#just because we’re palestinian that doesn’t make it political | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

spacelazarwolf · 4 months

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I've seen people say that because you don't talk enough about the genocide in palestine and instead talk about the antisemitism in leftist pro-palestine spaces (even though you have talked about palestine before and don't support israel) that somehow makes you a zionist. It's like ??? That's not how that works. Honestly I'm sick of this performative activism where you must disavow anyone Jewish who dares to talk about antisemitism during this time. Then these people turn around and say that they don't hate Jews they just hate Israel

yeah it’s exhausting. i’ve got complicated feelings abt calling it a genocide — mostly bc of the way non palestinian gentiles are just parroting words without actually understanding why people are calling it a genocide, and also using it as an excuse for gratuitous holocaust inversion — but at the end of the day i think arguing a semantic issue isn’t going to help gazans who are dying right now. i don’t think it matters if we say it’s genocide or if we say it’s a precursor to genocide or if we say it’s a catastrophic loss of human life, it’s all just words. what matters right now is not if one single random disabled jew thousands of miles away uses the right word. what matters right now is that people are dying and that needs to stop. and apparently saying that means i’m an evil genocide denier who’s basically a nazi.

and like. it doesn’t matter how many times i explain my position in excruciating detail. it doesn’t matter how much nuance i give and how many personal feelings and insecurities i share, bc it has never been abt if i’m actually a zionist. they don’t care. in fact, it’s better for them if i don’t openly identify as a zionist, because that strengthens their use of zionist as a dogwhistle. if they only targeted jews who openly identified as zionists, the dogwhistle wouldn’t work.

and for the antisemitism stuff, i’m very unsurprised that’s why they’re targeting me. ppl have made it clear that they not only don’t care abt antisemitism but that antisemitism is necessary for their “activism” so they see me telling them not to be antisemitic as me telling them not to advocate for palestinians, and at this point i can’t help it if they’re idiots.

zionism and antisemitism aren’t a chicken and the egg situation. zionism is a direct response to antisemitism in the diaspora, and by actively participating in making it worse and mocking jews for being afraid of the antisemitism we’re facing, you’re doing political zionists’ work for them. i want to talk about this, about the rhetoric i’ve seen used in some jewish spaces and how antisemitism in antizionist movements just bolsters it, and what they can do to instead connect with these jewish institutions and leaders to address the very real concerns jews have and show them that israel is not the solution. but people don’t want to hear what they can do better. they want to hear that “zionists” and “zionist institutions” are all evil groups plotting world domination and weaponizing the holocaust. i might have more success doing this work in irl spaces but i’ve very much given up on doing it here.

#ask avishai #ip

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hero-israel · 3 months

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So I've seen a lot of talk from people who allow that Israel was justified to attack Gaza after October 7th, but they feel that Israel still attacked too indiscriminately, killed too many Palestinians, and destroyed too much of Gaza. Two particular hangups I've seen most commonly are the idea that Israel should have done a "tactical counter-terrorism" action rather than a ground invasion, and a specific objection to Israel dropping 2000 pound bombs on Gaza specifically. I don't feel that I know enough about military tactics, so I don't know how legitimate it would have been for Israel to go into Gaza "tactically" or to drop smaller bombs, but I suspect Hamas would be a lot stronger than it is currently, and the same people would still be tut-tutting Israel's actions (if not calling them out with equal outrage). It's very frustrating

Everyone wants a better alternative but nobody describes what it is. Reminds me of the recent post about the Houthis - "don't bomb them, you need to find a way to get rid of the Red Sea embargo that only kills the badguys and nobody else." Okay, I'll just ask the genie of the lamp to magic them away. There are no options for going into Gaza that aren't utterly horrible. Hamas knows this, it was the whole point of their trap, and it is working.

Here's a fair-minded, moving essay by a Gazan Palestinian saying Israel needs "targeted, low-intensity, long-term operation[s] that could sustainably reduce Hamas’ military capabilities and create conditions to introduce a new administration in Gaza," and also admitting "tunnel warfare is dirty, complicated, costly and requires lengthy efforts and campaigns, not the short and swift operations upon which Israel’s military doctrine is built."

IOW, "go in and kill Hamas and destroy everything they have - but don't kill anybody else. Find a way to do it slower and smaller and neater, but still make sure you win."

It doesn't work that way. The tunnels are obviously boobytrapped, how are you supposed to order men in? The problem isn't expense, the problem is failure. Also a slow, prolonged ground campaign would require a lasting re-occupation, another lose-lose. Israel has purportedly been using the 2,000 pound bombs as bunker-busters to collapse the tunnels - maybe that's working, but it also kills the hell out of people on the surface, again part of the trap. I am disappointed that the IDF hadn't spent every waking hour the last decade building some technical gizmo that could make the tunnels uninhabitable, some kind of seismic or ultrasonic whatzit. I said a while back that I was in favor of flooding the tunnels and fixing the environmental consequences later. I've got messages in my inbox now urging me not to take that stance, that Israel should not be seen as "salting the earth," but it doesn't matter since it seems Israel isn't actually doing it, for whatever reason, so there's no point in a Tumblr blog taking a stance either way.

Tom Friedman is another useless Boomer leftover from the '90s and his "philosophy-of-cab-drivers" shtick is laughable, but he actually raised a good point here:

Netanyahu, I would argue, doesn’t want to win. He wants to be winning, OK, that is, he wants to be able to say, we’re winning. We’re winning. We’re winning. It’s just around the corner. But he doesn’t want to actually win because, if the war actually ends, two things are going to happen. Then he can no longer avoid what is the new political end state. And I believe there will be an eruption, a massive eruption, of Israeli anger at him that I hope and pray will drive him from power because I believe he is not only the worst leader in Israel’s history. I believe he’s the worst leader in Jewish history.

And that’s a long history. And what is Netanyahu’s calculation? It’s very simple. If he is not in power and has to face the conclusion of his trial and three corruption charges without the protection and influence that comes over the judiciary from being in power, he has a very good chance of going to jail. People forget. Israel jailed a president and a former prime minister. They’re not afraid to do that. And he does not want to go to jail. And he does not want to give up power.

And so this is a terrible situation where Israel is in a existential war, and its prime minister has basically dual loyalties, one to the state and one to himself. And at every turn, he is prioritizing himself.

I wish I could totally rule out the possibility that Netanyahu is going to try to drag this out until Trump's inauguration next year. I can't.

