#the holocaust is 'events that happened'

[bill-the-dog-for-the-check]

Today was Yom HaShoah, the day that Jews remember the Holocaust. The Holocaust was the industrialized genocide of the European Jewry by Nazi Germany and its collaborators from 1941-1945.

This is a really simple opening statement, but bear with me--I think it gets a lot more... 'yeah, buts' than most people may realize. And I think a good way of illuminating that is to break down the difference between how gentiles and Jews commemorate and remember it.

In my experience, gentiles seem to view the Holocaust as the ultimate example of mankind's barbarity to mankind. Like, the distillation of evil, the most obvious example of dehumanization and bigotry brought to its horrifying and extreme conclusion. They emphasize Nazi Germany's responsibility, elevate the instances of non-Jewish Frenchmen and Poles and Germans who made efforts to save Jewish lives, and generally view Nazi oppression as a catastrophe of whom Jews were one of many victims. And they emphasize the Allied Powers' role in ending it by liberating the camps and invading Germany. Hence why International Holocaust Remembrance Day falls on January 27th, the day Auschwitz was liberated.

But Jews have a different perspective.

We view the Holocaust as the most extreme manifestation of--but far from the conclusion to--mankind's barbarity to Jews. Not to his fellow man, per se, not to some universalized insert minority here slot, but to Jews, particularly and deliberately. The Nazis could never have accomplished their genocide were it not for the two millennia of anti-Jewish hatreds and dehumanization embedded deep in the institutions and political structures of European society. They didn't have to persuade Europe that the Jews were incurably evil, the Europeans already believed that. The Nazis had 99% of their work done before they'd even come to power, work that was done by the the Russian Empire, the Romans, Martin Luther, Christian Passion Plays, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, the centuries of blood libels, the Fourth Lateran Council, the New Testament, the Spanish Empire, and on and on and on and on. It's as if some people think Hitler just woke up one day, out of the blue, with a total hatred of Jews and managed to use propaganda to convince the previously 100% tolerant Germans to hate Jews, too. Antisemitism did not begin or end with the Holocaust.

The sole responsibility of Nazi Germany in the Holocaust is also just... not true. Vichy France rounded up 13,152 Jews in the Vel' d'Hiv roundup, with not a single German participant, and sent them off to be murdered in Auschwitz. Vichy passed antisemitic legislation without any outside coercion--French Jews were hiding as much from the French police as they were from the Gestapo. France, of course, was the home of the Dreyfus Affair--antisemitism was and is a deep part of French society. And it isn't just France. Ukrainian nationalists participated in the Lviv pogroms, killing maybe around 8,000 Jews, Poles perpetrated the Jedwabne pogrom, and that doesn't even bring in that countries like the US, Switzerland and Ireland and Britain blocked Jewish emigrants, and I could just keep going on, but I think you get the point. Quite simply, six million Jews interspersed throughout Europe don't get murdered if it isn't without the collaboration of--or at minimum, silent assent and indifference--of all of their neighbors. The Nazis were the primary perpetrators of the Holocaust, of course, but almost all of Europe collaborated on some level, too. And this is a history that gets wiped away in favor of the comforting narrative of the Allied Powers bursting into Auschwitz, killing Nazis, and being horrified by what they've found, and then the poor people in the surrounding towns having NO IDEA about what had been going on. I think this narrative is why gentiles have International Holocaust Remembrance Day when Auschwitz was liberated--when they 'came to the rescue'--and why we have Yom HaShoah on the day in the Jewish calendar that the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising began--when we died on our own terms in spite of our murderers.

Think of the tiny, unwritten, centuries old minhagim of small Jewish shetls and towns like Trochenbrod, which were entirely annihilated. The end of the burgeoning Yiddish cinema. Yiddish going from 13 million speakers to 600,000 today. See how many entries in this list of shetls end with "town/city survived, but all/most Jews exterminated." Imagine for a moment, the potential rabbis and scholars and actors and scientists and artists who could have lived, had they survived or been born of Jews did. Three and a half million Polish Jews, to around 15,000 to 20,000 Polish Jews today. Imagine if Thessaloniki were still a majority Jewish city. How many Jews worldwide would be alive today had the Holocaust never happened? I've heard estimations of 32 million, compared to the real life 16 million. To kill such a massive number of people from an already tiny minority group--that has real consequences. The cultural loss for the Jewish people is staggering and beyond human comprehension.

And yet, the Nazis deliberate targeting of us is, in many ways, being pushed aside. Magnus Hirschfeld was gay, yes, and advanced the Institute of Sexology way ahead of its time and yeah, the Nazis were homophobic. But they were homophobic for antisemitic reasons. They viewed his work as Jewish perversions BECAUSE Dr. Hirschfeld was Jewish. In fact, they viewed homosexuality as a creation of the Jews. But so many progressive queer people, especially those who run in antizionist circles, seem to be trying to co-opt the Holocaust as being their trauma, downplaying Hirschfeld's Jewishness and holding the Institute up as proof that queer people were the 'real' victims of the Holocaust, entirely shutting out the millions of Jews, Sinti, Roma, and Slavs who were murdered. You can also see this in anti-mask conservatives comparing masking mandates during the pandemic to anti-Jewish legislation in the Holocaust, or the comparisons of the ongoing war against Hamas as being a 'modern day Holocaust.'

This phenomenon, Holocaust universalization, gets so much pushback from Jews for a reason--it downplays the anti-Jewish character of the Holocaust. It's softcore Holocaust denial. And it's so ridiculous we even have to say that, as the whole point of the Holocaust was to be anti-Jewish, to be the "Final Solution to the Jewish Question." It's 'All Lives Mattering' the Holocaust. Holocaust universalization, and Holocaust inversion--the phenomenon of talking about Jews, Zionists, or Israelis as perpetrating a 'new Holocaust'--minimizes and trivializes the astounding damage and traumas and death and destruction wrought by the Holocaust. It's a polemical lie, so incendiary and so insulting--imagine telling a sexual assault survivor that they're morally no better than their rapist--that the only thing it can be is antisemitic. It is beyond reprehensible to talk like that, but it's so mainstream and acceptable to do it. Activists who say these things need to examine their own rhetoric, because it's dangerous, antisemitic, and adjacent to Holocaust denial. Not a place I think anyone should want to be.

