#blogging while jewish

[vhenadahls]

the sun set long ago.  we light the candles anyway.  I say Kiddush, let the words wrap around our tiny dining room, the same words that have wrapped around a million dining rooms and dorm rooms and sanctuaries and hovels  for centuries. 

I ask my partner (goyische, bashert, beloved) "what was the best part of your week" as we sit down to Shabbos dinner of takeout.  "choir rehearsal at synagogue," they reply, and my heart swells. 

I grab my phone to wish a slew of friends  "good Shabbos! may you get the rest you need!" in the morning, I will wrap myself in a tallis of silk I chose  not one I was given and daven to the music of an acoustic guitar. 

some will say that I have not kept Shabbat.  but I have remembered.  and I say

"this, too, is Torah."

#jumblr #judaism #shabbos #shabbat #blogging while jewish #cath writes #jewish poetry

[lettersfromthelevant]

it never fails to make me so fucking uncomfortable whenever i see MENA goyim--or muslims from europe that like pretending they're from MENA--on here reblogging judaica and jewish culture for the middle east aesthetic, and then three posts later they reblog something calling for another intifada and insisting that israelis kill children.

like girl, that blood libel is stale and you are cognitively dissonant to the max

#lucky.txt #antisemitism #the amount of times a certain blog has posted jewish stuff for aesthetics only to turn around & post blood libel against israelis is nuts. #i've debated making a post about it for so long because it is really annoying but i'm not into callouts and i figured it might just be her #trying to pretend like the people in the photos she posts aren't jewish. but today she reblogged that pocket golem post and WOW i #did not anticipate how much that would make me uncomfortable. it is pretty clear at this point that she wants to use MENA jews as an #aesthetic while simultaneously denying us the right to our own homeland

[dinozaurtual]

actually unhinged how easily a lot of people on tumblr could have gotten really into armed Zionism in the right time and place….. the ideology of the corrupt traditionalist world that the true revolutionary must leave behind for something new… the love of cleansing violence and militarization… the idea that in the interests of an oppressed group of people all violence is justified and there are no civillians… agriculture/nature fetishization and cottagecore… why don’t we all just leave society and form an armed found family agricultural commune!!!! We will find community and purity in the harvest. No living In a Broken society.

as someone who grew up in israel so many underlying ideas and rhetoric of leftist goyim i see on here just.. reminds me so much of the zionist ideology we learned of in school here!!! and it makes me sick

#i feel like a broken record but these ppl clearly have no idea what zionism is!!! how it works why it formed #its just a way for them to categorize us into Good Jews and Bad Jews #so they dont even notice theyre perpetuating zionist ideas while reblogging 'this blog isnt safe for zionists' posts 😭😭😭 #n the worst thing is that when u try to point out that u have to actually put effort and do research on this topic bc it has so many layers #they call u zionist!!! they say u support israel and sympathize with the apartheid state!!!! #'zionist ideology is harmful' and 'jewish people have a complicated relationship with zionism and the holy land' are two statements that #can and should coexist!!!!

[radicalreliablerandomness]

thought i'd put out a little psa saying jews are welcome and safe on my blog. if your first instinct is to comment something pro palestine in response to me inviting jews into a safe space, please do so i know who to block or just beat me to it and block me right now

#been hesitating on the post now button for a while but decided nothing ventured nothing gained #if even one person sees this and is like oh good a blog that welcomes jews then my mission is complete #for context im jewish #but you dont need to be jewish to support jews #shrug #jumblr

[storm-of-feathers]

Remember when I was like "damn when my drafts hit 200 I'll clean them out"

#tbh a lot of these are like. kinda just vent posts i decided i didnt wanna share but didnt wanna get rid of #a solid chunk of these lately are jewish anger. #the posts i do post ab jewish struggles are honestly really toned down bc i just. #why give people the ammunition. #some of these r also notes to myself i made while on ambien #(like that thing i do a lot where i express intetest in redoing my blog + url) #(whichi am not going to do bc i am lazy af. we'll be a red feather again someday but for now everyone must look at the BEES) #anyways maybe someday ill publish some of these. who knows.