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tanadrin · 2 months

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This is the Palestinian resistance. It’s not beautiful. It’s not inspiring. It’s desperate and futile and sad. Generation after generation of children, throwing themselves into the path of one of the most brutal military machines in human history, smashing their skulls against its steel hull, mangling their limbs in its treads, thousands of them, for seventy-five years, destroying themselves as they try to face down an engine that simply rolls on over the dying and the dead. These kids were brave, much braver than I’ll ever be. They rose to defend their honour. It’s noble. But stupid beyond belief. Later, Hedges talks to Lieutenant Ayman Ghanm, a Palestinian police officer who says he’s given up on trying to save these boys’ lives. ‘When we tell the boys not to go to the dunes,’ he says, ‘they taunt us as collaborators.’ I began by saying that this is a war without opposing sides. Israel is not actually trying to defeat the resistance; it has no political objectives, just violence. But the same goes for the resistance: they are not, in fact, doing anything to meaningfully resist. Think about what actually happens in Hedges’ story. The Israeli soldiers call through their loudspeakers for the Palestinians to come, come and be killed—and the Palestinians obediently show up. Their resistance is indistinguishable from following orders. The Israeli state wants a certain level of violence from the Palestinians, it actively courts it, and the resistance factions keep doing exactly as they’re told. They teach Palestinian children that the best thing they could do with their lives is lose them. This is not a very healthy attitude, but when you start up your bullshit about the glorious resistance you are part of that sickness. What would actual resistance look like? Maybe it would start with not handing over your life to the enemy. Not climbing up the dunes. In saying all this, I’m obviously breaking one of the biggest taboos on the left, which is that you must not presume to tell Palestinians how to go about their resistance. I might have spent time in Palestine, but I’m not Palestinian. I’m not subjected to the daily nightmare of occupation. Who am I to start preaching? My only reply is this: if the armed resistance factions were resisting sanely and effectively, this kind of taboo wouldn’t need to exist. If there were a better argument for their actions than don’t criticise the victims, you’d be making that one instead. But there isn’t, so you can’t. It’s not a coincidence that the exact same rhetoric is deployed by Israel and its apologists: yes, we’re committing hideous atrocities, but how dare you notice? Who are you to say anything to us? Whoever’s saying it, the fact remains that there is no military path to a free Palestine. This fact is inconvenient and unfair and doesn’t leave much room for the optimism of the will, but that doesn’t make it any less true, and if you think there’s an exemption from unfair truths that’s awarded to especially just causes then you are wrong. Israel has nuclear weapons: it will not be overthrown with small arms and explosives. I don’t think I have the right to condemn violent resistance altogether—but I can reject violent resistance that’s doomed to fail, that achieves nothing and produces nothing except violence for its own sake. Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad claim to be fighting for an Islamic republic, in which Jews will be free to live peacefully as long as they don’t dispute the sovereignty of Islam. The PFLP claims to be fighting a revolutionary people’s war for a liberated workers’ state. Their critics say that both are actually fighting for an unlimited genocide, the death of every single Jew in Israel. But what difference does it make? This is all make-believe! None of it matters, because none of it is ever actually going to happen! They’re not fighting for anything at all. They’re just fighting.

This is a good essay in general, but this point draws out something I think is important: the need to believe that, if there is a group of Bad Guys in a conflict, doing Bad Things, there must be an opposing group of Good Guys doing Good Things. But there's no law of the universe that says it must be so; mostly there's just the churn of senseless, sickening violence, to no useful or redemptive end.

#israel #palestine #gaza #the world is not a morality play #and you cannot slaughter your way to utopia

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pettytiredandjewish · 5 days

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you know one thing ive noticed that irks me is that how hamas supporters always tend to attack on israeli supporters like the latter will be minding their own business on social media and just have a simple israeli flag in their bio; and then out of nowhere you have all these self-righteous so-called pro-palestinians who are really just hamas supporters attacking and calling all types of curses to those israeli supporters just because of the israeli flag. however has anyone ever seen an israeli supporter go to a so-called pro-palestinian's page and attacked them for having a palestinian flag in their bio? NO.

Oh I’ve noticed. The amount of hate messages that I’ve seen pro pal people post on random Israel or Jewish blogs/social media pages (who are literally minding their own business) is ridiculous. I’ve heard that it’s really bad on TikTok. I guess a whole bunch of pro pal and anti Zionist people started spamming someone on TikTok (mind you- I don’t even think this person was even Jewish (I could be wrong)) about how she was silent on the whole I/p conflict. It got to the point where she deleted her account and maybe her other social media pages too due to the constant harassment. This whole thing is just really fucked up.

To be honest I have never seen Israelis/ Jews harass pro pal and anti Zionist pages. When there is disagreements happening- Israeli/jewish bloggers are polite when handling the pro pal and anti Zionist crowds. We stay on track on the argument/ we’re polite but not too kind (because we can only handle so much bull shit)/ we try to guide them to resources that backs up on what we are saying/etc… when I handle them (because they really love to start things with me lol) I did try to be kind to them, but obviously that did not work out. So I’ve stopped being kind- I’m polite. I’ll admit that I do have a mouth on me and cuss words so slip out (but in my defense- I was raised by a dad who had a mouth of a sailor- tbh he could make the sailor look like a saint- and a mom who was raised in both the city and country. Combine that together and you get me lol)

But for the pro pal and anti Zionist crowds it’s totally opposite… like holy crap- and I thought that the pro trump people were bat shit crazy. They are constantly stalking and harassing Israelis/jewish people and their social medias, creating lists, full on spewing antisemitic shit/ etc… they really do terrify me.

It’s really scary that they’ve ramped up their hate. With what’s been happening in college campuses all over the world. If anyone is still in college- please stay safe. Your safety comes first. If you don’t feel safe in an area please leave. If you don’t feel comfortable by yourself, ask someone to go with you. Make sure that you have your phone on you and that it’s charged. Take self defense classes if you can or even watch self defense videos (basic moves can and will save you if you are in danger). If you are going out- make sure you tell someone and even give them your gps location. Document everything too- just in case you need to fill out a police report (even if the police doesn’t do shit, creating a paper trail will help you out). If things gets really bad and you need to drop out of college or switch to online- do it. Don’t risk your health and safety when dealing with those fuckers. To those pro pal and anti Zionist crowds who are participating in these violent protests or see no issues with it- y’all need to fucking open your eyes. You are creating a dangerous atmosphere for everyone and making things really worse.

#jumblr #antisemitism #leftist antisemitism #fuck antisemitism #fuck hamas #anti zionism = antisemitism #to my jewish and Israeli friends #y’all are amazing #i love you #and please stay safe #to the pro pal and antizionist crowds #stop harassing Jews and Israelis #just fucking stop it #it’s not helping palastine #you are making things worse #y’all I’m so tired of this shit #the jews are tired #please leave us alone

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broflovski-brah · 1 month

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stop using kyle as leeway to talk politics. i know ive talked about this before but shit on this site just gets worse and worse. stop using him as a gateway for your political beliefs on the israel/palestine conflict. it doesn’t prove your point. targeting a fictional jewish 9 year old isn’t gonna make the war end so you might as well stop hurting actual people with your bigotry and go to twitter or something if you want to debate politics.

your posts and fanart using kyle as a mask for your opinions isn’t going to get the israeli government to be like “oh y’know what we should do? we should stop because this person on fucking tumblr says so’ like it’s not helping anybody. it’s hurting actual jewish people from what i can tell. send me all the anon hate you want. i don’t care. i can take it. but i’m sick of seeing this shit.

