nachtwaechterin

[nachtwaechterin]

Someone on Reddit made the mistake of saying, "Teach me how this conflict came about" where I could see it.

Let me teach you too.

The common perception is that Jews came out of nowhere, stole Palestinian homes and kicked Palestinians out of them, and then bombed them for 75 years, until they finally rebelled in the form of Hamas invading Israel and massacring 22 towns in one day.

The historical reality is that Jews have lived there continuously for at least 3500 years.

There are areas, like Meggido iirc, with archeological evidence of continuous habitation for 7,000 years, but Jewish culture as we recognize it today didn't develop until probably halfway through that.

Ethnic Jews are the indigenous people of this area.

Indigeneity means a group was originally there, before any colonization happened, and that it has retained a cultural connection to the land. History plus culture.

That's what Jews have: even when the diaspora became larger than the number of Jews in Israel, the yearning to return to that homeland was a daily part of Jewish prayer and ritual.

The Jewish community in Israel was crushed pretty violently by the Roman Empire in 135 CE, but it was still substantial, sometimes even the majority population there, for almost a thousand years.

The 600s CE brought the advent of Islam and the Arab Empire, expanding out from Saudi Arabia into Israel and beyond. It was largely a region where Jews were second-class citizens. But it was still WAY better than the way Christian Europe treated Jews.

From the 700s-900s, the area saw repeated civil wars, plagues, and earthquakes.

Then the Crusades came, with waves of Christians making "pilgrimages to the Holy Land" and trying to conquer it from Muslims and Jews, who they slaughtered and enslaved.

Israel became pretty well depopulated after all that. It was a very rough time to live there. (And for the curious, I'm calling it Israel because that's what it had been for centuries, until the Romans erased the name and the country.)

By the 1800s, the TOTAL population of what's now Israel and Palestine had varied from 150,000 - 275,000 for centuries. It was very rural, very sparsely populated, on top of being mostly desert.

In the 1880s, Jews started buying land and moving back to their indigenous homeland. As tends to happen, immigration brought new projects and opportunities, which led to more immigration - not only from Jews, but from the Arab world as well.

Unfortunately, there was an antisemitic minority spearheaded by Amin al-Husseini. Who was very well-connected, rich, and from a politically powerful family.

Al-Husseini had enthusiastically participated in the Armenian Genocide under the Ottoman Empire. Then the Empire fell in World War One, and the League of Nations had to figure out what to do with its land.

Mostly, if an area was essentially operating as a country (e.g. Turkey), the League of Nations let it be one. In areas that weren't ready for self-rule, it appointed France or Britain to help them get there.

In recognition of the increased Jewish population in their traditional, indigenous homeland, it declared that that homeland would again become Israel.

As in, the region was casually called Palestine because that was the lay term for "the Holy Land." It had not been a country since Israel was stamped out; only a region of a series of different empires. And the Mandate For Palestine said it was establishing "a national home of the Jewish people" there, in recognition of "the historical connection of the Jewish people with Palestine and to the grounds for reconstituting their national home in that country."

Britain was appointed to help the Arab and Jewish communities there develop systems of self-government, and then to work together to govern the region overall.

At least, that was the plan.

Al-Husseini, who was deeply antisemitic, did not like this plan.

And, extra-unfortunately, the British response to al-Husseini inciting violent anti-Jewish riots was to put him in a leadership role over Arab Palestine.

They thought it would calm him down and perhaps satisfy him.

They were very wrong.

He went on to become a huge Hitler fanboy, and then a Nazi war criminal. He co-created the Muslim Brotherhood - which Hamas is part of - with fellow fascist fanboy Hassan al-Banna.

He got Nazi Party funding for armed Muslim Brotherhood militias to attack Jews and the Brits in the late 30s, convincing Britain to agree to limit Jewish immigration at the time when it was most desperately needed.

He started using the militias again in 1947, when the United Nations voted to divide the mandated land into a Jewish homeland and a Palestinian one.

