Dr. Rahmeh Aladwan is facing persecution and prosecution in the UK https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c5y91dvn7g1o

This isn't about her or policing her speech, this is about us. Her tweet is a perfect example of the discussion I wish to bring up.

Semitism, the idea that there is an Ethnic component to Judaism is contested, but it is a key component of Jewish Zionism (as opposed to Christian Zionism). And many Anti-Zionists, especially in Socialist, Communist, Palestinian, and other Arab circles, demand not only that Jews dismantle Zionism, but also Semitism.

This opposition to Semitism is not the same Jew-Hatred (Judenhass, Judeophobia), it does not demand our deaths, or seek to kill us. It is however often assimilationist, demanding that Jews cease to identify as people group, and place themselves solely in whatever host nation or culture we reside. Some positions seeks our elimination through conformity, such as Lenin laid out in his letters The Position of the Bund in the Party and The Nationalist Bogey of 'Assimilation'.

For many Palestinians, Jewish Semitism (Also called Israelism) posses an existential threat. If Zionism is defeated now, what assurance is there that it won't return? Zionism has many parents, and while western imperial capitalism is it's ally, proto-Zionism remains present even within anti-Zionist Jewish religious and cultural practice. For some, like Dr. Aladwan, as long as the concept of the Children of Israel remain, then there will always be someone who takes this idea to the political sphere, and demands the recreation of Israel.

And so the question is simple;

Is Semitism compatible with Anti-Zionism?

• If it isn't, then to what lengths must we go to end it?
• And if it is compatible, then how do we advocate for ourselves within the Anti-Zionist movement?

I want to be very clear here. The "Don't worry about it, it can't hurt you" is an answer taken from a position of privilege or power. Jews have earned that position by becoming members of Colonial and Imperial societies. Millions have been ethnically cleansed and enslaved, and it created a society where Jews in Brooklyn live free. The freedoms we have now are also in response to the ethnic cleansing of nearly 80% of European Jewry through genocide and assimilationism. Anti-Zionist Jews were persecuted in Western society for their communism, but Jewish Communists across anti-colonial and anti-capitalist societies were suppressed and persecuted for being Jews. It can and has hurt us, especially when we fight to deconstruct the very systems that have privileged us.

I’ve been blocking like crazy on Facebook. I will sometimes read the comments on the non-genocidal posts and the comments are truly shocking. The Israel/Palestine sub is terrible along with the mainstream Jewish subs. However, IRL no one really talks about it anymore. People don’t post about it on Facebook and no one discusses it in person. The fact that people don’t talk about it anymore gives me hope.

But do those terrible posts represent the consensus of American Jews?

This post facebook put on my feed claims that JVP is a conspiratorial counterrevolutionary org intended as controlled opposition, to dampen the reach of Palestinian orgs by "making sure that the discourse of the oppressed is defined by the oppressor's sensitivities".

I've heard similar things in the past from at least one streamer; Has this perspective already been discussed here?

I'm kind of wondering if this is itself advanced Hasbara designed to fracture the movement by cleaving away Jews who are operating in solidarity with Palestinians

I've been thinking a lot lately about how much I yearn for Jewish community.

I'm in India, where the Jewish population is already very small, and finding Jewish people who share my particular combination of interests and politics is... well, fucking difficult. 😂

I'm a Jew-to-be who is non-binary, polyamorous, sapphic, anti-Zionist, anti-imperialist and a Maoist. I also genuinely love Jewish religious and cultural life - Tanakh, Biblical Hebrew, liturgy, Shabbat, Jewish history, philosophy, minhagim, all of it.

Sometimes it feels like all these parts of me exist in completely separate worlds.

I would love to have a community where I could simply be all of these things at once. Somewhere I could study Torah and Tanakh with other people, observe Shabbat, talk about Jewish history and culture, argue about theology, share poetry and music, make jokes and memes, talk politics, and just... make friends. A space where being queer and sapphic isn't something unusual, and where being Jewish doesn't automatically mean accomodating Zionism.

I'd love for it to include non-Jews too - especially people who genuinely care about Jewish culture, Palestinian national liberation, anti-imperialism, queer liberation, socialism, or who simply want to learn and participate respectfully.

Living where I do, I suspect an online community may be the most realistic way for me to find these people. Sometimes I daydream about a little online kehilla scattered across different countries: people meeting for Shabbat over video calls, studying texts together, arguing about theology and politics, sharing recipes and music, supporting one another, and eventually maybe meeting IRL.

I don't necessarily need hundreds of people. Honestly, I'd be happy to find a handful of people who understand what the fuck I'm talking about.

I suppose I'm posting this because I want to know whether anyone else feels this way. Are there already online communities like this? If not, would anyone else be interested in building one?

Because sometimes I don't want to feel like I'm searching for my people across an ocean, I want to find my people.

​

https://www.gofundme.com/f/help-my-daughters-help-my-small-family

What they are able to do may seem small, but they are trying with all their hearts. Because to them, seeing a child smile is worth so much. 🥹❤️

Today, they tried to bring some joy to the children and give them a little break from all the difficult things they have been going through.

Please stay close to Mahmoud and his family and support them. Your support isn’t just about helping them get by — it also helps them create little moments of happiness for their children and other children around them.

They truly need your support. ❤️

Together, we can help them do more and bring smiles to more children. 🙏❤️

The plan in Israel is obviously to reduce the need to employ Palestinian workers in Israeli industries. Thus it decreases Palestinians' income and reduces their great leverage in their labor power.

They try to replace it with....a racist and abusive kafala-like system of importing migrant labor, which is not so easy and productive. Other states in the region rely on importing and exploiting migrant labor, but they make up such a vastly greater part of their populations than in Israel. Sometimes slavery hasn't even been as economically beneficial as had once seemed.

Im an arab woman who met my ashkenazi Jewish friend in college. Im an athiest and my family in the west bank / jordan / lebanon is Greek Orthodox christian. This has confused her for ten years and she thinks im muslim (to this day!) no matter how many times i correct her.

I know she grew up with some indoctrination and did the whole birthright thing. When trump came into office she was worried about America colonizing israel. I gently tried to tell her of the apartheid. She came to stay at my house and she told me I should visit israel, i told her it would not be safe for ME. She said “oh because the war with pakistan”.

At this moment I give up. She is a good person and I know I am her token friend. Its been ten years.

She makes condescending statements like even though she is Jewish and im muslim (im not muslim), we can get along and have so much in common.

My family is moving to Spain. She asked why. I told her its because spain donates money to gaza. She said its a weird time to be jewish now.

I feel confused, dehumanized and heartbroken. I blocked her and decided to end this “friendship “.

Am I an asshole?

Thanks

I know most Israelis' think he is an extremist and should be ostracized from polite society.

To be fair this isn't his worst character flaw that would be his anti-Arab and anti-African (many of whom are refugees from the Sudanese genocide) racism and cruelty against them but holy moly he is a pedo and a bad employer.

Completely insane. $100 million budget deficit. Willing to cut public services for its own people like city busses people need to get to work snd their doctor for this corrupt and derelict group of "leaders" to fund campaigns of genocide, ethnic cleansing, and wars against their own interests.

Somebody tell them its a bad investment, you got your own people to serve, and you are wiping your hands in blood

Maybe they are trying to keep pace with their fellow soflo county home of Trump of Palm beach which holds an astonishing $150 million of Israeli bonds.

I can tell you public services, local infrastructure and civic trust are in dire shape down here. But they decide to waste money in crimes against humanity!!

A sliver of good news from down under.