another thing i have a problem with is the fact that this fandom so desperately claims not to want tratt to make an episode based around this conflict, but i know that if they were to make an episode and didn’t portray israelis in the worst light imaginable this fandom will go ballistic because ‘it’s offensive to the palestinians’.

i’ll say this once and i’ll say it again. i absolutely do not under any circumstances support what israel is doing. i think that what is going on there is absolutely disgusting and words cannot comprehend how vile this situation is. however, you also can’t just look at what you want to look at. there is a lot of history between the two, stuff i am not yet qualified to talk about because i don’t feel like i know enough about it to say what i want to say. you also cannot just overlook october 7th. you cannot ignore what the people in israel went through as well.

with that little disclaimer out of the way, back to the topic at hand. south park has made so many offensive jokes. jokes about the holocaust, about sexual abuse, about political issues outside of this. and yet nobody cared. but i can absolutely tell that yall will go absolutely ballistic if tratt were to make an episode that didn’t show the israelis in the worst light they can. so why only care now? why isn’t anyone angry about the past jokes they’ve made? why isn’t anyone upset about that, but the moment anyone in this fandom talks about israel/palestine it’s always ‘censor israel because israel is bad and leave palestine because palestine is good’. like if we’re going by that logic why does nobody censor russia when they’re talking about it? (from what i can tell) why does nobody censor one side when talking about american politics? why is it just this one single conflict that people are so up in arms about censoring one party and not the other?

i do agree that a south park israel/palestine episode would be in horrible, horrible taste. i’m not saying like ‘oh let tratt make that happen because it would be funny’ no. it wouldn’t be funny. that’s absolutely not the case. however, if you guys are going to rant about why tratt airing a south park episode is bad, why do you turn around and ignore the fact that this fandom is actively making fanart and fanfics so they can talk about their political stances while using kyle as a puppet for said viewings?

i guess what i’m asking si where is the line. because form what i can gather, this fandom thinks it’s okay for people to make the most disgusting fanfics and fanart of kyle, tokenizing him and marginalizing him, but the moment someone mentions tratt making an episode it’s suddenly too far? in what world does that make sense? because i know yall don’t do your research beforehand. you just hear what you want to hear and say what you want to say. but the minute someone counters you with actual evidence you freak out. why is that?

(and again. i’m saying this now so i don’t get anyone thinking i don’t support free palestine. what is happening in palestine is vile and disgusting. it’s awful that this is happening, and i have been doing what i can to help out in the means of fundraisers and raising money. i don’t support what israel is currently doing. but i also don’t support october 7th, and i don’t condone the people who claim that people outside of the israeli government have anything to do with what israel is choosing to do just because they’re from israel or they are jewish. i am very anti genocide on both sides, obviously. and i do support free palestine whole heartedly. this post is simply made for the fandom because i’m so sick of seeing people get driven out of the fandom because of the way the fandom treats people like them. this goes for any fandom. not just south park, even though this is basically me ranting about that specific fandom.)

#south park #skipper speaks #kyle broflovski #israel #palestine #politics #(feel free to block the politics tag if it bothers you/you don’t want to look at stuff like this)#i feel like i should put a tw but i don’t know what it would be for

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neverwritewhatyouknow · 10 months

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Zionism is not welcome here no thx!!! Judaism is a religion and israel is occupying Palestinian land they are literally living in apartheid but sorry you don’t have your “representation” in a cringe amazon ya novel movie. Grow up.

Wowwwwww

Okay. First off, nope.

Secondly, no.

Third, this isn’t a blog for the I/P conflict and I’m not making it one. But let’s break down this anon’s post, shall we?

1. Where did I mention Zionism anywhere in my blog? Automatically attaching the conflict and the negative view of “Zionism” to Jews is antisemitic

2. Judaism is a religion, which is the only true thing in this entire ask. Being Jewish is also an ethnicity, a culture, a people with such a history going back since forever. The religion part, is simply a part of it all. Not even the biggest part.

3. “Let’s relate this to RWRB, why would a Jewish character from Vermont not be allowed on screen due to a century old (and longer) Middle Eastern issue? How does Nora impact that? She doesn’t. Warning: Satire and sarcasm to make a point, I don’t agree with the following: By your logic, anon, we can’t show Americans onscreen since they fully did commit genocide on indigenous tribes. Or wait, what about Christians and Catholics? We definitely can’t show them! They’ve been murdering people of all races and religions since the 0s, like hello, Spanish Inquisition? They also run the US government and things are shit. Guess we can’t have anyone even remotely attached to a possible negative past in a movie. Guess we’ll have to read more books. Jews are not a conflict happening in the Middle East. Jews are Jews.

4. Here’s why cutting Nora’s Jewishness out, and thereby the representation, is so harmful. You get stuff like this. Jews are not a middle eastern conflict! Jews are not the politics of a nation they may not even live in! Jews are not killing babies and drinking blood! Jews are fucking cool and because we so rarely ever get any cool Jewish representation, people never learn a thing about who we are.

I’m assuming this person came from the Jewish or jumblr tag, since they’re calling the book/movie cringe. But good to know they’ve read my stuff, right? Erasing powerful Jewish representation can kill Jews because people don’t get to see who Jews really are, and because of that, we’re villains at all times to everyone.

Yes, this is a real Ask I just got. Wow.

#rwrb movie #red white and royal blue #red white royal blue movie #rwrb cast #rwrb #red white and royal blue movie #casey mcquiston #red white royal blue cast #nora holleran #rachel hilson #Jewish #jumblr #why RWRB erasing Nora’s ethnicity is important

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lahooozaherr · 5 months

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I’m posting this here because I want to gather my thoughts on it somewhere but….

I do empathize with those who are pressuring celebs to say more. To an extent. There are celebs higher up on the “food chain” that would probably receive less consequences than others for speaking out (or not idk I could be wrong, it’s just my observation). But it’s obvious now that most of the time they’ve been receiving some kind of consequence and they’re not entirely immune to it.

I mainly empathize because when speaking out about this lately I’ve felt almost alone, like I’m screaming into a void. I know I’m not REALLY alone in it, especially on company I keep on social media. Also, with the way the media has been, suppression of Pro-Palestinian sentiment (suspecting this is happening on my insta), etc.

HOWEVER….

As I’ve seen similar opinions on here, I agree that we can’t rely on famous people to save us and do the work. Would having their voice help? Sure, but when they actually know what they’re talking about and not contributing to the cesspool of misinformation.

But that isn’t a reason to become complacent and not do our own work. Celebrities have always disappointed us and will continue to.

In regard to Pedro, we don’t know and we may never really know what his situation is. I don’t personally feel like it’s our business, like I do with all things in his personal life! As much as I love him, and even I hope someday we get to hear his voice on things again, he’s not going to save us. I’m not going to ride hard on celebs having exceptions, but they’re human as well and just as fallible. Although, I did want to point out that:

Pedro and his family were political refugees. I’d like to think (I’m not assuming or asserting either) that he has an idea of what he’s doing. We can’t act like he hasn’t been in these shoes somewhat before, or at least seen it through his parents.

He now has several siblings in spotlights and gaining notoriety aside from him. I’m sure he considers their safety just as much as any of us would with our own families.