Al-Husseini wouldn't stand for a two-state solution. He was determined to tolerate no more than the subdued, small Jewish minority of second-class citizens that he remembered from his childhood.

As armed militias increasingly ran riot, the Arab middle and upper classes increasingly left. About 100,000 left the country before May 1948, when Britain was to pull out, leaving Israel and Palestine to declare their independence.

The surrounding nations didn't want war. They largely accepted the two-state solution.

But al-Husseini lobbied HARD. And by mobilizing the Muslim Brotherhood to provide "destabilizing mass demonstrations and a murderous campaign of intimidation," he got the Arab League nations to agree to invade, en masse, as soon as Britain left.

About 600,000 Arabs fled to those countries during the ensuing war.

Jews couldn't seek refuge there; in fact, most of those countries either exiled their Jews directly, confiscating their property first, or else made Jewish life unlivable and exploited them for underpaid or slave labor for years first.

By the time the smoke cleared and a peace treaty was signed, most of the Arab Palestinian community had fled; there was no Arab Palestinian leadership; many of the refugees' homes and businesses had left had been destroyed in the war; and Israel had been flooded with nearly a million refugees from the Arab League countries and the Holocaust - even more people than had fled the war.

That was the Nakba. The one that gets portrayed as "750,000 Palestinians fled or were expelled!" in the hope that you'll assume they were expelled en masse, their beautiful intact homes all stolen.

Egypt had taken what's now the Gaza Strip in that war, and Jordan took what's now the West Bank - expelling or killing all the Jews in it first.

(Ironically, Jordan was originally supposed to be part of Israel. Britain, inexplicably, cut off what would have been 75% of its land to create Jordan.

Even more inexplicably, nobody ever talks about it. I've never seen anyone complain that Jordan was stolen from Palestinians. Possibly because Jordan is also the only country that gave Palestinian refugees full citizenship, and it's about half Palestinian now.

Israel is nearly 25% Arab Palestinians with full citizenship and equal rights, so it's not all that different -- but the fundamental difference of living in a country where the majority is Jewish, not Muslim, probably runs pretty deep.)

Anyway: that's why Palestine is Gaza and the West Bank, rather than being some contiguous chunk of land. Or being the land set aside by the U.N. in 1947.

Because Arab countries took that land in 1948, and treated them as essentially separate for 20 years.

Israel got them back, along with the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula, in the next war: 1967, when Egypt committed an act of war by taking control of the waterways and barring Israel from them. It gave the Sinai back to Egypt as part of the 1979 peace accords between Egypt and Israel.

Israel tried to give back the Gaza Strip at the same time. Egypt refused.

Palestine finally declared independence in 1988.

But Hamas formed at about the same time. Probably in response, in fact. Hamas is fundamentally opposed to peace negotiations with Israel.

Again: Hamas is part of a group founded by Nazis.

Hamas has its own charter. It explains that Jews are "the enemy," because they control the drug trade, have been behind every major war, control the media, control the United Nations, etc. Basic Nazi rhetoric.

It has gotten adept at masking that rhetoric for the West. But to friendlier audiences, its leaders have consistently said things like, "People of Jerusalem, we want you to cut off the heads of the Jews with knives. With your hand, cut their artery from here. A knife costs five shekels.  Buy a knife, sharpen it, put it there, and just cut off [their heads]. It costs just five shekels."

(Palestinians were outraged by this speech. Palestinians, by and large, absolutely loathe Hamas.

It's just that it's not the same to say that to locals, as it is to say it where major global powers who oppose this crap can hear you.)

Hamas has stated from the beginning that its mission is to violently destroy Israel and take over the land.

It has received $100M in military funding annually, from Iran, for several years. Because Iran has been building a network of fascist, antisemitic groups across the Middle East, in a blatant attempt to control more and more of it: Hezbollah in Lebanon. The Houthis in Yemen.