[gxlden-angels]

Do not stop talking about Palestine. Do not forget about Palestine. This is not a battle of religion and I do not think it should be treated as such. From the river to the sea, they will be free 🇵🇸

Disclaimer: I am not an expert. I am just some guy in the US. I am not a direct source of information. Please listen to Palestinians. Please help them directly. Please help with protests if your country is supplying Israel with weapons like the US.

#but wait there's more #it may take a while for me to gather my thoughts so not immediately #I have so many thoughts specially about holy land experience type shit #my personal belief is that Palestinians should be given back their land #Israel will become a part of Palestine and would receive full citizenship #and all of them will be treated as equals #Aid will go to Palestinians as the country and rebuilt as much as it can be after so much tragedy #Since the idea of Israel was to have a protective Jewish state #I think the better option would be for the world to agree collectively to be a place for refugees #if there's another situation like the holocaust #all refugees should be given that opportunity to escape #there's so many conspiracies against Jewish people which is why I think it needs to be declared by countries to protect any Jewish person #that is fleeing antisemitism in their current country #it doesn't need to be a Jewish state especially with so many Jewish people being pro-Palestine #and living outside of Israel #I know people currently living in Israel and I want them to be safe #And they will be if their government just lets Palestinians live #but yea later on I'll talk about the holy land experience thing I'm pissed about rn #I feel like I haven't said enough on the blog. I have terrible OCD where I'll ruminate about this until I panic #I do not want to be a source of that for others so I encourage you to educate yourself without ruminating #It does not help Palestine to shame yourself and others for not being able to do a specific thing #So instead I ask you to look it up when you are able to and do what you can #I usually do the daily clicker and I wanted to join my university's protests but couldn't #since I was the only one working my job which is monitoring the queer safe space on campus #and I didn't want to close that area just in case it was need by protesters or queer students #just found out today ppl at my school will be expelled if caught so that's why it's at the front of my mind rn

[bluefuecoco]

since this is a video game blog and i love video games and i love having a safe space to talk about video games.

If you play or watch someone play the new h*gw*rts l*g*cy game,

You are not welcome here.

You are a terrible person.

You are supporting the hatred and death of both trans and Jewish people.

I hope you burn in the afterlife.

#and that's all i'll say on the subject. #if you decide to play or watch someone play this game there is nothing you can do to absolve yourself. #you cannot donate to charity to absolve yourself. you cannot talk poorly about it while still supporting it in any way and absolve yourself. #I do not want you anywhere near this blog because this blog is fully in support of trans and Jewish people.

[aingeal98]

The steady shift from liberal zionists these past few weeks from "both sides are wrong and we just need peace" to "Israel is doing what it needs to do to survive" has been chilling. Mask off moment, turns out your calls of "dead babies are always wrong" only applies to groups you support.

#The contrast between Jewish blogs on here (including Israeli ones) that are firmly anti zionist #And the blogs who insist that it's too complicated to label themselves #While ignoring everything Israel has done to Palestine #In favour of assisting the Israeli fascists with their propaganda #Is stark. And grim.

[shoutsindwarvish]

i have a lot of problems with the theology of christianity and want to actively start practicing judaism but i’m still fascinated with the gospel story as a story

i can’t unsee the appropriation of jewish scripture at best and anti-semitism at worst that’s built into the whole thing for my own faith journey anymore but it’s still got some really compelling themes and characters, like most pieces of problematic classic literature that have stood the test of time

i hope this doesn’t disqualify me from being religiously jewish, i’m just like “that’s my blorbo from my ancient religious text”

#the blorbo is peter btw #this post is because i’m back on my bullshit and started to watch a jesus series last night #and i felt the dissonance of being ‘yikes’ from a jewish perspective #(by virtue of the source material) #while simultaneously interested in how they’re tackling the source material differently than i’ve seen it done before #(i used to have biblical movies as a special interest) #(the show is ‘the chosen’ and i’ve only seen the first episode so not sure if it gets cringier later) #religion blogging #my posts #there’s also some truth in christianity but imho they aren’t unique TO christianity

[vhenadahls]

Conflicted Tisha b'Av feelings (which feels like a given).