The Holocaust is not a lesson Jews should have learned, an educational seminar, a 'card' Jews play, a choose your own adventure novel, a philosophical meditation on the nature of mankind's evils, or an empty slate upon which to project modern politics, warfare, or your ideology onto.

The Holocaust is, quite simply, the industrialized genocide of the European Jewry by Nazi Germany and its collaborators from 1941-1945. And today was Yom HaShoah, the day we remember that.

#antisemitism #jumblr #leftist antisemitism #left wing antisemitism #right wing antisemitism #jewish #judaism #holocaust #yom hashoah #antizionism #the holocaust is 'events that happened' #it isn't a narrative or a story which is meant to have a point or some moral to it #and it is not--it is NOT--your rhetorical gotcha or talking point to throw in the faces of the group who experienced it #holocaust inversion #holocaust universalization #holocaust denial #jewish traumas need to be treated with dignity and respect not used as a political cudgel against us #i don't think that's an overly complicated or difficult thing to demand

[pjharvey]

look i’m no fan of the guy, but i really don’t think comparing joe biden to hitler is the move

#the holocaust was a real thing that happened and there are still living survivors it’s not a vague Bad Event to use in rhetorical exercises #like if you’re going to minimize the holocaust you can’t act surprised when people call your antizionism antisemitism

[smonk-wonk]

how are you a holocaust survivor if you're POC?

I'm not a Holocaust survivor I'm 25?

I'm gonna guess you mean descended from Holocaust survivors & victims. In which case it's really sad that you think this way firstly? POC and non Jewish people did in fact die during the holocaust and many were targeted for not fitting the Nazis' idea of the "superior Aryan race".

From The Holocaust Encyclopedia: "When Adolf Hitler and the Nazis came to power in 1933, there were several thousand Black people living in Germany. The Nazi regime discriminated against them because the Nazis viewed Black people as racially inferior. During the Nazi era (1933–1945), the Nazis used racial laws and policies to restrict the economic and social opportunities of Black people in Germany. They also harassed, imprisoned, sterilized, and murdered an unknown number of Black people."

Also contrary to what some believe, and this may sound farfetched and I hope you're sitting down but bear with me- some people are actually more than one race. Some people are POC and white. We call this being biracial. Or in grade school, being an "Oreo". A mutt if they really want to dehumanize you

But while my relatives weren't targeted for their skin color as they were white, many people were. Black Germans and other POC did exist, were murdered and traumatized, and have passed down that generational trauma. Just as other persecuted populations even if it was much less it was no less a part of the genocide and ethnic cleansing.

#i was actually never called an oreo but my siblings were #the fun thing about my racial ambiguity is no one irl knows what racial slur or term to call me #anyway there were Holocaust victims that were POC and it's even more reason to compare these events. #we have to mention the holocaust by name. we have to say hitler's name. i feel if we don't we're forgetting that this has happened before #because millions did not die during the holocaust just for us to justify more ethnic cleansing. more destruction of people's land& history #we have to look at how history was rewritten and how they allowed a genocide and massive cleansing to happen #and given my background i can't wrap my head around seeing everything that i heard of the nazis and even the USSR doing #and just going “but hamas”. israel is the cause hamas is the effect. i will never be happy that innocent people died #but people are wrong to say it was because they're jewish and muslims/palestinians/arabs hate jews. furthers the us vs them #they were already being killed and there's a reason colonized ppl & BIPOC see through the propaganda #the “they kill babies and rape women and hate you for how you were born and want to take things from you!” #we are familiar with it bc this isn't the first time it's happened and we remember the result of that mentality #and how it was weaponized #when i say mention it i do not mean above the current genocide. but we know how serious the holocaust was #the scale the lasting impact the destruction the things that were uncovered so much later #there is no “aftermath” of gaza yet bc the genocide is ongoing but we've seen the aftermath of genocide before #if we ignore the parallel we are forgetting history and there's a saying about those who forget history #free palestine #palestine #gaza #free gaza

[isnt-it-too-dreamy]

this mindset that comparing other genocides to the holocaust is so immoral and wrong and offensive is so nonsensical. comparing in this case is not about evaluating what was/is "worse", downplaying the severity of it, or erasing the unique contexts and characteristics that EVERY historical event obviously comes with, or anything like that, it's about identifying what genocide looks like and how it happens so that we can act to stop it if we see it. the "exceptionality" thinking when it comes to the holocaust has not helped anyone. in fact it prevents solidarity to others suffering a similar fate.

#i started that book once that spent an endless section debating whether the exceptionality of the holocaust was legit or not. i never even #reached the conclusion bc it was so unnecessarily long and the answer was so obvious to me. #yes it was unspeakably atrocious and a failure of humanity but to claim it as the single worst thing to ever happen... it is among one of #the worst things to ever happen certainly but to position it as the peak of evilness that no other events can ever come close to is stupid #and inhuman in its own right. #t

[thefabelmans2022]

conspiracy theories really would have you believe that no one ever commits suicide and i feel like that kind of mindset is really not a good one like. these theories spread the belief that someone would NEVER commit suicide if they were working on something they thought was important or if they were planning for the future or if they had friends and family or if they seemed totally normal before they died and all comes from a total lack of understanding of depression and suicide and like how are we supposed to change our cultural attitudes towards suicide if we're just in total denial that it even exists?

#cw sui mention #lmk if anyone needs/wants this tagged with something else #anyway this comes from a tweet i saw implying a researcher who committed suicide while working on a book abt the rape of nanking #must've actually been murdered by the japanese government to cover up their war crimes #and like dgmw the japanese government have gone above and beyond to cover up their past war crimes #but like. people do commit suicide sometimes. it does no one any good to pretend it doesn't happen. #it also really annoyed me because people don't seem to understand that immersing yourself in the worst events in human history #might have a detrimental effect on mental health #i had a lecturer who had to abandon his research and switch research topics bc studying the holocaust was giving him constant nightmares #it's not easy and you need support and help #anyway.