Iran has been run by a very far-right, deeply antisemitic dictatorship for decades now, which pretty openly wants to take down both Israel and the U.S.

Last year, Iran increased Hamas's funding to $350M.

The "proof of concept" invasion of Israel that Hamas pulled off on October 7th more than justifies a much bigger investment.

Hamas has publicly stated its intention to attack "again and again and again," until Israel has been violently destroyed.

That is how this conflict came about.

A Nazi group seized power in Gaza in 2007 by violently kicking the Palestinian government out, and began running it as a dictatorship, using it to build money and power in preparations for exactly this.

And people find it shockingly easy to believe its own hype about being "the Palestinian resistance."

As well as its propaganda that Israel is not actually targeting Hamas: it's just using a literal Nazi invasion and massacre as an excuse to randomly commit genocide of the fraction of Palestine it physically left 20 years ago.

Despite the fact that Palestinians in Gaza have been protesting HAMAS throughout the war.

[nachtwaechterin]

I dont know who the hell the B stands for but god its disgusting that you ship anyone with Dib. Thats a whole ass child, freak. Wanted to follow for the Pokemon content but you're out here shipping whatever the fuck badr is. Dont fucking ship the kids with irkens jesus christ

HUH????? BADR IS MY NAME ITS A NAME IN ARABIC I DON’T EVEN WATCH ZIM DUGDHBCHBVHJVFH WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU ON

[nachtwaechterin]

how to draw arms ? ? 

[nachtwaechterin]

who’s gonna tell tumblr that executive dysfunction is more than Not Doing Things?

[nachtwaechterin]

pleaaaaaase y'all the process of having a manufacturing facility declared kosher has nothing to do with a rabbi blessing the food

pleaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaase stop

you can literally google what is required

[nachtwaechterin]

I deeply need for non Jews to be able to ask themselves the question "what if my understanding of the war between Israel and Hamas/hezbollah is fundamentally wrong?"

My point here isn't to say that your view is fundamentally wrong despite the fact that I personally believe it is. Put my personal beliefs and your beef with it aside for just one second and humour me.

My point is that if you believe in something strongly and believe your view has integrity and good structure, then making an honest attempt to look at it from an entirely different perspective won't shake it at all. You'll come back being like "okay I still have the same beliefs but now I understand how the other side(s) think." Which, hint hint, improves your ability to debate with and persuade people with perspectives that differ from your own.

I think some of you know that if you actually genuinely allowed your view on the war to be challenged and reevaluated, you'd have to admit that you were wrong, and that terrifies you. Embrace that terror, and hey if you were right to begin with, a genuine research venture into other perspectives won't change that.

And maybe if you do open your minds and find your understanding being shifted, us Jews, Zionist, nonzionist and antizionist alike, will have less antisemitism to deal with. That'd be nice. Personally, I'm tired.

Edit follow up thought: it's like the scientific method. How can you be sure that you're right if you haven't made an effort to try prove yourself wrong first?

[nachtwaechterin]

I have a lot of Jewish and Jumblr/antisemetic breakdown posts pop up on my dash (as I am in the process of converting to Judaism) and your reblog regarding being related to Nazis came up.

You cannot help who your relatives are, and I can't even begin to understand how much work you have done to help you cope and heal.

I am sorry your relatives felt that way. I hope you have a lovely day. Your kindness does more than their hatred.

Your message is incredibly kind. It had me tearing up a little every time I read it. Thank you very much!

It is kinda hard to talk about because, obviously, I'm not who the focus should be on, so it feels weird to even acknowledge that it has been a struggle to come to terms with that heritage and how to deal with it. In Germany, particularly in my generation but also in my parents', the sentiment has always been "that's in the past", and all the literal nazi memorabilia has been left in some cupboard to rot away, best forgotten and never to be thought about.