We have Torah study on Thursday mornings, and I joined from work in hopes we'd be reading Eicha, and so felt a little weird when we mostly talked instead about the Sh'ma. Yes, it's in the parsha this week (which I also have big feelings about!), but it's Tisha b'Av and it feels wrong because we're not supposed to do Torah study today.

But my rabbi was very cynical about it, today, because of what's happening around the world (and in Israel). I missed study last week (I join from work, so it's never clear if I'll be able to go), and apparently she'd talked about how she doesn't typically mark Tisha b'Av because she sees the diaspora as good for Judaism.

And I just...I have such incredibly complex feelings about that. I am proud to be a diaspora Jew, and I think there's incredible beauty in the diaspora. But while it may be good for Judaism, that isn't the same thing as it being good for the Jewish people. But! They're incredibly intertwined. But! Anything based on sinat chinam like Tisha b'Av, I just...I cannot see it as something we shouldn't mark as a day of mourning.

There is joy after mourning (for everything there is a season). There is joy in diaspora (the community is only so diverse because of diaspora). Does that make the mourning "good"? The diaspora "good"? Is that a reasonable way to talk or think about things on this level of pain and oodles of time and people and space?

And I was already having complicated feelings, which I've mentioned in a few places, because there is just an incredible amount of personal mourning going on in my life right now. And trying to engage in communal mourning, when my own community experiences it differently from me because I'm more observant than my community's average, has been...difficult.

I don't know.

But we talked about a quote today, that if the world is destroyed by sinat chinam (baseless hatred), we will build it again from ahavat chinam (baseless love).

I hope we all make it.

#blogging while jewish #jumblr #thinky thoughts #tisha b'av

[fairuzfan]

This post is for the anon who sent me that video asking me to debunk it's claims so they can be better equipped against accusations of antisemitism.

Sorry, I won't post the video since I refuse to have that man on my blog but I can give you common Zionist talking points and the illogicality behind it.

To preface: most of the questions Zionists will ask you are a trap, and will make you fall into a "rabbit hole" (as I was once told when I was younger), as we try to apply their reasoning. My advice is to ALWAYS center the humanity of Palestinians. For example, when a Zionist says:

"Don't Jews deserve a homeland to be safe?"

It fundamentally ignores the core issue: Palestinians are being raped, murdered, and expelled from their homes so that the establishment of this so called "homeland" may exist. When people ask this to you, I personally advise saying something like:

Why must Palestinians suffer for the establishment of this homeland?

Always recenter to the issue at hand—the inhumane removal and treatment of Palestinians.

"Palestine belongs to the Jews and Not Muslims"

The whole premise of this claim is flawed—there is a weird tendency to equate Arab/Palestinian=Muslim when it just is like. Completely untrue. There are Palestinian Christians, Bethlehem is famously a Christian city, who have been there for centuries. There are Palestinian Jews, who have been there for centuries. There are Palestinian Muslims, who have been there for centuries. My grandpa told me stories of how he would turn on lamps for his Jewish neighbors in Al-Khalil (or Hebron) during Shabbat.

To claim that Palestine is EITHER Islamic or Jewish doesn't make any sense and completely neglects the fact that dissemination of culture has occurred for centuries, as well as the intermingling of people throughout generations. To somehow assert that for some reason, Jews and Muslims did not have ANYTHING to do with each other—did not create together, did not build families together, did not build culture together, all while being PALESTINIAN—is incredibly racist and nonsensical. "Palestinian" is not a religious identity—it's a cultural and ethnic one.