[birdmenmanga]

holy shit I just went back 2 dig up an old project at my mutual's request and by god. we served so much cunt on that oral history project

#just thinking thoughts... #THE WAY WE ENDED IT...?! #at the time I thought what we did was mediocre. I TRULY thought it was mediocre. #but our history teacher was like 'hey y'know we've seen students interview this guy year after year' #'and you guys really knocked it out of the park' #and I had no clue what he was talking about then but I get it now. the serve. what the fuck. #I really really hope the guy who has the original video file didn't delete it holy shit. I'd love to watch it again. #the project was interviewing someone who'd 'lived through a historical event' #like 9/11 or the holocaust for example #and we interviewed this vietnam war vet who ended up doing a bunch of anti-war protests after he came back from the war #and the video was essentially formatted like #attitude towards the war before going there -> what it was like in vietnam -> what made him change his ideology #-> what kind of protests did he do -> and then that time the FBI tried to assassinate you for that huh? #and basically they sent a woman to be his girlfriend and they did drugs and everything #and then after a while she and her friends shot him! and then claimed self-defense #but because A. he lived and B. there was contradicting physical evidence ('shooting in self-defense' INTO SOMEONE'S BACK ?) #the court ruled him as not being guilty. but then nothing happened to the agents. #and we ended on that. #'the jury recommended that the agent be indicted for attempted murder— and nothing happened to them.' #and then it faded slowly to black. and then everyone had to sit with that. nothing happened them.

[djuvlipen]

thinking about that quote "those who've studied the Holocaust often come back with the feeling of having stared directly into the source of evil" and actually yeah I think I know too much and if I could get other people to know all the stuff I've read and heard and seen about the Holocaust and genocides maybe I could bring a change feel more stable and less insane at the cost of others. and I don't know what is worse, the nightmares I used to have when I was 7 and I didn't know much about Nazis so I could imagine everything; or all the things I am aware of now and that keep clogging my thoughts during my waking hours

#like there are events I can name and date but I don't think I even have the ability to talk about it to anyone because it's just too much #(events and details that are not known by the average people I mean) #I think i must have read close to 10.000 pages about the holocaust by now? #(also for context: both my r.mani grandparents are baby boomers and lost their parents very young so there was basically no transmission of #war memories so no one has a single clue what really happened to my relatives during wwii- #though we tried to get more info so we more or less know that some relatives were put in camps somewhere and also some uncle may or may not #have been murdered in mauthausen etc but it's all very nebulous and when i was a child i was only told 'some relatives died' so it's very #evasive) (my country doesn't recognize the r.mani genocide btw) #anyway my little brother has unfortunately become the victim of my habit to infodump awful stuff i know of but i think he's learned to cope #with it by now lol

[sins-of-the-sea]

((If it's not too sensitive a subject - what might the Master and the Sins be up to during WWII?))

According to CappnRob ( @der-karibisch-heyder):

lmao, but for real, you're fine, even though it IS a sensitive subject, especially considering the theatres involved.

TL;DR: Lots of anguish, as the Seven are forced to watch the world not just fall into war, but to see the nations they once called home and the peoples they called brethren fall into oppression, genocide, and general bloodshed. I could have sworn I've written a similar piece regarding WW2-era Spain and Italy in the blog but I can't find it. I'll keep it general and avoid specifics as to avoid touching upon the pain still felt by the people who especially got it bad from WW2 such as the Jewish population and the Chinese. But ALL Seven felt it.

From my readings so far, I think the one least affected by it all is Rashid? The Ottoman Empire has fallen for some decades by then, so what became the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has declared neutrality, and I am not finding much notes on this nation beyond declaring war on Germany at almost literally the last minute then doing nothing about it.

Meanwhile I’m mostly finding things on Cuba and Puerto Rico when it comes to Latin America and the Caribbean, but not so much with Haiti. Abena does take in comfort that Ghana was never a warfront in the grand scheme of the wars, mostly participating as suppliers manpower for the Allies (as Ghana was a part of the British Empire at the time).

Everyone else... not so feeling good. I don’t think I need to describe Josep’s feelings on Francoist Spain, or Giovanni on Fascist Italy, or Ruixiong on Japanese-occupied China. And of course the Twins on France and the entire European Jewish population. As much as they are removed from the nations of that time considering it is not the same as it was in the 1500s-1600s, it’s still their people, their brethren, and the descendants of the neighbors and friends they considered a part of their home. 

And the worst part of all this? The absolute worst part? The part wherein Cappn is all “EVIL”?

The Master is absolutely LOVING the Second World War. So much pain, so much hatred, so much death. He might even encourage the Seven to go on a soul raid here and there should any combat take place in the seas. By the time it’s all over, the Crew basically entered a state of dormancy because their souls just could not take it. But of course, the Master will insist they continue to search for the Eye. So they have to keep going. No matter what.

#ww2 tw #wars tw #imperialism tw #death tw #antisemitism tw #genocide tw #holocaust tw #fascism tw #I COULD go into more specifics but #1.) I'm no WW2 expert #2.) things are happening in American politics today that is reopening old wounds so I don't want to contribute to that #3.) we'll be getting into sensitive territory I feel I have no right to write about as an outsider of those groups #4.) I am more personally connected through the Pacific theater #as an Asian-American and as a Filipino #so there is a bit too much disconnect that I think is best kept that way #WITH THAT SAID #I am more than happy to write specifics of the events #because I will be given scenarios that applies to those instead of the wars in general #I am also more than happy to do alternative history scenarios like if I am to RP Wolfenstein etc

[cruelsister-moved2]

its just constantly so extremely frustrating to be made aware of how absolutely awful most peoples holocaust education is/was (unless they are of a group who was directly affected) like in most cases it isnt really those peoples fault because they were never taught & in some cases taught actively badly so they were led to believe that they do know whilst actually being very ignorant; so how can you rectify what you don't know that you don't know. and the market is so saturated with ~inspirational gentile hero saves a handful of sympathetic acceptable passive jewish victims~ stories and other such Relatable Heartwarming content that even if you did try to educate yourself you could easily do more harm than good.