He might also be very popular on the internet and wanted for all kinds of projects, but he doesn’t have the influence some prominent figures do. I’ve seen this factor pointed out in several posts as well. Pedro is definitely someone that isn’t immune to the backlash he could receive.

I understand with all of this, everything going on, is extremely difficult to witness and try to reconcile with on the inside. I know I’m probably just repeating what many have already said and fumbling over myself a little. I don’t (or at least no longer) subscribe to a lot of celeb culture and have learned to no longer look to them for things like this. It doesn’t make it any less frustrating when they don’t use their voices. But I just don’t think it’s that black and white. Although I usually err to not feel bad for rich people.

SO! With that being said, I’m feeling the pain as well. It’s been very difficult for me to learn how to mourn and feel like I’m not losing my mind over Gaza and how too many people are not treating it as serious as it is. Or don’t see how connected we all really are (nor do I ever assert that my pain could even compare to Palestinians and those with more proximity to the situation).

But we’re privileged with free speech ourselves (I say that with a shakey hand gesture in some cases). It’s our duty to use it for those who can’t and, if anything, especially when celebs or figures with more of a platform can’t or won’t.

I don’t think I’ll ever be able to properly describe the pain I know a lot of us feel over this. I understand how easy it is to react rather than respond, become angry (a lot of the anger in general is valid), to get wrapped up in the online politics over whose saying or not saying what.

But the best thing we can do about it is to do that work ourselves.

I’m lowkey nervously posting this because I don’t typically write up posts like this on here but I’m trying to move past that discomfort. I know it’s just another layer of white supremacy to not say or do anything for fear of not getting it right the first time. I’m sure there’s many good points against what I’ve said and I do my best to continue to be an “always evolving and learning” kind of person.

But just to bring it back to what I’m saying: we have free speech and can use it, and we should. Our words have power even when we don’t feel like they do. Maybe sometimes I empathize to my detriment (working on that lol) but I digress.

We can’t rely on celebs to do it all for us. ACTUALLY, we need that energy focused on our elected officials. Because if anything, this is an even BIGGER mask off moment for them. That’s a whole other problem I won’t get into on here, but still.

If you read this and write me off as just trying to justify silence for my fave celeb, then you’re allowed to have that opinion. If I’m ever proven wrong I have no problem owning up to that. I’m just not waiting around for them to say something before I do.

#angel rambles #I apologize in advance that this was longer than I originally meant for it lol

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schraubd · 1 year

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Rate That Apology, Part 12: Dan White

On April 5, at the onset of Passover, Labour Party leader Keir Starmer sent a message of welcome to the Jewish community: "Today I am sending my warmest wishes to members of the Jewish community as you prepare to celebrate the festival of Pesach. Chag Sameach."

Perfectly lovely, perfectly anodyne.

Replying to that tweet, Dan White, a journalist who claims to be a member of ITV's "diversity board", wrote to Starmer:

Did you see what happened at Al-Aqsa mosque while Palestinian worshippers are celebrating the holy month of Ramadan? Your silence is disgusting.

And now he's apologized:

Asked to explain his comments, White, told Jewish News: "I can only apologise for the ill timing of my tweet."

"I am not and never have been antisemitic."

"My response was not aimed at the community, but at the silence from all political parties around the conflict which is happening."

"I accept my response was badly timed, I can only apologise profoundly for it. My mental health sometimes makes snap decisions. As I said I am believer in peace, worldwide. I am sorry again for the ill timing and any offence."

Four paragraphs, all terrible. The pro forma "I am not antisemitic" is the usual level of eye rolling. Placing the blame on his "mental health" is accountability dodging (and for what it's worth, "mental health" doesn't make decisions. Dan White makes decisions, for which Dan White should learn to accept responsibility for).

However, I want to focus mostly on this framing of the problem as one of "timing". The tweet's problem was not "timing". If White had on April 5 just written a general message to the effect that Starmer or other British politicians are not paying sufficient attention to violence against Palestinian worshippers, and someone said "how dare you say something like this on the eve of Passover", that would be an objection about timing -- and an ill-taken one, since the fact that we're near the onset of Passover does not make it inappropriate to level commentary on violence occurring in Jerusalem right now.

But again, that's not the problem here. The problem is not when White wrote the tweet. It's where he did it -- in reply to an unrelated message of support for the British Jewish community in celebration of one of our holidays, having absolutely nothing to do with Israel whatsoever. The practice where anytime anyone talks about Jews in any context folks come swinging in with "what about Palestine?", is antisemitic per se, as much so as the Texas Republican who opposed a resolution honoring Muslims celebrating Ramadan because there are Muslim terrorists in Iraq.

If there's any saving grace for White, it's that the replies to Starmer's tweet are positively crawling with trolls saying much the same thing. Some consolation.

Grade: 2/10

via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/wSe8yXu

#anti-semitism #Israel #Jews #Keir Starmer #rate that apology #United Kingdom

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volixia669 · 1 year

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Standing Strong in Current Political Climate

Alright, I mostly try to keep this to silly fandom and tumblr stuff, but with everything going on politically, it’s time for a serious post. About reality, about politics, and about how we survive. This is going to be about transphobia, queerphobia, and genocide, so I’m giving fair warning.

Buckle up.

Now, this is going to primarily US-Centric, as that’s what I’m familiar with, but make no mistake. There has been an authoritarian rise worldwide.

The UK has been Tory central for the past decade.

Australia has been putting climate refugees into concentration camps.

Israel has been using the pandemic to increase efforts to wipe out Palestinians.

Italy’s Prime Minister is Mussolini’s granddaughter (she’s proud of that btw) and is increasing queerphobia.

Russia is trying to recreate the USSR only with no fake pretenses of Communism (it was authoritarianism) this time around.

And the United States? Well the Republicans have been playing the long game since Reagan, and most of the Democratic party is perfectly fine with fascism since it makes them richer.

All this while the Earth becomes unlivable, people starve, and more. Oh, and covid never went away.

So.

The situation is...bad. Let’s just say it’s bad. There also seems to be a target on queer folks moreso than Jewish folks this time around, most likely since the Holocaust made most people a little twitchy about targeting Jewish folks, though that’s not to say those in charge aren’t perfectly fine with killing Jews.

Anyone who doesn’t conform to a mold is at risk.

But.

The situation is not hopeless.

I know it’s easy to read all that and think we’re all fucked, but I promise you, there is hope.

People have been unionizing, and striking at their workplaces.

Time and again, polls show that more people support queer people than oppose.

Time and again, polls show that the extremist view is a minority.

CPAC? That was practically empty this year.

More and more people are making it clear they want policies that help people and they’re tired of policies that help corporations.

People want to help the planet, they want to help other people. They don’t want to mass murder the “outsider.”

So what can you do?

Well, it varies depending on who you are, and where you are. Are you in Canada? Then vote and push for progressive policies, rather than right wing ones. In particular, you can join the push to allow asylum seekers to claim dangerous levels of queerphobia as their reason. This would help so many. Folks in other countries, I would reccomend the same. (Also maybe do something about that law preventing disabled people from immigrating to your country? Yeah, it’s a thing in a lot of countries. And there’s a lot of disabled queer people.)

