmoothAnus 1d ago

I feel like you're being deliberately obtuse.

The claim being made is that support for the state of Israel is fundamentally and intrinsically tied to the Jewish religion, and that criticizing someone for their support of Israel is exactly equivalent to criticizing them for being Jewish.

This claim is false, and you've basically acknowledged as much. That means you know why the distinction is being made, and you're being disingenuous when you pretend to be confused.

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u/knign 1d ago

I never made this claim. In fact, I said several times that this has nothing to do with any religion, Jewish or otherwise. Israel is mostly a secular state. Zionism was a secular movement. This "claim" as you describe it isn't just "false", it's absurd.

My claim was that demaiding to "condemn Israel" to enter somewhere is not fundamentally different from saying "Jews aren't welcome". This wouldn't be any different for any other nation state.