Also, it does not negate the core issue—Palestinians are being killed, removed, and tortured so that others can live on that land.

"Well what about [something about partitioning land]?"

Honestly like, who cares about the partitioning throughout the 1900 and early 2000s. Sorry, I'm not going to list the whole "partitioning" history nonsense. The whole reason "Israel" exists is because of a Mass Exodus, murder, and rape of Palestinians. Everything after that is rendered obsolete.

"Well, I heard Palestinians allied with Hitler"

I don't know how to tell you this but Palestine was under British Control. No they didn't.

"Israel withdrew from the Gaza and left them to themselves and they put Hammas in charge"

Oh yeah, Israel totally left Gaza, that's why Gazans' water, electricity, internet, and food is completely controlled by Israel (this is sarcasm, Israel still controls basic life in Gaza).

Go back to centering the idea that no human deserves to be shoved into an open-air prison, starved, and controlled. Did you know that the Zionist Entity controls the amount of water Gazans receive, as well as counting their calories to ensure they don't have enough energy on a day to day basis?

"I heard Israel asked Arabs to stay"

Show them these papers and videos when they say this:

If you can't show them these videos, check in the next point what to say.

"Well the Palestinians left of their own will in 1948"

Palestinians in 1948 didn't "leave." They had heard of how the Zionist Entity was slaughtering Palestinians en masse. Women especially heard stories of rape and sexual violence. They fled from *violence*. Again, from an earlier post, that this was a calculated effort on the Zionist Entity's part to try and get them to "leave" on their own and "abandon" their houses so that they can come in and say "hey, they left on their own so, we can come in and take their houses now."

Anyways, the idea that once you leave your house you can't ever come back to it is incredibly odd to me as an argument on Zionists' part. Like if you leave your house right now to go to the grocery store and you come back and see someone in your house and they're like "sorry dude, this is my house now, you left so that means you can't come back," you'd be like, "what the hell!" It would be even weirder if everyone agreed with the guy who took your house, which is what happened to Palestinians.

In Al-Khalil, or Hebron, Palestinians always have to have someone stay in their house or else a Settler will come in and take it from them. So it still goes on today as well.

This is not a point, but when that one person in the video said "Arabs lived under Israeli rule" and showed a clip of a bustling city with mountains, I'm pretty sure that was Amman, Jordan, not Palestine lol. Those buildings in the mountains look like how downtown Amman builds the residential areas. Could be wrong tho.

"There are no Jews living under Palestinian rule in Palestine"

What is this, some sort of gotcha argument? What are they trying to prove, the racist (obviously false) notion that Palestinians hate Jews as a whole? How do they know no Palestinian Jew lives in Gaza? Also, Settlers in Palestinian Territory exist??? I had never heard this claim before, its incredibly stupid lol. You're automatically a citizen of "Israel" if you're Jewish, whether or not you live in or outside of Palestinian Territories. So of course technically they don't live under Palestinian rule, they're granted full rights as an "Israeli" citizen automatically!

Go back to talking about the inhumane treatment of Palestinians, I wouldn't bring up the above counterpoint unless they really won't let it go since the main point is mistreatment.

"Why are Christians supporting Israel then, if it's a secular issue rather than a religious one?"

Well actually for a couple reasons:

Oil interests and regional control of goods (White People Supporting White People).

Weird fundamentalist ideology where they want to enact the second coming of Christ.

And finally because they are racist and don't think Arab Christians deserve to live. They literally bombed a 1500+ year church the other day. Why would (White) Christians cosign that.

Anyways, its a stupid argument again, because it forgets the core issue of Palestinians dying and being displaced.

In summary, always go back to the point of centering the Palestinians being displaced, tortured, and murdered, no matter the argument a Zionist gives you.

#palestine #gaza #info post #maybe i should do a masterpost with links to palestine education #maybe later #Youtube

[spacelazarwolf]

apparently a bunch of ppl on social media are trying to call for a boycott of rick riordan because of this statement in a blog post:

Becky and I are just back from a busy weekend with events at the Boston Book Festival and New York Comic-Con.