it feels like we have reached a point where there are now two holocausts, a specific historical one which is largely relegated to a niche academic field, and a monolithic cultural one that appears constantly as a shorthand for fantastical horrors & exists with little specificity or objectivity because it has become a spectre, a mindset,a cautionary tale, a 2D villain, rather than a real historical event which happened to (&was done by) millions of real human beings, thousands of whom still live today. (and also the 3rd which exists in the lives and minds of those who experienced it directly + their families). people can happily detach it from a long & currently thriving continuity of european antisemitism and anti roma racism because it has become just an abstract manifestion of Evil.

no space for the realities of camps liberated by segregated american regiments, of the holocaust of bullets, of the regular families who held their children up on their shoulders to get a better view of murders in the street while they sang the national anthem, operation paperclip, transports that continued to be used in poland for decades after the war to move regular goods and livestock until they were bought by american museums, gentiles quietly moving into the homes of their vanished neighbours once it seemed like they weren't going to come back, jewish labour movements, displaced persons camps, escapees from camps and ghettos who brought their stories to governments and international media from the start, anticipatory pogroms in occupied countries before the nazis even arrived, etc. no there was just one very evil guy, maybe 3 or 4 max, who with the help of advanced modern technology was able to kill millions all on his own just because he felt like it. and im sure people will draw very normal and intelligent conclusions from this understanding of things and it will lead to no problems at all

#it was weird when the maus thing was very big and everyone cared for like a couple of days and there was like #a lot of noise about people planning to educate themselves but then I still hear all the same misconceptions and ignorance as before #so it seems like they didn't actually at all #I don't want to come off preachy at all im just like. sits down and sighs very deeply and lays my head on the tavel #table* #shoah tw #im always somewhat wary of the like we should learn about the holocaust to like see how it is relevant in our own lives or w/e #because like. everyone should learn about it because it is one of the most major events in history it doesn't need justification #but we are living in the same world it happened in like 2/3 generations removed from the people it happened to and from and amongst #there is a sense that there is no continuity from it when in fact it is literally responsible for the entire shape of the modern west #looking at stuff from the 60s and realising they were like ~20 years removed from it like it's part of EVERYTHING #it makes 0 sense to spend more time learning abt Alexander Hamilton or whatever #it has all these psychological repercussions too even if it was something that happened 300 years ago #but it is also like..... all of our very foundational history and it is sooo not treated as that in the education system #for us I rmbr being taught abt ww2 as all like oh the great depression and d day and pearl harbor etc #and then the holocaust as like this completely isolated aside as though it wasn't part of that world and by extension our world but it was #like an obligation to teach us about it as its own like almost a curiosity #anyway.. I'm just like so tired and frustrated

[not-that-blog]

I'm lowkey trauma dumping to the internet again in the tags bc it got to me.

#I learned about the holocaust at my family's kitchen table by being told that I looked the most jewish and that my little sibling was #and I quote 'Hitlers dream baby' bc blonde hair and blue eyes and a pale little shit #while I was tan with brown hair and brown eyes and I was being bullied for my nose and not looking white enough #I had my Christian family tell me a young queer ND kid tell me how every aspect of myself would get me killed #before I was even aware that I was queer #and then they told me at the dinner table that they would sell me out to nazi's to save themselves because I was disabled and queer #they had told me as a child that they would sell me out on a lie for rations #and as I got older and came out they told me they would sell me out for that #and I haven't told those family members I'm converting to Judaism yet. #that's a 'when the family Christmas thing happens and I mention offhandedly about eating kosher and finding kosher recipes' problem #and my ex bf is coming so if it goes bad we just leave. and tbh; I don't even want to go because of it. #but like these people straight out told me they'd be fine if I died horrifically and laughed at my fear #they watched me cry for fun and they're straight up monsters #and they would have known that information. #so I just... I won't be going to family events anymore tbh #I will watch the reaction and then just go from there

[heritageposts]

if you support israel right now, you're supporting the extermination of the palestinian people.

it really is that simple.

this isn't a 'complicated conflict,' it isn't a situation that 'requires nuance,' it's not a 'geopolitical event' that requires us to condemn the 'bad actors' on 'both sides.'

it's a genocide.

there is no 'nuance' to be had here. it's a genocide, committed by the israeli state against the palestinian people, and it's happening right now as we speak. you don't have to infer anything: israel has openly, with next to no pushback from so-called liberal democracies, cut off gaza's access to water, food and electricity. that's more than two million palestinians denied even the basic necessities for life. a million of them, children.

what is that, if not a genocide?

and that's only the latest escalation. we could go all day, listing the atrocities the palestinian people have been subjected to. the killings, the beatings, the children sexually abused in detention center, all the hospitals and ambulances being blown up, videos of palestinians being heckled by settlers as they're driven from their homes, israelis gathering on hilltops to cheer as their military drops bombs on gaza...

but all westerns want to talk about, is hamas.

because the murder of palestinians by the IDF is status quo; it doesn't affect them. what's one more dead palestinian but a statistic? but if hamas has killed a handful of israelis — if they've go as far as to even kill babies — then that justifies the extermination of two million palestinians, children and infants included.

westerns will even say that the palestinians brought it on themselves; that they should have know that a drop of israeli blood requires a river in return.

and just so we're clear, you don't have to like hamas. but when you equate hamas with the IDF, when you derail every conversation by demanding a condemnation of 'both sides,' or when you, god forbid, agree that israel is justified in dismantling hamas — which, as israel themselves have outlined, will involve the complete destruction of gaza and the murder of hundreds of thousands of civilians — then either wake up, or own up to the fact that you're a participant in the extermination of the palestinian people.

do you think i'm being harsh? then imagine how it's like living under constant aerial bombardment. with no food, no water, no electricity. constant air-raid sirens. a bomb, dropping every minute. never knowing a moment a peace, always wondering if today is going to be your last day, if you and your family are still going to be here tomorrow.

could you stomach living in gaza, for even a day? i doubt it.

and still, now, on the eve of what might be the ground invasion of gaza — with one million palestinians being told to flee, with nowhere to go — i'm getting messages from people who demand my sympathy... for israel.

well, you're not getting it.

i'm not even humoring your hand-wringing.

if you live in israel, and you're one of the ones who've turned a blind-eye to the suffering of the palestinian people, if you've fought for the IDF or tacitly supported them, if you've callously called upon the memory of the holocaust thinking the death and suffering of your ancestors would wash the blood of your own hands....

then yeah, i think you deserve every single hamas rocket lobbed at you and so much more.