I've been the same for many years, particularly in school (I graduated 15 years ago, so it's been a while), and that kind of thinking is so ingrained in German culture that there was really no one to challenge that. It's not that the Holocaust isn't acknowledged (Holocaust denial is actually against the law in Germany), it's just that the sentiment is "We've dealt with it, it's in the past now, so don't bother us with it anymore." (This sentiment stands in stark contrast to the official stance and outward portrayal of Germany, where anniversaries and remembrance days are honored by high-ranking politicians. It's like cognitive dissonance but for a whole country.)

But I think what the majority of Germans probably don't realize is that it's not in the past. For Jews, the Holocaust is still present. They are still mourning the people who have been taken from them, who can no longer join them for Shabbat or in Synagoge, and who don't get to see their children and grandchildren grow up. Whose children and grandchildren don't get to grow up with them. There are still voids in Jewish communities where entire families should have been but aren't.

And I don't think we (collectively, Germans, Germany) should put the Holocaust so callously behind us when our victims are still suffering.

I've really been struggling with putting my feelings into words, which is why it has taken me so long to write this.

It's not that I think that the guilt of the perpetrators who actively committed the atrocities or gave the orders for them is passed down to later generations; no more than a child of a serial killer is guilty of the crimes of their parent.

(Continuing this months later after it sat in my drafts for forever DX)

I don't think that as long as the only thing keeping Jews safe in Germany is a steel door and literal Nazis are able to be elected into parliament, Germany gets to put the Holocaust behind it. The average German is, at best, apathetic to the antisemitism still taking place and, at worst, wishing we'd never lost the war.

Maybe if there had been more of an effort to de-nazify Germany and it hadn't just petered out to the point where a former NSDAP member was able to become chancellor (and many, many more just continued their political careers in different parties), I wouldn't feel like no one has actually taken responsibility, like that monstrosity Judenhass that gave rise to Nazi Germany isn't still festering just under the surface of German society.

That's the responsibility I feel I need to take. I am not going to say "It's in the past" when I have my grandmother's "Certification of Arian heritage" in my possession, and she only died last year. I might not be able to do much, but I can do that.

[nachtwaechterin]

[nachtwaechterin]

[nachtwaechterin]

facts. 🖕🖕🖕 to those claiming genocide so you can delegitimize jewish suffering, indigeneity, and agency.

[nachtwaechterin]

If you want to be an ally to the Jewish people, you’d better be ready to fight the antisemitism faced by all Jews.

Zionist Jews. Anti- and non-Zionist Jews. Observant Jews. Secular Jews. Reform Jews. Conservative Jews. Orthodox Jews. Israeli Jews. Ashkenazi Jews. Sephardic Jews. Mizrahi Jews. Beta Israeli Jews. Desi Jews. Convert Jews. White-passing Jews. Jews of color. Visibly-Jewish Jews. Queer Jews. Left-wing Jews. Right-wing Jews. Patrilineal Jews.

We are one people, and if you only fight antisemitism when it targets the Jews you like, you’re not actually an ally of the Jewish people.

[nachtwaechterin]

Have you ever asked yourself: “What does the skunk say?” unmute to find out

[nachtwaechterin]

i kind of hate the concept that all disenfranchised people or people in places disproportionately affected by poverty or colonization etc are all “secret leftists” does anyone get what i’m saying

[nachtwaechterin]

It's really sick and sad that a lot of people who claim to be "Pro-Palestinian" are essentially screaming at Israel, "Why aren't you killing more Palestinians so we can hate you for it!?"

[nachtwaechterin]

i hate when people comment on like an edit of something, and is just like “am i the only one who hates this/doesn’t ship this” like obviously not! unless the ship is illegal or the character is obviously a horrible person don’t comment on something. like you’re entitled to your own opinion but for the love of all things holy let people have fun! ships are fun!

[nachtwaechterin]

Bleep bloop

have you considered: bloop bleep?

[nachtwaechterin]

Why are U gae

bc u r gae