AG
Put aside the shirts and accusation for a second and take a second to think about the claim here: Mehdi spends a lot of time concern trolling about antisemitism, without actually opposing it. Mehdi is claiming that Israel is inciting a rise in antisemitism with its actions. This essentially gives a pass to those engaging in bigotry as if they are just responding to actions by Israel. The reality is that anti-Semitism is driven by people who normalize and justify it, not by anything a selective group of Jews do. Islamist terrorists regularly use Islamic texts and symbols during their acts. They are known for screaming Allahu Akbar prior to attacks. Have you ever seen Mehdi suggest that hatred of Muslims is justified by the actions of Islamist terrorists? Has he ever said that Hamas was inciting hatred for Muslims? Let's take this analogy to state actors. The Islamic Republic of Iran is the top state sponsor of terrorism around the world. Has Mehdi every suggested Iran's actions are driving and thus responsible for Islamophobia? Of course not. That standard would remove responsibility from those engaging in anti-Muslim bigotry, but that's exactly what he tries to do here with Israel and antisemitism. When it comes to anti-Muslim hatred, he knows to condemn it instead of looking for excuses to justify it. He thinks this is clever because he wants to set up the framing that one must oppose Israel to oppose antisemitism. Not because he actually cares about antisemitism, but because then he can pretend (for the sake of others who think bigotry is wrong) that his hatred of the world's only Jewish state is somehow driven by concern about antisemitism. Except it's just meant for his gullible audience because no one who has even remotely followed Mehdi's actions or associations can even remotely believe he cares about rising anti-Semitism.
Mehdi Hasan
When people ask how is Israel inciting antisemitism around the world, this is how. The glorious Star of David, a symbol of one of the great Abrahamic faiths, being used by a rogue state as cover for its torture and abuse of Palestinian prisoners, detainees, and hostages.