#palestine #from the river to the sea #csa mention #genuinely so angry that my hands are shaking

[stephobrien]

Is your pro-Palestine activism hurting innocent people? Here's how to avoid that.

Note: If you prefer plain text, you can read the plain text version here.

Over the last few days, I’ve had conversations with several Jewish people who told me how hurt and scared they are right now.

To my great regret, some of that pain came from a poorly-thought-out post of mine, which – while not ill-intentioned – WAS hurtful.

And a lot of it came from cruelty they’d experienced at the hands of people who claim to be advocating for Palestine, but are using the very real plight of innocent Palestinians to harm equally innocent Jewish people.

Y’all, we need to do better. (Yes, “we” definitely includes me; this is in no small part a “learn from my fail” post, and also a “making amends” post. Some of these are mistakes I’ve made in the past.)

So if you’re an advocate for Palestine who wants to make sure that your defense of one group of vulnerable people doesn’t harm another, here are some important things to do or keep in mind:

Ask yourself if you’re applying a standard to one group that you aren’t applying to another.

Would you want all white Americans or Canadians to be expelled from America or Canada?

Do you want all Jewish people to be expelled from Israel, as opposed to finding a way to live alongside Palestinian Arabs in peace?

If the answer to those two questions is different, ask yourself WHY.

Do you want to be held responsible for the actions of your nation’s army or government? No? Then don’t hold innocent Jewish people, or Israelis in general (whether Jewish or otherwise), responsible for the actions of the Israeli army and government.

On that subject, be wary of condemning all Israeli people for the actions of the IDF. Large-scale tactical decisions are made by the top brass. Service is compulsory, and very few can reasonably get out of service.

Blaming all Israelis for the military’s actions is like blaming all Vietnam vets for the horrors in Vietnam. They’re not calling the shots. They aren’t Nazis running concentration camps. They are carrying out military operations that SHOULD be criticized.

And do not compare them or ANY JEWISH PERSON to Nazis in general. It is Jewish cultural trauma and not outsiders’ to use against them.

Don’t infuse legitimate criticism with antisemitism.

By all means, spread the word about the crimes committed by the Israeli army and government, and the complicity of their allies. Criticize the people responsible for committing and enabling atrocities.

But if you imply that they’re committing those crimes because they’re Jewish, or because Jewish people have special privileges, then you’re straying into antisemitic territory.

Criticize the crime, not the group. If you believe that collective punishment is wrong, don’t do it yourself.

And do your best to use words that apply directly to the situation, rather than the historical terms for situations with similar features. For example, use “segregation,” “oppression,” or “subjugation,” not “Holocaust” or “Jim Crow.” These other historical events are not the cultural property of Jews OR Palestinians, but also have their own nuances and struggles and historical contexts.

Also, blaming other world events on Jewish people or making Jewish people associated with them (for instance, some people falsely blame Jewish people for the African slave trade) is a key feature of how antisemitism functions.

Please, by all means, be specific and detailed in your critiques. But keep them focused on the current political actors – not other peoples’ or nations’ political or cultural histories and traumas.

Be prepared to accept criticism.

You probably already know that society is infused with a wide array of bigotries, and that people growing up in that environment tend to absorb those beliefs without even realizing it. Antisemitism is no exception.

What that means is, there’s a very real chance that you will screw up, and get called out on it, as I so recently did.

If that happens, please be willing to learn and adapt. If you can educate yourself about the suffering and needs of Palestinians, you can do the same for Jewish people.

Understand that the people you hurt aren’t obligated to baby you. Give them room to be angry.

After I made a post that inadvertently hurt people, some were nice about it, and others weren’t. Some outright insulted my morals and intelligence.

And I had to accept that I’d earned that from them.

I’d hurt them, and they weren’t obligated to be more careful with my feelings than I had been with theirs.

They weren’t obligated to forgive me, trust me, or stop being mad at me right away.

I’ll admit, there were moments when I got defensive. I shouldn’t have. And I encourage you to try not to, if you screw up and hurt people.

I know that’s hard, but it’s important. Getting defensive only tells people you care more about doubling down on your mistake than you do about healing the hurt it caused.

Instead, acknowledge that they have a right to be angry, apologize for the way you hurt them, and try to make amends, while understanding that they don’t owe you trust or forgiveness.

Be aware that some antisemites are using legitimate complaints to “Trojan horse” antisemitism into leftist spaces.

This is a really easy stumbling block to trip over, because most people probably don’t look at every post a creator makes before sharing the one they’re looking at right now.

I recently shared a video that called out some of the Likud and IDF’s atrocities and hypocrisy, and that also noted that many Jewish people are wonderful members of their communities.

I was later informed that, while that video in particular seemed reasonable, the creator behind it is frequently antisemitic.

I deleted the post, and blocked the creator. I encourage you to do the same if it’s brought to your attention that you’ve been ‘Trojan horse’d.

EDIT: Important note about antisemitism in leftist spaces:

While it's true that some blatant antisemites are using seemingly reasonable posts to get their foot in the door of leftist spaces, it's also true that a lot of antisemitism already exists inside those spaces.

This antisemitism is often dressed up in progressive-sounding language, but nonetheless singles Jewish people and places out in ways that aren't applied equally to other groups, or that label Jewish people in ways that portray them as acceptable targets.

If you want to see some specific examples, so you can have a better idea of what to keep an eye out for, I suggest reading this excellent reblog of this post.

Fact-check your doubts about antisemitism.

Depending on which parts of the internet you look at, you’ve probably seen people accused of antisemitism because they complained about the Likud and/or IDF’s actions. So you might be primed to be wary, or feel unsure of how to tell what counts as real antisemitism.