Before I get into that, however, some words to acknowledge the ongoing horrors in Israel and Gaza. As many of you may know, I am no longer on social media. My accounts post only updates on my books and related projects. I do not read posts, reply to posts, or share my thoughts about world events on those forums. That doesn’t mean I don’t have strong feelings and reactions. It means I am offline as completely as possible, except for the occasional blog post like this one.

I will say this: Over the last eighteen years, I have received many fan letters from young readers, both Israeli and Palestinian, who often told me that my books helped them escape the fear, grief and anxiety they were dealing with at the time. Some had lost family members to violence. Some were writing while in the distance they could hear explosions, gunfire, and the launching of rockets. They used my books as a way to escape into another world, where the monsters were fictional, and where demigods usually saved the day. While I am always glad that my books can help young readers find joy during difficult times, my heart breaks every time I hear about the things they have to deal with. I am grief-stricken by the horrific events now unfolding, especially because I know that they are part of a long historic pattern that has been robbing too many children of their childhood and perpetuating hatred for far too long.

I am also quite aware that when anyone, myself included, tries to speak about this issue, the reader is waiting to pounce, thinking, “Yes, but whose side are you on?” That is exactly the wrong question. If there are two sides to this issue, those sides are not Palestinian/Israeli or Muslim/Jewish. The two sides are humanitarian and dehumanizing. Dehumanizing has a long evil history. It is appealing and easy to buy into, because humans are tribal animals. We are hardwired to think in terms of ‘us’ versus ‘them.’ We are the real humans, the good guys, the ones with God on our side. Those other people are evil monsters who don’t deserve empathy. Hate mongers have thrived on dehumanizing for as long as there have been humans. It provides them with a purpose, a way to rally support, power, and scapegoats. It is easy to point to atrocities committed by our enemies, while justifying or minimizing the atrocities committed by ourselves or our allies.

Humanitarianism is a much harder sell. It requires us to empathize, to see other groups of people as equally deserving of dignity and quality of life. It requires not always putting ourselves and our needs first. But in the long run, humanitarianism is our only hope. If violence could end violence, if we could put an end to “those other people” once and for all, human history would read very differently than it does.

So yes, I am appalled by the Hamas attacks on Israeli civilians. I am appalled by the suffering of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Both things can be true. Both things must be true. My thoughts are with all the people who have died, who have lost loved ones, who have had their worlds and their lives shattered, especially the children. More death and violence will not break this cycle, which has been going on for generations. There is no military solution. Even since I first wrote the post, only twenty-four hours ago, the Israeli government’s brutal retaliation against the entire population of Gaza has reached genocidal proportions. This is not only an atrocity. It is folly. Answering misery with misery only creates more fertile ground for extremism, dehumanizing the “other side,” letting hate mongers thrive, stay in power, and reduce us all to our most monstrous impulses. The only real solution is treating each other like equally worthy human beings, and negotiating a peace that allows all parties a chance to live in security and dignity, with hopes for a future that does not include bombs and rockets and gunfire. This means security and support for Israel, yes. It also means a secure Palestine which is allowed to get the international aid and recognition it needs to build a viable state.

Do I think that will happen? Unfortunately, no. Humans are simply too selfish, too ready to blame “the other” for all their problems, too ready to dehumanize, though I also believe, perhaps paradoxically, that most people just want to live their lives in peace and have a chance for their children to have a brighter future. The problem is when we don’t allow other people to have those same hopes and dreams — when it becomes a false choice of us versus them.

What can I do? I will continue to write books that I hope will give young readers some joy. I will resist the urge to demonize entire groups of people. I will call for less violence, not more violence. And when asked whose side I am on, I will tell you I am on the side of humanitarianism.

