I should have added that he's Turkish. Leftist + Middle Eastern is like... 99% chance of being at least somewhat anti-semitic, hidden behind the idea of "opposition to American/Israeli imperialism." It's sadly part of the "culture" of being a Middle Eastern leftist.
Of course, it's not a case of "actually being knowingly anti-semitic and just pretending not to be so." I'm sure he genuinely believes himself not to be anti-semitic at all. In his mind, the conspiracy theory about Kipa was simply the truth.
He also just more generally doesn't have the modern sensibilities about language around these issues. He'll say the most racist (or racist sounding) generalizing shit about Kurds or Syrians and then say "of course, I'm not a racist or anything." :blobcat-joy:
Ultimately the question is what really is racism. He probably doesn't believe there's anything biological behind it, only culture. But he has no reservations about making sweeping generalizing statements, sort of based on the assumption that "there are of course exceptions."