But that doesn’t mean antisemitism isn’t a very real, widespread, and harmful problem. And it doesn’t mean many or even most Jewish people are lying to you or being overly sensitive.

So if someone says something is antisemitic, and you aren’t sure, I encourage you to:

A. Look up the action or thing in question, including its history. Is there an antisemitic history or connotation you aren’t aware of? For best results, include “antisemitic” in your search query, in quotes.

B. Understand that some things, while not inherently antisemitic, have been used by antisemites often enough that Jewish people are understandably wary of them. Schrodinger’s antisemitism, if you will.

C. Ask Jewish people WHO HAVE OFFERED TO HELP EDUCATE YOU. Emphasis on WHO HAVE OFFERED. Random Jewish people aren’t obligated to give you their time and emotional energy, or to educate you – especially on subjects that are scary or painful for them.

@edenfenixblogs has kindly offered her inbox to those who are genuinely trying to learn and do better, and I’ve found her to be very kind, patient, reasonable, and fair-minded.

Understand that this is URGENTLY NEEDED.

In one of my conversations with a Jewish person who’d called me out, they said this was the most productive conversation they’d had with a person with a Palestinian flag in their profile.

THIS IS NOT OKAY.

I didn’t do anything special. All I did was listen, apologize for my mistakes, and learn.

Yes, it feels good to be acknowledged. But I feel like I’ve been praised for peeing IN the toilet, instead of beside it.

Apologizing, learning, and making amends after you hurt people shouldn’t be “the most reasonable thing I’ve heard from a person with a Palestinian flag pfp.”

It should be BASIC DECENCY.

And the fact that it’s apparently so uncommon should tell you how much unnecessary stress and fear Jewish people have been living with because of people who consider themselves defenders of human rights.

By all means, be angry at the Likud, the IDF, and the politicians, reporters, and specific media outlets who choose to enable and cover up for them.

But direct that anger toward the people who deserve it and are in a position to do something about it, not random people who simply happen to be Jewish, or who don’t want millions of people to be turned into refugees when less violent methods of achieving freedom and rights for Palestinians are available.

Stop peeing beside the toilet, people.

#I/P #I/P conflict #I/P war #Israel #Palestine #Gaza #free Palestine #Israel Palestine conflict #Israel Palestine war #Jewish goyim solidarity #choose peace

[perfectlyvalid49]

On being Jewish, and traumatized (It’s been 5 months and I want to talk):

Judaism is a joyous religion. So much of our daily practice is to focus us on the things that are good. I know that there’s a joke that all our holidays can be summed up as “they tried to kill us. We survived – let’s eat!”, and you might think that holidays focused on attempts at killing us might be somber, but they’re really not. Most are celebrated in the sense of, “we’re still here, let’s have a party!” When I think about practicing Judaism, the things I think about make me happy.

But I think a lot of non-Jews don’t necessarily see Judaism the same way. I think in part it’s because we do like to kvetch, but I think a lot of it is because from the outside it’s harder to see the joy, and very easy to see the long history of suffering that has been enacted on the Jewish people. From the inside, it’s very much, “we’re still here, let’s party” and from the outside it’s, “how many times have they tried to kill you? Why are you celebrating? They tried to KILL YOU!”

And I want to start with that because a lot of the rest of this is going to be negative. And I don’t want people to read it and wonder why I still want to be Jewish. I want to be Jewish because it makes me happy. My problem isn’t with being Jewish, it’s with how Jews are treated.

What I really wanted to write about is being Jewish and the trauma that’s involved with that right now.

First, I want to talk about Israeli Jews. I can’t say much here because I’m not Israeli, nor do I have any close friends or family that are Israeli. But if I’m going to be talking about the trauma Jews are experiencing right now, I can’t not mention the fact that Israeli Jews (and Israelis that aren’t Jewish as well, but that’s not my focus here) are dealing with massive amounts of it right now. It’s a tiny country – virtually everyone has a friend or family member that was killed or kidnapped, or knows someone who does. Thousands of rockets have been fired at Israel in the last few months – think about the fact that the Iron Dome exists and why it needs to. Terror attacks are ongoing; I feel like there’s been at least one every week since October. Thousands of people are displaced from their homes, either because of the rocket fire, or because their homes and communities were physically destroyed in the largest pogrom in recent history – the deadliest single day for Jews since the Holocaust ended. If that’s not trauma inducing, I don’t know what is.

And there is, of course, the generational trauma. And I think Jewish generational trauma is interesting because it’s so layered. Because it’s not just the result of one trauma passed down through the generations. Every 50-100 years, antisemitism intensifies, and so very frequently the people experiencing a traumatic event were already suffering from the generational trauma that their grandparents or great grandparents lived through. And those elders were holding the generational trauma from the time before that. And so on.

And because it happens so regularly, there’s always someone in the community that remembers the last time. We are never allowed the luxury of imagining that we are safe. We know what happened before, and we know that it happened again and again and again. And so we know that it only makes sense to assume it will happen in the future. The trauma response is valid. I live in America because my great grandparents lived in Russia and they knew when it was time to get the hell out in the 1900s. And the reason they knew that is because their grandparents remembered the results of the blood libels in the 1850s. How can we heal when the scar tissue keeps us safe?

I look around now and wonder if we’ll need to run. We have a plan. I repeat, my family has a plan for what to do if we need to flee the country due to religious persecution. How can that possibly be normal? And yet, all the Jewish families I know have similar plans. It is normal if you’re Jewish. Every once in a while I see someone who isn’t Jewish talk about making plans to leave because they’re LGBTQ or some other minority and the question always seems to be, “should I make a plan?” It astounds me every time. The Jewish answer is that you need to have a plan and the only question is, “when should I act?” Sometimes our Jewish friends discuss it at play dates. Where will you go? What are the triggers to leave? No one wants to go any earlier then they have to. Everyone knows what the price of holding off too long might be.