You can join protests, and help local politicians canvas.

Unfortunately I can’t provide much info on what to do if you’re in most countries where being queer is either criminalized or being criminalized.

If you’re in the US though...

First off, for my white readers, are you familiar with the term antiracism? No? I recommend reading Ibram Kendi’s How to Be Antiracist. There’s a lot of racism in queer circles and it needs to stop. The way we solve these issues is through intersectionality, which means listening when black queer folks speak up. Listen. Learn. Improve.

This is important, because I need folks to understand that black queer folks are far more likely to be arrested, or worse. The cops will target black drag queens before they target white ones. They’ll target black trans folks before they target white ones.

Because this country is built on racism, and racism plays a key part in how laws are policed.

I’m not saying be careless if you’re a white queer btw, but recognize the levels of oppression here, work on improving yourself, but also? Use other people’s racism to protect black queer folk.

Weird sentence, I know, but let me explain, as this actually came up during the 2020 protests.

Say you’re at a protest, and the cops show up. The cops will try to arrest, injure, and/or provoke the black people there. But. If you’re white, you can stand inbetween the cop and the black person. If you get a bunch of other white people to join you, you can create a wall protecting multiple black people. And while you and the other white people aren’t immune from being arrested, injured, and/or provoked by the cops, you and other white people are more likely to come away unscathed.

There’s a bunch of situations this is applicable btw. Just don’t get all “white savior” about it, understand there’s a whole lot of history behind why black people might be wary of you and that’s okay, and ensure black people have the space to speak.

Alrighty, long spiel targeted to one particular demographic over. As for other things to be done? Be aware of the bills being passed in your state. Protest what you can. Make plans for escape if you need to.

Remember these things when crafting your escape plan: -Where?: This will effect everything else. A handful of states have passed bills making them trans refuge states, however getting to them may not be easy. You’ll also need to consider potential support structures that are there. -When?: This will depend on factors like what bills are being passed, how likely you are to be effected, and more. If you’re able to, consider making this a “normal” move rather than a last minute escape. -Finances: If you need to leave at the drop of a hat, can you? Are there any places you can cut back to save money? Are there any organizations that can help you? What about jobs? -Ease of escape: If you’re not in a position where you can move over the course of a month or two, this is where you need to really consider what you need and what you can leave behind. Also attempt to tie up as many loose ends as possible, and reduce the amount of objects you own as much as you can. Having a “go bag” can be extremely helpful. -Transportation: Can you drive? Do you have a license? Is getting a license feasible for you? What transportation is needed to get to the safe zone? Depending on the bills passed, you may want to have multiple options at hand. Documents: Linking back to finances and the go bag. What are your important documents? Where are they? What might you need in a new place and/or to claim asylum? Do you have a passport? Do you have a REALID? Currently you can fly domestically without one, but that could change swiftly. Keep everything together in a fireproof lockbox, until you need to throw it in the go bag. Lots of things to consider, which is why it’s important to think of this stuff ahead of time.

But it’s not all about escaping. Are you in a position you can help folks? Great! Look into mutual aid groups, find out what’s needed and how you can best help people.

So. This lengthy post is all to say the situation is bad, and we need to plan like it’s bad. But that doesn’t mean it’s hopeless. There’s places to escape, there can be even more with increased effort. We can work together to ensure that people stay safe, while also protesting.

And while I used the word “strong” in the title, it’s more complicated than that. You don’t have to be a bulwark. You don’t have to be stone. You can cry, and you can show weakness. This is stressful.

WHich is why, I want to be clear, this will not resolve in a short period of time. This may take years. The bills are passing incredibly quickly, but the resulting fallout? That’s the unknown variable.

The human body is not built to be stressed for years.

It’s just not.

That means the best way to remain strong against the tide of hate, is to have moments of joy. Watch silly videos, play silly games with friends, create beautiful art! Cry! Express your stress, and sadness. Then hold that ember of anger close to your chest, letting it motivate you, but not letting it take over until the moment is right.

Be prepared, be aware, but do not let the stress overcome you. On top of the multitude of negative physical effects, it can lead to snapping at those you love, or jumping the gun too soon. It leads to bad decisions at times those can be deadly.

But by having those moments of joy, you will survive. You will survive the hatred. Together, with the rest of us.

#cw transphobia #cw politics #cw genocide #cw: systemic racism #not a completely negative post btw!#i discuss hope and what you can do

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bllsbailey · 17 days

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Dance Team Forced From Seattle Show Because Uniforms Were Offensive—They Depicted the American Flag

On Tuesday, I reported on the Seattle-area 11-year-old girl who wasn’t allowed to form a faith group even though her school welcomed a Pride group, a “Green” team, and many other clubs.

At This WA School, You Can Have a Pride Club, a Green Team—Just Not a Faith Group

Is it something in the water that turns so many residents of Washington into America-hating, left-wing zealots? The Evergreen State is once again in the news as the Borderline Dance Team was forced out of the Emerald City Hoedown in Seattle Saturday, not because their act was profane, not because they broke the rules—but because their uniforms depicted the American flag. Evidently, the symbol of our country is too much for these wokesters.

I’m guessing there wouldn’t have been a problem if the team wore Palestinian flags.

The women’s country line dance team posted to social media about their experience of being openly discriminated against:

"Unfortunately, what our team was met with upon arrival was that our flag tops were offensive to some of the convention goers," the post read. "There was a small group that felt ‘triggered and unsafe.'"

The post continued and explained the ridiculous series of events:

At first we were told we would just be boo’d, yelled at and likely many of them would walk out. This did not deter us. But then we were given an ultimatum. Remove the flag tops and perform in either street clothes (which most didn’t bring as they traveled there in their uniforms) or they would supply us with ECH shirts from years past… Or, don’t perform at all, which effectively was asking us to leave. We don’t speak for our team, we speak on behalf of them so the choice was theirs. As we knew would happen because there really was no choice in our minds, it was a unanimous NO.

Co-captain Lindsay Stamp appeared on the Seattle-based Jason Rantz radio show and said it was just a small group of snowflakes who succeeded in getting them banned and that they brought up the Israel-Hamas war and transgender issues. But the team doesn’t even promote political messages other than that they love our country.

Stamp told Rantz that members of the team were shocked after they spent only 30 minutes at the venue before they started receiving complaints, adding that the team is patriotic, but doesn't make statements about politics. "My team doesn’t take a political stance. We came to dance," she said. "We’re a patriotic group. We support our military, our veterans, our first responders. We’re a group of patriots."

Showing that this was not an isolated incident, another team—the West Coast Country Heat—was also forced out of the event because they too wore colors representing our union. The two teams banded together to defy the edicts and refused to appear, which Borderline said was “the greatest performance."

