#anyway anon clearly doesn't follow ralph if they think no one is complaining about harry and nationalism lol

[statementlou]

I’m Jewish and Anti-Zionist as well and I respect your opinion but does it not bother you that people only act this way with Israelis? There is literally no other country where fans would be getting called ugly and racist and people would be demanding violence just because they showed up with a flag. Random citizens of a country aren’t responsible for the actions of their government and no one ever assumes they are except for in the only Jewish country in the world. Harry wrote a whole song about his love for England and no one has ever called that a ‘disgusting display of nationalist allegiance to a racist apartheid state’. You say you wouldn’t wave a US flag but people do or wear it on their clothes or whatever else and literally no one cares. As Jews maybe we shouldn’t condone hatred towards 40% of Jewish people in the world under the guise of social activism?

Okay well I appreciate you, and that the balancing act of being a Jew-- being at risk of anti-semetic violence and prejudice but also benefiting from white privilege-- is a tricky one and there ARE gray areas, for sure! Unfortunately, I disagree with pretty much everything you’ve said here, I am sorry to say. It is true that anti-semites glom onto anti-Israel talk to try to further their agenda, but that is because they are fucking nazis and that is not my responsibility- nothing I say condones their garbage and we can't just not talk about real issues because someone might twist our words. I also disagree that there is no other country regarded with such venom and think that is a narrative perpetuated by zionists and racists: I think the difference is that Israel is talked about that way by WHITE PEOPLE (and yeah lots of times it is because they're just fucking racist, but so is the 'only Israel is treated this way' narrative). As far as I know the powers that be in Iran still refer to the United States as The Great Satan and burn US flags for propaganda purposes, for example, and I think if you ask people in Africa or LATAM how they feel about various colonial powers you will find similarly hostile reactions to flag waving. You say that people wave or wear US flags and no one cares- but that’s literally just not true. A lot of people in a lot of places care plenty, and in fact US tourists wearing Canadian flags to try to avoid the worldwide hatred of USAmericans is huge thing that very much happens. But by all means, go get barricade in LATAM and wave a US flag in everyone’s face and let me know how that goes! And I completely disagree that random citizens of a country bear no responsibility for their governments actions as well. Our taxes and our silence are what make atrocities possible! Here in the US it can be hard to feel like we are complicit in the actions of a government that we ourselves are also fighting tooth and nail to survive, that also attacks and starves and victimizes us, but unfortunately we still do have a responsibility to resist what is being done in our names (in this case, $158 BILLION US tax dollars to Israel to date and that doesn't even include all the military equipment), or at the bare minimum to speak out against it. And in Israel this is even less theoretical: when they turn 18 every Israeli Jew has to choose to either actively resist and refuse military service or to literally join the army and personally participate in the genocide of the Palestinian people. These fans, who according to another anon have told people at shows that “you don’t understand we were just reclaiming our land” and have said they take pride in their flag, have picked a side, and it is the side of murder and colonization. I don’t hate every citizen of Israel simply for where they were born any more than I hate every US citizen; but I do judge and personally do not want anything to do with those who choose to support their government, in both places. This is not ‘the guise of social activism’: it is choosing to be actively anti-racist rather than silent and therefore complicit. As for the rest, I don’t think anyone has considered LOML a nationalistic anthem, but while its true that most people don’t care some people most certainly DO complain about Harry waving flags of any countries, and most especially the UK flag (as opposed to the England one); that in particular because, like the Israeli flag, it touches on colonization that is happening and actively being resisted RIGHT NOW (Scotland and Wales' struggles for independence.)