I want to keep my children safe. When do I induct them into the club? When do I let my sweet, innocent kids know that some people will hate them for being Jewish? When do I teach them the skills my parents and grandparents taught me? How to pass as white, how to pass as Christian, knowing when to keep your mouth shut about what you believe. When do I tell them about the Holocaust and teach them the game “would this person hide me?” How hard do I have to work to remind them that while you want to believe that a person would hide you, statistically, most people you know would not have? Who is this more traumatic for? Them, to learn that there is hatred in the world and it is directed at them, or me, to have to drive some of the innocence out of my own children’s eyes in order to make sure they are prepared to meet the reality of the world?

And the reality of the world is that it is FULL of antisemitism. There’s a lot of…I guess I’d call it mild antisemitism that’s always present that you just kinda learn to ignore. It’s the sort of stuff that non-Jews might not even recognize as antisemitic until you explain it to them, just little micro-aggressions that you do your best to ignore because you know that the people doing it don’t necessarily mean it, it’s just the culture we live in. It can still hurt though. I like to compare it to a bruise: you can mostly ignore it, but every once in a while something (more blatant antisemitism) will put a bit to much pressure on it and you remember that you were already hurting this whole time.

On top of the background antisemitism, there’s more intense stuff. And usually the most intense, mask off antisemitism comes from the right. This makes sense, in that a lot of right politics are essentially about hating the “other” and what are Jews if not Western civilizations oldest type of “other”? On the one hand, I’ve always been fortunate enough to live in relatively liberal areas so this sort of antisemitism has felt far away and impersonal – they hate everybody, and I’m just part of everybody. On the other hand, until recently I’ve always considered this the most dangerous source of antisemitism. This is the antisemitism that leads to hate crimes, that leads to synagogue shootings. This is the reason why my synagogue is built so that there is a long driveway before you can even see the building, and that driveway is filled with police on the high holidays. This is the reason why my husband and I were scared to hang a mezuzah in our first apartment (and second, and third). For a long time, this was the antisemitism that made me afraid.

But the left has a problem with antisemitism too. And it has always been there. Where the right hates the “other”, the left hates the “privileged/elite/oppressors.” It’s the exact same thing, just dressed up with different words. They all mean “other” and “other” means “Jew.” It hurts more coming from the left though. A lot of Jewish philosophy leans left. A lot of Jews lean left. So when the left decides to hate us, it isn’t a random stranger, it’s a friend, and it feels like a betrayal.

One of the people I follow works for Yad Vashem, and a few weeks ago she mentioned a video they have with testimonies from people who came to Israel after Kristallnacht, with an unofficial title of “The blow came from within.” The idea is that to non-German Jews, the Holocaust was something done by strangers. It was still terrible, but it is easier to bear the hate of a stranger – it’s not personal. But to German Jews, the Holocaust was a betrayal. It wasn’t done by strangers, it was done by coworkers, and neighbors and people they thought were friends. It was done by people who knew them, and still looked at them and said, “less than human.” And because of this sense of betrayal, German survivors, or Germans who managed to get out before they got rounded up, had a very different experience than other Holocaust victims.

And I feel like a lot of left leaning Jews are having a similar experience now. People that we’ve marched with or organized with, or even just mutuals that we’ve thought of as friends are now going on about how Jews are evil. They repeat antisemitic talking points from the Nazis and from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion, and when we point out that those ideas have only led to Jewish death in the past they don’t care. And if someone you thought of as a friend thinks of you this way, what do you think a stranger might think? Might do?

The Jews are fucking terrified. I’ve seen a post going around that basically wonders if this was what it was like for our ancestors – when things got bad enough to see what was coming but before it was too late to run? And we can see what’s coming. History tells us that they way people are talking and acting only leads to one place. I’m a millennial – when I was a kid the grandparents at my synagogue made sure the kids knew – this is what it looked like before, this is what you need to watch out for, this is when you need to run. I wonder where to run to. It feels like nowhere is safe.

I feel like I’ve been lucky in all this. I don’t live in Israel. I have family and acquaintances who do, but no one I’m particularly close to. Everyone I know in real life has either been sane or at least silent about all of this (the internet has been significantly worse, but when it comes to hate, the internet is always worse). I live in a relatively liberal area – there’s always been antisemitism around anyway, but it’s mostly just been swastikas on flyers, or people advocating for BDS, not anything that’s made me actually worry for my safety. But in the last 5 months there have been bomb threats at my synagogue, and just last week a kid got beat up for being Jewish at our local high school. He doesn’t want to report it. He’s worried it will make it worse.

I bought a Magen David to wear in November. At the time it seemed like the best way to fight antisemitism was to be visibly Jewish, to show that we’re just normal people like everyone else. Plus, I figured that if me being Jewish was going to be a problem for someone, then I would make it a problem right away and not waste time. I’ve worn it almost constantly since, but the one time I took it off was when I burnt my finger in December and had to go to urgent care. I didn’t think about it too much when I did it, but I thought about it for a long time after – I didn’t feel good about having made that choice.

The conclusion I came to is that the training that my elders had been so careful to instill in me kicked in. I was hurt, and scared, and the voice inside my head that sounds like my grandmother said, “don’t give them a reason to be bad to you. Fight when you’re well, but for now – survive.” It still felt cowardly, but it was also a connection to my ancestors who heeded the same voice well enough to survive. And it enrages me that that voice has been necessary in the past. And it enrages me that things are bad enough now that my instinct is that I need to hide who I am to receive appropriate medical care.

I wish I had some sort of final thought to tie this all together other than, “this sucks and I hate it,” but I really don’t. I could call for people to examine their antisemitic biases, but I’m not foolish enough to think that this will reach the people who need to do so. I could wish for a future where everything I’ve talked about here exists only in history books, and the Jewish experience is no longer tied to feeling this pain, but that’s basically wishing for the moshiach, and I’m not going to hold my breath.

I guess I’ll end it with the thought that through all of this hate and pain and fear, we’re still here. And we’re still joyful as well. As much as so many people have tried over literally THOUSANDS of years to eradicate us, I’m still here, I’m still Jewish, and being Jewish still makes me happy.

Am Yisrael Chai.