It’s amazing to me that patriotism is now controversial and a dirty word to some. Everything they’re able to say, everything they’re able to do, is because we live in the freest nation on earth. You think they’d allow this dance exhibition to be shown in Chechnya? Nope:

Chechnya Bans Fun: Music That Is 'Too Fast or Too Slow' Barred From Play

Think you could complain about the treatment of the LGBTQ “community” in Uganda? Nope:

Uganda's Constitutional Court Upholds Anti-Gay Law That Includes the Death Penalty

I often want to say to “activists” like these: you don’t like it? There are 194 other countries you could be living in—how ‘bout you go apartment hunting in one of them, and those of us who love America will stay put and keep an eye on things.

Just do us all a favor and don’t come back.

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softceleste · 3 months

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i don’t know how to deal with the fact that one of my favorite actors is completely ignoring the ongoing genocide. the implication of their silence and them not even deigning to share a call for a ceasefire is something I genuinely can’t get past. they haven’t even cleared the bar of doing the bare minimum and i’m finding it hard to imagine engaging with any media they’re a part of at this point.

i’m sorry to bother you with this message but the person i’m talking about is someone you also like and i didn’t know who else i could talk to about this. i deliberately left out any identifying information so as not to invite any weirdos to your blog should you choose to answer this. i can send their name in a separate ask if you wish. once again, sorry to bother you

Hey love! So from the get go, I just want to say you are absolutely not bothering me whatsoever, okay? I’m glad that you feel safe / comfortable enough to come talk to me about how you’re feeling, and honestly like... if people are weird in my anons, I’ll block them. You’re good!

I’ll also be honest that I’m still trying to navigate my feelings with this specific thing happening with a couple of my favorites too. Like on the one hand, I obviously prefer that they’re not actively calling for the deaths of Palestinians given how many horrible posts I've seen from celebs doing that, but on the other hand, being silent is frankly just enabling genocide at this point and I fail to see how anyone doesn’t see that. It’s part of why I’m frustrated with people who were posting daily at the beginning and hasn’t posted the entirety of 2024 about it as well currently, because like... right now it’s extremely important to keep posting. So I’m taking this case by case currently, and keeping an eye on the letters and stuff (because a lot of celebs are not posting zionist on IG to avoid being canceled rn and signing shit like the Biden letter, but on the flip side there’s been celebs I personally haven’t seen post yet, but I’ve seen photos of in the streets protesting for a ceasefire) right now, and in a lot of cases I’m leaning towards drop so you may see me drop more and more people as time goes on, but I’m gonna keep my eyes on stuff and see how it continues to go.

That being said, I got your anon about who we’re discussing and... yeah, so I kinda already have dropped her and decided to only post her when my friends tag me in stuff of hers for a variety of reasons (including realizing the sheer amount of vocal transphobes she follows and engages with, and not being able to think of a single time she has positively discussed the trans community) until I 100% decide how I feel about her - it may even end up being a 100% no reblog situation, we'll see after I sort out my feelings. But she did post in October, and I’ll put that post that IG story under the read more. I’ll be completely honest though, I wouldn’t expect any future posts from her, and between her closest friends politics / posts on the matter and what I know about the area she grew up in (because I have family who lives in the same town), I’m not sure we’d like any posts she’d make if she did decide to post about Palestine. Like it sucked dropping someone I was following/loved like a decade, but I'm trusting my gut on this one you know? Would rather listen to it and get proven wrong, than not and be proven right in this situation, personally 💕

Image Link (because I can't readmore it ??? yikes tumblr)

#answered #also on the subject I don't condone anyone giving this person's fans a hard time like everyone has their own limits and stuff #like especially my friends because god they all are dealing with enough shit in their personal lives and just be nice to other people ffs #but yeah um... i don't follow her anymore so if she posted anything else i have not seen it #but i don't get good vibes given what the person she shared from was posting around that time too like... jfc #edit: okay i'll also be honest @ my tags i'm also trying super hard to be... nice because I know I'm angry #and I haven't talked to my cousin-in-law (who's Palestinian) about celebs because frankly she's in mourning and there's way #bigger priorities then 'how do you feel about celebs who don't post' like... you know her family dying because of a fucking genocide #(so like... yeah I'll also admit I've got a bias here against people who aren't posting whoops)

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bouncehousemortgage · 6 months

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Do people think that political organizing happens out of thin air?? At the beginning of this most recent wave, I saw several people whining about what they hadn’t yet realized is BDS. They were saying, like, “boycotts don’t work unless they’re organized. The Montgomery bus boycott only worked because they were organized and ppl did this and that”

First of all, BDS is organized, you can go to their website and they’ll tell you how to get involved, you bumbling jackass. AND even if it wasn’t… YOU can get to work as a community organizer!

And then of course the people who say “well actually, some people are poor and disabled and live in food desert so they can’t participate in BDS”

Weren’t y’all just talking about the Montgomery bus boycotts??? Do you think that the disabled and elderly people who couldn’t just walk or drive were like “sorry guys, we can’t participate, we’re just going to keep taking the bus 🤷🏽‍♀️” NO, the community got involved and made sure people could get where they needed to go. So if there are people in your community who are poor and disabled and you live in a food desert, then you need to get together with them and the community to make sure people can get what they need without capitulating and giving up on the boycott.

Even if it’s not in service of BDS and the Palestinian cause, if you live in a food desert and/or there are poor and disabled people in your community, this is a good opportunity to see what you can do to help. And that doesn’t just mean begging your government to do something and then throwing your hands up and pretending you did your part. Get together and start a community garden, organize a schedule for people who are able to do so to go get groceries and necessities for everybody, organize a schedule for people who are able to do so to batch cook meals and distribute them to the community.

If you’re concerned about accessibility for disabled people and you’re airing that single vague grievance online to shut down conversations about walkable cities, then you need to also know that you can get involved in organizing to meet the accessibility needs of disabled people in your neighborhood. Work together to place benches in convenient locations, work together to put up ramps, work together to do what needs to be done.

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ihavebeesinmybrain · 6 months

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im so fucking sick of seeing posts of people trying to assert their moral superiority by talking about how they’re so appalled by people continuing to post normal content given what’s happening in gaza right now and how it’s so dystopian that folks are going to halloween parties while civilians are being bombed. like????? YEAH babes, we LIVE IN A DYSTOPIA. is this news to you???

this pressure for everyone to have something to say about every human rights issue, every political topic, every current event, every injustice is absurd. not every voice should be a part of these conversations. not everyone has the information and perspective to speak constructively on these issues and platforming their voices is only going to cause harm.

who does it serve when you sit around feeling guilty all day that you’re not the one being bombed? who does it serve for you to get on tiktok and post about how sad this is for *you*?

yes, we should never bury our heads in the sand and turn a blind eye. but it’s also unrealistic to expect everyone around the globe to stop their entire lives and spend every waking moment just ruminating on the tragedy of human suffering. there are absolutely actions we all can and should take. contacting representatives, donating if and when we’re able, educating the people in our lives who are falling victim to zionist propaganda, attending protests, building community in our own areas, sharing information and action items from the activists who have been doing this work since way before all of you self-righteous white guilt ridden motherfuckers showed up here. but doing those things doesn’t mean that we can’t do anything else.

