#Arab ethnostates

[aestariiwilderness]

Not to mention that Israel doesn't maintain "ethno-supremacy" or whatever term is being made up today. :D There are more than 2 million Arab-Israelis living in Israel -- the largest ethnic minority of the tiny nation, composing 21.1% of the population of Israel and growing all the time (as was Gaza's population, by the way). If Israel had meant to be "apartheid", or to conduct "ethnic cleansings" by dint of having a wall up (after lots of rockets and attacks were fired and carried out from, um, the other side of that wall)...you'd think they'd do a better job of it. Hard to say you're being genocided when your population is growing. That's not to say that there isn't actual ethnic cleansing going on! For example, there are many surrounding Arab "ethno-states" with specific actual "ethno-supremacy" policies (largely aimed at Jews, but also at Druze, etc.) that continue blithely unchallenged by so-called human rights champions. I believe one such country has one (1) actual confirmed Jew living in it. One. Down from a much larger number.

Don't believe me? Don't believe the sources below? Go to Israel. Look at how their population lives. Ask the Arab LGBTQ community about how they regularly escaped to Israel so they didn't get persecuted or outright murdered at home. Ask the Arab-Israelis how they feel about Israel. Ask the Druze in Golan Heights -- regularly preyed on by Hamas and Arab "ethno-states" -- how they feel about Hezbollah/Hamas after they publicly rejoiced when their rocket hit a soccer field and blew up the Druze's children as they played a game. If you're not sure you understand something, or if you haven't done any of the research on it yourself, I would recommend not making any claims about an issue until you have done your due diligence on it and you can "show your work". SOURCES

Do Arab-Israelis Stand with Israel? | Ami on the Loose  

https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/israels-arab-minority-feels-closer-country-war-poll-finds-2023-11-10/

https://www.tumblr.com/humusboii2thereturnoftheking/745396320236371968?source=share (Actual Concentration Camps/Open Air Prisons vs. Gaza) 

https://www.tumblr.com/ceatadeiarna/755826788596334592/israel-literally-is-an-ethnostate-though-they?source=share https://www.tumblr.com/abirbable/753656790793715712?source=share (Israel still no apartheid, sources) https://www.enjc.org/images/Documents/EdinburghProfessor.pdf (Dennis McEoin Letter) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wkvaxLaIsG0 ("Sophia Khalifa: My Life in Israel as an Arab-Muslim") https://www.wsj.com/articles/theres-apartheid-in-the-holy-land-but-not-in-israel-amnesty-international-palestine-racial-discrimination-disfavored-group-11644338888 https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4343950

https://www.tumblr.com/sillyapricotbasketballlight/756696957713629184?source=share

https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/state-of-palestine-population/ (source for above) 

Gaza Strip - Statistics & Facts | Statista (highly suspect, also PCBS which is out and out rewriting history): State of Palestine Demographics 2023 (Population, Age, Sex, Trends) - Worldometer (*NOTE: "Palestine" has never existed as an actual country -- look for its anthem, founding date, etc. It was actually, up until 1948 or so, used as a blanket term for Jews/that general region themselves/itself. Arabs disdained being called "Palestinian" -- which to them meant "Jews". Until Israel was established and the Jews were able again to identify with their ancestral homeland, this was the case.)

https://www.tumblr.com/the-garbanzo-annex-jr/754649195420516352?source=share (Long 

thread, has sources, original source - https://x.com/adesnik/status/1806714147737829774)

https://www.tumblr.com/girlactionfigure/756170583452106752?source=share (COGAT Online graphic, aid going into Gaza)

https://www.tumblr.com/ceatadeiarna/758159793398628352?source=share Israel still not colonizing 

 https://x.com/HilzFuld/status/1820685732643578047

https://www.icj-cij.org/sites/default/files/case-related/186/186-20240719-adv-01-02-en.pdf (original dissenting opinion, complete with sources and index)

Keep Digging: How Archaeology Debunks the Israel ‘Colonizers’ Libel | HonestReporting