So with that said, I return to the world of books . . .

honestly, if you have a problem with this statement, it’s probably because he’s talking about you. this is exactly what legitimate activists (as in not just random westerners who share social media posts but on-the-ground activists who are doing real work) have been saying for decades. and i think all this really speaks to just how disconnected a lot of westerners who claim to be pro palestinian are from those activists.

if you can’t read a statement that says “i am on the side of humanitarianism and less violence” without immediately jumping to cancel them, you are the problem being discussed in the above statement.

#ip

[aggravates]

was scrolling on here and saw a rly cool and popular artist ive been following for ages spoiler the hogwarts game and the post had over 100k notes

so i wanna go over my thoughts on this whole scenario ig

#i watched asmongold react 2 a video on this and the yter summed it up so well #the common person not online doesnt rly give a shit about this #if you want allies being a nuisance (spoiling) and harassing people (even allegedly sending death/dox threats) is not how you do it #its just a weird narrative that people who play it are bigoted b/c the owner of the IP is bigoted #like for example nestle has a lot of products we use in every day lives #meanwhile nestle literally admitted to child slavery in thailand #is everyone who uses their products pro slavery? no #boycotting the game is fine #even donating to the trevor project or trans/jewish specific charities would be a good step #im sure a lot of ppl doing the harassing r doing it in misguided allyship or worse want to purposely bring down the movement #but its so weird to harass people for literally just playing a game #transphobic ppl with weird shit on ur blog dont interact with this i will block you #while i dont agree with this 'discourse' for lack of a better term #trans rights are human rights and its that simple #and jk rowling is brain dead for worrying trans ppl r gonna prey on ppl in bathrooms like ??? #heres the vid i mentioned btw #https://youtu.be/NlWJqReUjjM

[our-blood-is-our-ink]

Hey anon if you're really Jewish you wouldn't have a problem fucking DMing me and you definitely shouldn't be attacking me for my own views and opinions.

Two Jews in a room, three opinions, right? Isn't that a concept you grew up with then too?

I'm also not inclined to believe your claim, simply because you're being a coward and hiding behind anon. I'm very open about being Jewish. You're just anonymously claiming to be. Back it the fuck up. Show me your money is where your mouth is.

#who the FUCK do you think you are #if you have such an issue with me come at me from your own blog instead of attacking me while on anon #give me proof you're jewish #i don't believe you

[slyandthefamilybook]

since we now know that all those "my blog is safe for Jewish people" posts are bullshit, here are some Jewish organizations you can donate to if you actually want to prove you support Jews. put up or shut up

FIGHTING HUNGER

Masbia - Kosher soup kitchens in New York

MAZON - Practices and promotes a multifaceted approach to hunger relief, recognizing the importance of responding to hungry peoples' immediate need for nutrition and sustenance while also working to advance long-term solutions

Tomchei Shabbos - Provides food and other supplies so that poor Jews can celebrate the Sabbath and the Jewish holidays

FINANCIAL AID

Ahavas Yisrael - Providing aid for low-income Jews in Baltimore

Hebrew Free Loan Society - Provides interest-free loans to low-income Jews in New York and more

GLOBAL AID

American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee - Offers aid to Jewish populations in Central and Eastern Europe as well as in the Middle East through a network of social and community assistance programs. In addition, the JDC contributes millions of dollars in disaster relief and development assistance to non-Jewish communities

American Jewish World Service - Fighting poverty and advancing human rights around the world

Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society - Providing aid to immigrants and refugees around the world

Jewish World Watch - Dedicated to fighting genocides around the world

MEDICAL AID

Sharsheret - Support for cancer patients, especially breast cancer

SOCIAL SERVICES

The Aleph Institute - Provides support and supplies for Jews in prison and their families, and helps Jewish convicts reintegrate into society

Bet Tzedek - Free legal services in LA

Bikur Cholim - Providing support including kosher food for Jews who have been hospitalized in the US, Australia, Canada, Brazil, and Israel

Blue Card Fund - Critical aid for holocaust survivors

Chai Lifeline - An org that's very close to my heart. They help families with members with disabilities in Baltimore