real people’s death and suffering, a literal ethnic cleansing that is occurring in real time, is not your chance to prove to everyone online what a good person you are. like it’s actually disgusting the way people are using this crisis as an opportunity to virtue signal and posture as a hashtag ally.

and anyone who has actually been involved in activism and organizing will tell you that you CAN’T let these things consume you. you MUST take care of yourself. you can NOT wallow in secondhand suffering. because when you burn yourself out you can’t help anybody. that path leads straight to nihilism. the only purpose that serves is to waste your energy and feed your ego.

yes, we live in a dystopia. and if we sit around all day feeling sad about that, then the oppressive dystopic institutions responsible for atrocities like the genocide of palestinians are the only ones benefiting. it is revolutionary to love ourselves, to care for ourselves, to carve out joy for ourselves in a world that has been designed so that the ruling class and the powers that be can sit back and relax while they pick us off and profit off of our pain and oppression the entire time.

nothing i am saying here is new. it’s been said far more eloquently by so many people who came before me. but this just makes me so fucking mad. because when you hop on tiktok or twitter or what the fuck ever and rage post about how other people aren’t as empathetic as you?? all that tells me is that you’re someone who shows up when there’s a big injustice or crisis that everyone’s talking about and the rest of the time, *you* are burying your head in the sand. *you* are turning a blind eye. *you* are not consistently doing the work and fighting for collective liberation. because shit like this happens every fucking day. what is happening in gaza is not new. but it’s new to you, isn’t it? and you need everyone to see what a good person you are for caring so much? absolutely fuck off.

TAKE ACTION AND THEN TAKE CARE OF YOURSELF AND THEN TAKE ACTION AGAIN.

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nevermindirah · 3 years

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Non-Jewish friends, y’all might be wondering right now: Israel is doing clearly unacceptable shit to Palestinians. So, why are some Jews ardent Zionists, and why do some Jews seem to feel personally attacked by criticism of Israel?

A lot of (non-Palestinian) non-Jews have asked me where I stand on Israel/Palestine over the years, apropos of nothing, just because I’m Jewish. For the longest time I felt so stuck because I just didn’t know much about Israel/Palestine and what little I did know turned out to be largely misinformation and I felt so much pressure to say The Correct Thing That All Jews Should Say About This Issue. Obviously the violence Israel is committing against Palestinians is horrific and the interpersonal weirdness individual Jews might experience as people discuss Israel’s horrific violence doesn’t compare. I’m making this post as a small supplement to the important conversations going on about what Israel is doing to Palestinians in East Jerusalem, Gaza, and the West Bank, as well as Palestinian citizens of Israel and Palestinian refugees and their descendants living outside land Israel controls. I’m making this post because non-Jews might be feeling confused by conflicting messages about Zionism as either settler colonialism or Jewish self-determination. It sucks feeling like you have to choose only one oppressed group or another. It’s possible to support Palestinian liberation and Jewish liberation at the same time! Here’s some context that might help.

Palestinian friends will probably want to ignore this post, y’all shouldn’t have to deal with your oppressors’ feelings, and especially not right now.

Zionism is the ideology behind the devastating violence Israel is committing against Palestinians right now and has been committing against Palestinians since 1947-48. It’s heartbreaking and messy to talk about this reality, because Zionism originated as a strategy to protect Jews from antisemitism.

Any oppressed group can turn into oppressors under enough pressure, because humans are flawed. Jews fleeing antisemitism turning into Israelis ethnically cleansing Palestinians happened because Zionism is profoundly influenced by its time and place of origin: 19th century Europe.

Europe invented antisemitism, and basically every European country has done at least one very very bad structural antisemitism, like expelling all the country's Jews (the monarch and/or the church then stole all the wealth the expelled people had to leave behind), looking the other way when peasants murdered a bunch of Jews as an outlet for their frustration with the actual (non-Jewish) ruling class, banning Jews from owning property or holding certain jobs or being members of guilds etc, and of course the big horrific state-sponsored mass-murder operations the Inquisition and the Holocaust. From the 1790s through the 19th century different European governments emancipated their Jews, ie removed legal barriers to full citizenship and economic participation. But this didn't end antisemitism. Just like the legal improvements of the 19th and 20th centuries didn't end antiblackness in the United States.

Also happening in this time: nationalism swept Europe. From the French Revolution through the end of World War I, Europe’s predominant form of government transformed from multiethnic empires to nation-states, countries led by and for a particular ethnic group.

So this Austro-Hungarian dude Theodor Herzl came up with this idea for Jewish nationalism. Every other European ethnic group is getting their own country, so why not Jews? Maybe this is the solution to antisemitism! Maybe we’ll finally be safe if we just all move en masse out of Europe to a place that will take all of us and never expel us!

But also also happening in Europe and around the world in this time: European imperialism and white supremacist settler colonialism. Chattel slavery saw its height and then its end (legally, at least) during this era, but white supremacy entrenched itself across the planet in post-slavery economic practices and cultural imperialism as well as national and international laws.

I believe countries have a moral obligation to take in as many refugees as they can squeeze in. International law protecting refugees has evolved a lot over the past century, but we’re still devastatingly far from every refugee getting a safe place to call home, and the main reason for that is white supremacy. The Biden administration didn’t undo the Trump administration’s horrifically low cap on refugees until like last week and it’s because Democratic party leaders treat centrist white people as more valuable voters than the huge and growing numbers of people of color, immigrants, LGBT people, unmarried women, and working class people who want to vote for elected leaders who get that nobody’s free until we’re all free. Ahem. Back to the topic at hand, the US and many other countries turned away untold numbers of refugees fleeing the fucking Holocaust, so odds are slim they’d be more welcoming in less desperate times. Moving from places where Jews are an unwanted minority to places where Jews are still a minority and either still unwanted or little understood and unlikely to win revolutionary levels of support from a largely non-Jewish public seems like a bad plan.

In the mid to late 19th century, lots of Jews took the kernel of Zionism and ran with it in different directions. Maybe this ideology could mean Jewish cultural flourishing alongside stronger political/economic integration into the societies where we’re already living! Maybe it could mean a particular kind of socialism that advocates for the liberation of Jews both as Jews and as workers! Maybe it could mean a revitalization of Jewish religious practice both in Jerusalem where we have important heritage sites and everywhere we live across the world!

Eventually Herzl’s vision of Zionism won out over the others: Jewish nationalism in the sense of a Jewish nation-state, a country that has a Jewish demographic majority and/or that legally privileges Jews over non-Jews.

Problem is, if you want to do that, you have to find a piece of land on which to do it, and Earth was already a pretty crowded place a hundred years ago. Many locations were considered, and the one that ended up winning that debate was Palestine. Where a shit ton of people, mostly non-Jews, were already living. They were forming their own nationalist movement at the time: in the waning days of the Ottoman Empire they began to organize for local self-determination in Palestine.

