Israel’s foreign minister has said that an arms embargo on his country would lead to the elimination of the Israeli state and “a second Holocaust”.

Gideon Saar was speaking on Tuesday at an international conference on antisemitism in Jerusalem.

  • jsomae@lemmy.ml
    11·
    10 hours ago

    Yes, but it didn’t refer to a genocide before. That’s like saying “the word spam predates the internet,” and calling me a prescriptivist for saying the word “spam” in its digital sense is a neologism with a different meaning. You should note that I mentioned the older meaning of holocaust in this same thread, here.

    I’m being perfectly descriptivist btw – I am acknowledging that there may some day be another genocide widely referred to as “a holocaust,” but in general usage I just don’t see people refer to any other genocide as a holocaust. If this starts happening I’ll retract my stance, which I don’t even remember because the comment above was deleted.

    • gobbles_turkey@lemm.ee
      1·
      12 hours ago

      Once again, I’ll use language how I like and I wont be assigned meanings and told how to speak by anyone, about anything. And I dont think anyone else should allow you to do that to them either.

      Lately language has been aggressively weaponized and I think thats awful. Thanks anyway for your concern about my using language properly. Thats very neighborly of you.

      • jsomae@lemmy.ml
        1·
        10 hours ago

        But it’s not even you who I was replying to? It was someone who has now been banned? Unless you’re their alt, in which case you could really help me out here by reminding me what this was even about in the first place.

        Anyway, if you would like to call genocides “holocausts,” I am not going to get on your case about that. But if you will use the word holocaust that way, there’s no particularly good reason to call the one in gaza either the second or third holocaust, not as far as I can see.

        By the way, I used the word “holocaust” in the sense you are using it at the start of this very thread. So I honestly cannot understand what it is you think I’m policing. I think you might just suck at reading comprehension.