Chana - Support network for Jews in Baltimore facing domestic violence, sexual abuse, and elder abuse

Community Alliance for Jewish-Affiliated Cemetaries - Care of abandoned and at-risk Jewish cemetaries

Crown Heights Central Jewish Community Council - Provides services to community residents including assistance to the elderly, housing, employment and job training, youth services, and a food bank

Hands On Tzedakah - Supports essential safety-net programs addressing hunger, poverty, health care and disaster relief, as well as scholarship support to students in need

Hebrew Free Burial Association

Jewish Board of Family and Children's Services - Programs include early childhood and learning, children and adolescent services, mental health outpatient clinics for teenagers, people living with developmental disabilities, adults living with mental illness, domestic violence and preventive services, housing, Jewish community services, counseling, volunteering, and professional and leadership development

Jewish Caring Network - Providing aid for families facing serious illnesses

Jewish Family Service - Food security, housing stability, mental health counseling, aging care, employment support, refugee resettlement, chaplaincy, and disability services

Jewish Relief Agency - Serving low-income families in Philadelphia

Jewish Social Services Agency - Supporting people’s mental health, helping people with disabilities find meaningful jobs, caring for older adults so they can safely age at home, and offering dignity and comfort to hospice patients

Jewish Women's Foundation Metropolitan Chicago - Aiding Jewish women in Chicago

Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty - Crisis intervention and family violence services, housing development funds, food programs, career services, and home services

Misaskim - Jewish death and burial services

Our Place - Mentoring troubled Jewish adolescents and to bring awareness of substance abuse to teens and children

Tiferes Golda - Special education for Jewish girls in Baltimore

Yachad - Support for Jews with disabilities

#atlas entry #please add any more you know of an especially add fundraisers for you or people you know #if there are any fundraisers for synagogues please add those as well #jew #jewish #judaism #jumblr #punch nazis

[zorciarkrildrush]

I think the essence of what drives me crazy about current Enlightened Online Leftist Discourse Regarding My Life Personally And Whether This Time Killing Me Is Morally Correct (as in, commentary about the latest episode in i/p violence) is this:

I want a free Palestine.

I don't personally know a lot of people that don't! They might bristle at the tagline, because it's co-opted by people who do in fact want them dead, but as soon as I lay out why it's in literally everyone's best interest, how a non-free Palestine is horrific both to the people of Israel and to the people of Palestine, how pragmatically ridiculous the occupation of the west bank and the siege upon Gaza are (and I am a very pragmatic person), they get it. And I don't mean I debate people online about it - this, too, is a ridiculous concept - I mean having, time and time again, the deradicalization conversation with my friends, and colleagues, and my family. Obviously not only now - I've always been a very principled and argumentative Jew, ever since I became an adult - and I've been alive for, I don't know, a dozen flashpoints and operations and wars at this point, and I don't stop being argumentative and loud in peacetime either, but especially now.

But that's not what "from the river to the sea" means.

When you, gentle soul from across the sea, echo this slogan, you are either:

By apathy or will, ignoring that the sentiment cheers for the mass expulsion and killing of Jews. Indeed, any non-Muslim present from the river to the sea. This doesn't even begin to cover how even Muslim arabs still will not be safe under Hamas rule - and trust me, I don't care if a Hamas apologist told you different. A victory for Hamas (And we're ignoring the fact they do not have the military capacity for it - I hope you are aware of the privilege inherent to not understanding military conflicts) means exactly that. No "rule by the people". No socialistic, Palestinian utopia to be had, which is a fantasy I'm seeing alluded to a lot recently. Just an extension of the horrific power structure in Lebanon and Syria, where Hezbollah - friends and allies to Hamas - have been playing a tango for decades of both refusing to participate in actual government and betterment of civilian lives, while still draining their resources and controlling them with no real contest. "From the river to the sea" is not a sentiment for freedom fighting - it's a sentiment for a final solution to the people living here who are either Jewish, or for some Very Strange And Weird Reason would rather not submit to Hamas rule. You know - Israeli Arabs, secular and Muslim and Christian, Druze, Circassians, Bahai, take your pick. Their suffering, and my suffering - you know, a person who made the strategic error of being born in Israel while Jewish, which is inherently problematic and not okay of me - don't matter to you. Just the fantasy of an easy, morally correct cleanse of the land.