The Herzl types who developed Zionism as an ideology and built institutions to advocate for and create a Jewish ethnostate in Palestine were a small subset of European Jews, mostly men, mostly with significant economic privilege within what Jews were able to achieve in their particular societies at the time. They were just as Orientalist as the non-Jews around them, just as antiblack, just as racist generally for all that Jews were (and sometimes still are) considered non-white in much of Europe. They had a cool idea (put a lot of effort into something that could protect Jews from antisemitism) floating in a bathtub full of shit, and they did practically nothing to protect the cool idea from absorbing that shit. Results of this include thinking about the millions of people already living in Palestine as if they were either like the rocks and the trees that will go with the flow and accept a new ruling class, or indistinct Arabs who would just leave for other Arab countries because what could be the difference — in the staggeringly small amount of time they considered the existing residents of Palestine at all.

This racist hand-waving extended to Zionist leaders’ attitudes about Jews outside Europe as well. White Jews in settler colonies like the US were largely anti-Zionist at the time (not wanting their own countries to accuse them of dual loyalty was a common reason) but European Zionist leaders took what help they could get from Jews in the US, South Africa, Australia, etc. Jews across the Middle East and North Africa, however, barely heard from Zionist leaders about any of this until Zionist militias had removed enough Palestinians from the land and it was time to repopulate it with whichever Jewish bodies were convenient. You might have heard "all the Arab countries expelled their Jews in 1948" but lots of first-person accounts tell a different story of Israel coercing Jews who’d lived securely for a long time in places like Morocco to immigrate to Israel and then confiscating their passports and forcing them to live on less-fertile land with fewer resources while serving as a buffer between Palestinians and European Jewish immigrants. Ella Shohat is the best-known writer on Israeli racism against non-European Jews and I strongly recommend Sephardim in Israel: Zionism from the Perspective of Its Jewish Victims as a starting point to learn more about this.

Which brings us to today. We still haven’t eradicated antisemitism, several European governments that did a lot of structural antisemitism they still haven’t made meaningful reparations for get to feel good about themselves for “giving the Jews a state” as if carving up the former Ottoman Empire was up to them and not the people who lived there, and millions of people across the world who previously either lived peacefully enough alongside Jews or hadn’t really thought about us much at all now have very valid reasons to be pissed at this country that claims it represents all of us.

Zionism was supposed to protect Jews from antisemitism. And Israel has saved Jewish lives! But if we hadn’t sunk the past 70+ years into an ethnostate we could’ve been putting that energy into other political and economic activity to create adequate international support for refugees while we work on ending root causes of refugee crises, like antisemitism, racism, climate change, and capitalism. Meanwhile Zionism has killed, maimed, incarcerated, stolen from, traumatized, and erased the history of millions of Palestinians just because they happened to be living on land that some dudes who had a lot more in common with Thomas Jefferson and Donald Trump than with you or me decided needed to be cleansed for a Jewish ethnostate.

White nationalists in the US love Israel because they want American Jews to go away. Fascist leaders across Europe love Israel for the same reason, so much so that Israel’s prime minister is buddy-buddy with Trump and the equivalent shitstains of several European far-right parties. And I don’t know what it’s like in other white supremacist countries that are close allies of Israel, but the overwhelming majority of Zionist lobbying that pushes the US to give so much aid to Israel comes from Evangelical Christians, because they believe all the Jews have to be in the Holy Land for Jesus to come back. No thanks.

This whole thing fucking sucks. Jews and Palestinians, like all human beings, deserve to be free. Many Jews are understandably afraid of what might happen next if Israel decided to give up on ethnonationalism, allow Palestinian refugees to return, make reparations, and establish a pluralistic democracy that represents and protects all its residents — will some Palestinians murder Jews in revenge? That’s genuinely fucking scary. And it’s genuinely fucking scary to be a Palestinian in Israel/Palestine, and has been for over 70 years. We’ve gotta do something different. I say that as a white person sitting on land stolen from Piscataway people who has thought in detail about what portion of my income would be reasonable for my government to tax in order to fund reparations for the descendants of enslaved people.

Ok. One final piece of context before I wrap this up.

Most Jewish institutions in the US are explicitly Zionist, teach children that Zionism is THE way to ensure Jewish safety, and increasingly tell non-Zionist Jews that we're unwelcome or even that we’re not “real” Jews. This comes in a context where it’s only been 76 years since the latest and most gruesome of several attempts to wipe our entire people off the face of the planet. If you grew up in that environment, you, too, might be jumpy about even hearing the words Zionism or Israel, let alone considering the devastation this ideology and country have caused Palestinians.

Jews have a right to exist. Jews have a millennia-old connection to this scrap of land in the Levant, and we have a right to access religiously and culturally important geographic landmarks. What we don't have a right to is murdering or expelling other people in order to make an ethnostate, on that land or any other. Zionism is settler colonialism, but it’s settler colonialism by and for people who have a valid need for protection from structural antisemitism, which means that it’s going to take a lot of messy empathy to undo. The members of my extended family who voted for Trump (non-Jews in my case, though Jared Kushner isn’t the only Jewish Trumpite) are afraid that ending white supremacy will demote them from a privileged class to equal footing with everyone else — that’s the kind of fear individuals work on in therapy, not the kind that’s reasonable for a whole society to prevent from happening. I and millions of Jews do deserve for whole societies to work hard to end antisemitism.

I would never and will never ask a Palestinian to gently request their liberation. But if you’re not Palestinian, and you’ve got a little extra empathy to spare this week, I ask you to remember what I’ve shared here when interacting with Jews about Israel/Palestine.

If you’re a fellow Jew reading this and you feel like Israel is the only way to guarantee our safety, all I ask of you is to sit with the idea that what Israel is doing to Palestinians is too high a cost for safety that’s still not guaranteed, and start to imagine real-world ways we can protect our people from antisemitism without an ethnostate.

I made this post for people who know me (or know of me I guess?) in Old Guard and Cap fandom, despite my better judgment, because talking about Jewish Booker and Jewish Bucky and Jewish Natasha makes me so happy and I think some of the people I love on these characters with might appreciate this perspective. I didn’t provide any links in this post on purpose (to decrease its usefulness, so fewer people will reblog it) because the risk of anon hate when talking about Zionism outside my immediate fandom circles is so high. You’re welcome to reblog this post if you find it helpful! Unless you’re not within a few concentric circles of me, in which case, maybe don’t? If seeing this post makes you want to send me anon hate, no need: many people who share your perspective have already done so on Twitter.

Reliable sources on all this info are a few googles away, and I apologize for the things I know I oversimplified as well as any things I might have misremembered. I’m an American who’s never lived in Israel/Palestine who is posting this on my fandom blog.

TL;DR: This is a short ‘n pithy post about the same idea.

TL;DR, fandom edition: The shortest distillation of this anti-Zionist Jew’s feelings on the matter can be found in segment 4 of Five Times Booker Got Wasted on Purim and One Time He Didn’t.

#palestinian liberation #hi i'm an antizionist jew no i don't really want to talk about it #and yet #here we are #long post #mine #antisemitism #settler colonialism #racism #european imperialism #genocide cw

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