#antisemitism #judaism #venting #jumblr #long post #I'm not kidding it's like 2300 words #and it's a rambling mess #but i needed to vent #so help me god #if you show up in the notes and are being antisemitic I WILL find you and I WILL bite you

[tikkunolamresistance]

SHAMEFUL, EMBARRASSING GENOCIDE PROPAGANDA FROM TIME MAGAZINE.

Time Magazine have published an esay by Zionist Harvard Law School Professor, Noah Feldman. This piece completely centres Israel, writes as if the Jewish diaspora are one singular entity and ultimate victim. Regurgitating the typical talking points that “this is the biggest attack on Jews since the Holocaust” and framing the events since October 7th as compromising Jewish safety. This piece lacks ANY mention of the thousands of Palestinian lives lost, the bombardments on Gaza and the ongoing seige that has been killing Palestinians since 1948.

Every Jew in good faith and understanding of the reality we are being forced into understanding the de-colonial struggle that Palestinians are facing. Eveey anti-Zionist, revolutionary Jew knows that our identity, our history, our trauma has been systematically weaponised to cultivate a mass brainwashing to justify genocide and western expansionism through generations. Zionists have worked incredibly hard to conflate Zionism with Judaism, and they despise nothing more than the fact growing numbers of people see through this bullshit. That Jews, Muslims, Catholics, Hindus, Pagans, irreligious people can unite against this Western empire— our unity angers them.

There are people backing the Western empire who happen to be Jewish, it is not because they are Jewish. There are bad Jewish people who are complicit in this genocide for as much as there are bad irreligious people.

There is nothing Jewish about genocide, and do not let anybody tell you otherwise. Zionism is not and never will be Judaism. Anti-Zionist Jews of the world, we must unite, for a Judaism free of this Facist ideology. For a Judaism that honours our ancestors. For a Judaism that builds a better future, tikkun olam, for all.

Jews for a Free Palestine.

#free palestine #palestine #anti capitalism #anti imperialism #jumblr #israel #judaism #jewish thought #jewish #jews for palestine #jews against israel #jews for liberty

[omgthatdress]

Just taking a moment to remind everyone that JK Rowling is a Holocaust denier.

The looting & burning of the library of Die Institut für Sexualwissenschaft is an incredibly well-documented event that marks one of the first major events of Nazi persecution of the LGBT community.

Guess what, Jo. This definitely happened.

She has gone further to perpetuate lies about Dr. Magnus Hirschfeld that engage with the anti-semitic conspiracy theory that Jews are encouraging LGBT identities to end the reproduction of the Aryan race and take over the world.

HEY! GOOD NEWS! IF YOU DO HISTORICAL RESEARCH, THIS IS YOUR CHANCE TO DO SOMETHING REALLY COOL!

LGBT persecution by Nazis, especially trans persecution, is an area of the Holocaust that remains under-researched and under-documented. Historians are working hard to identify trans and queer victims and to illuminate their life stories. If you are at all interested in this, it's something you can do, too. Research for all!

#JK Rowling is a Holocaust denier #trans history #transgender #trans #transgender history #lgbt history #queer #queer history #gay #gay history

[avi-on-jumblr]

awful tweet warning:

Before I describe everything that's wrong with this tweet, let me transcribe Stephen Fry's words:

I am Stephen Fry, and I am a Jew. The great Irish thinker and writer Conor Cruise O'Brien once said that antisemitism is a light sleeper. Well, it seems to have woken up of late. The horrendous events of October 7th, and the Israeli response, seem to have stirred up this ancient hatred. It's agonizing to see all violence and destruction that is unfolding, and the terrible loss of life on both sides brings me an overwhelming sadness and heartache. But whatever our opinions on what is happening, there can be no excuse for the behaviour of some of our citizens. Since October the 7th, there have been 50 separate reported incidents of antisemitism every single day in London alone, an increase of 1350%, according to the Metropolitan police. Shop windows smashed, stars of David and swastikas daubed on walls of Jewish properties, synagogues, and cemeteries. Jewish schools have been forced to close. There is real fear stalking the Jewish neighbourhoods of Britain. Jewish people here are becoming fearful of showing themselves, in Britain, in 2023.

(Then it cuts off.)

For those who still don't know why this tweet was ignorant and inane, let me explain.

"To hear him conflate antiZionism with antisemitism has shocked me."

Guess how many times Stephen Fry mentions zionism? Zero! Guess how many times he mentions the country of Israel? Zero! (Unless you count "the Israeli response" which is unrelated to the existence of the country, or Zionism at all.) What this person is saying, is that they consider the smashing of shop windows, and the vandalism and marking of Jewish property, to be anti-Zionism. Considering they are an anti-Zionist, by following their logic, we can conclude that they not only believe this destruction and harassment is acceptable, but they believe it is ethical.

Further, they accuse him of showing no care for the Palestinians, even though he explicitly states that the loss of life on both sides brings him overwhelming sadness.

Finally, they accuse him of "[Centring] people in this country". It is disturbing that this person believes one cannot be concerned over two issues at a time. It perpetuates the idea that we can only talk about the "worst oppression" and talking about anything else means you are complicit in "silencing" someone else. If this were true, we would not be allowed to talk about Gaza either, or Ukraine, or police brutality, racism, islamophobia, homophobia, transphobia, and so on and so on, because clearly there are other issues with hundreds of thousands more deaths, and millions more displacements, so why bring attention to it ever?

Unfortunately, people are not talking about those countries, like Syria, Yemen, Ethiopia, Congo, and more, and anyone who does is spammed with "free Palestine" comments. In fact, the most I've heard people talking about Sudan is when these TikTok geopolitical experts attempt to spam the Palestinian flag and get it wrong.

This is not new. This is obviously not new. I have seen tweets like these every single day in the hundreds for the last 80 days. It is not surprising that people think smashing windows is "anti-zionism", nor that they think it good. It is not surprising that they hear a Jew speak, and experience shock and disgust, regardless of what we say.

I do wonder if they would regard anything short of a second Holocaust as antisemitism.

#antisemitism #i/p #jumblr #israel #palestine #stephen fry #israel palestine conflict #leftist antisemitism #gaza #avi posts