Are well aware of all of the above! You just don't care. You either smugly chuckle that I, and anybody else who will die, deserve it - or that it's an acceptable loss for the aforementioned fantasy. "Decolonization is an inherently violent process", you'll say to me, chillingly, before implying I have a summer home in Brooklyn I can just retreat to when things get tough. Israel is basically Rhodesia, a very popular blog here mentioned flippantly, so what's the issue with all of those lily-white Jews fucking off back home before the righteous freedom fighters strike them down? Well. This might be the part I urge you to open a book, or even Wikipedia or any god damn thing that will explain to you these upsetting, dense things you clearly struggle with.

So finally:

It's easy for me to discount islamophobes. Like, very easy. It's very easy for me to discount insane evangelistics who "advocate for me" simply because I'm a pawn in their religious rapture. It's easy for me to fight against Israeli and Jewish fascists - I have been long before this news item came across your feed, as did the insinuations that some civilian deaths are okay, actually.

It's easy for me for me to see promotions for donations to non-political aid in Gaza. It's easy for me to see the sentiment that hey! Palestinians deserve safe, healthy lives. That they have deserved an independent state, and were unfairly denied one, for decades. It's easy for me to see people saying "You know, the Israeli government is shit, actually, and their actions endanger and promote to the misery of innocents". Because that's right! I wouldn't be voting and protesting and donating for all of these sentiments otherwise!

It's not easy for me to see people, who I honestly held in high regard and saw having well thought out opinions on important matters, inadvertently echo the sentiment that my death is acceptable. That a terrorist organization, who rule over their own territory with fear and violence, are righteous freedom fighters, vox populi, only out to establish a free state. Like hey, their manifesto said otherwise, so it must be all there is - right? That Jews are just hysterical, they can easily live elsewhere - ever since that nasty holocaust business everything's fine abroad. Besides, it was just so long ago who even cares stop talking about it. Hamas, Hezbollah, ISIS, the Ayatollahs in Iran, the fucking Islamic Jihad - are not interested in freedom. They aren't, and echoing their slogan tells me you are either ignoring that, or support them anyway. If antisemitic rhetoric, half truths and lies by omission work on you today, they would have in any period of time. I'm sorry this makes you uncomfortable. I'm not, not really.

Know what your fucking words mean. Have a cursory glance at the history of the MENA and why it's so fucked, one that doesn't boil down to "The Jews, with American help, rolled into where they don't belong". This isn't even a joke. I've seen this braindead, history-revising sentiment repeated so many times, both online and in actual textbooks, that I feel I'm going insane. So many well-meaning people handwringing and assuring each other that repeating genocidal slogans is fine, that calling the i/p conflict "a simple problem" (which means it has a simple solution, right? Just kill the Jews.) is a well-adjusted and intellectual take. That "only the Zionists should die! The rest will be fine :)" I dare you to say that and also give me a correct definition of what Zionism is. Why I, a Jew that advocates for Palestinian statehood and rights and safety and always have, won't also face the wall in your little fantasy.

Freedom to Palestine. Peace in the middle east, fucking yesterday.

A curse and a plague on those who don't want either of those, and just want to cheer on the death of "the other side".

A curse and a plague upon you, when you tell me, smugly, from somewhere safe and far away, "from the river to the sea".

#selfpost #long post #i/p #israel #palestine #antisemitism #antizionism #I pondered linking every word of every claim I make to sources like Reuters and Wikipedia and what have you #but honestly? Please just read them #don't get your news off fucking Twitter #my respect for “critical thinking” online leftists is already at an all time low