**https://www.irb-cisr.gc.ca/en/country-information/rir/Pages/index.aspx?doc=457658 https://www.haaretz.com/opinion/2024-05-16/ty-article-opinion/.premium/to-my-black-and-queer-friends-in-america-justifying-hamas-see-me-too/0000018f-810f-d430-a38f-c5ef07000000 'You don't know Hamas': What gay Israelis think about anti-Israel protests

https://www.tumblr.com/a-very-tired-jew/753639563482841088/another-colleague-conversation?source=share (Al Jazeera/Hamas media conspiracy with sources) The Hamas Network in America: A Short History

https://www.tumblr.com/girlactionfigure/754435277275217920?source=share  (All the lies they've been repeating) https://www.tumblr.com/freegazafromhamas/750657200835411968?source=share (long post)

https://www.tumblr.com/sole-e-acqua/757291490719432704/yeah-he-seems-perfectly-objectivedefinitely?source=share

https://www.tumblr.com/iloveisrael/755906938598014976?source=share (Hamas killing Bedouins; Lebanon committing literal apartheid; 13 Christians killed every day) 

https://t.me/beholdisraelchannel/34085 (the reality of women in Iran) https://www.tumblr.com/freegazafromhamas/752332620575178752/how-many-broiled-palestinian-children-do-you-need?source=share  (screenshots/quotes of Hamas senior leaders/others saying they need the blood of children as martyrs) https://www.tumblr.com/freegazafromhamas/751589551954345984/hey-with-all-due-respect-im-looking-through?source=share (long post with Palestinian tweets translated explaining Hamas' oppression of them, stolen aid, torture, etc.)

Comprehensive Listing of Terrorism Victims in Israel

i believe that the jewish people have a right to self determination in their ancestral homeland, also known as israel.

[eretzyisrael]

[unopenablebox]

i admit that i find it a little bit frustrating how Wildly Astonished other antizionist jews act when i tell them my israeli jewish family have lived in the region since [some unknown length of time before 1800 when there start being records about it]

[mashpotatoe]

its nauseating to see the star of david on that flag

[ghostlyfurball]

saw a post that's like your opinion on israel and zionism doesn't matter if you're not jewish and i'm like. no one else at all? not even the arab men women and children? the palestinians being murdered? the lebanese being murdered?

[x31043]

It’s not about Hamas. Hamas does not even fucking matter. What they did was a drop in a sea of blood generated by Israel and their settler colonial ethnic cleansing. Free the indigenous people of Palestine

[miamicommune]

think if u blame "idealist leftists" or "people on tumblr """"spreading disinformation""""" or, god forbid, "bernie bros" on biden losing when he inevitably does i think everyone should legally be allowed to launch u out of a cannon into a brick wall

[someoneintheshadow456]

Savarkar and Bose: *temporarily ally with the axis powers to chase out the brits while recognising them as the psychos they were*

Gandhi, Nehru, and pretty much every Indian leftist politician: *deadass said that the Jews should have died out instead of fighting back, addressed Hitler as ‘my dear friend’, and openly said Jews should be exterminated*

The AIML: *actually supported the Nazi party and demanded an ethnostate exclusively for Muslims and once they got it demanded Hindus be either converted or dead*

Hamas: *Actually colluded with the Nazis and rejected offers of a two state solution every single time, their charter deadass says they want to kill Jews*

India: *has a 25% Muslim population from 10% in 1947*

Pakistan: *has a 5% Hindu population from 40% in 1947*

Israel: *Is 30% Arab*

Palestine: *Has no Jews*

Westerners and Arabs: Wow! India and Israel are ethnostates! And Bose and Savarkar were Nazis!

the relationship between zionism, nazism, and hindutva in ‘hostile homelands’ by azad essa

[jewishvitya]

I was asked why there's a zionist claim that the Palestininian identity is not legitimate. And I think it's important to understand why Palestinians as a whole are seen as a threat by Israel. To understand why it's not about Hamas.

The claim is that the Palestininian identity was made up in order to push us out. Palestinian existence is a threat to the legitimacy of Israel as a country.

I was taught in school that Palestine was empty when we got here. They used a Mark Twain quote. It was a barren land full of swamps and some nomadic people (Beduins) but as soon as we wanted to come here, the awful antisemitic Arabs sent people to settle here before we could to take up the space. I was in school in the settlements though. I was taught the most extreme version of this.

Another version of this is that Palestine was never its own thing, they're just Arabs the same as all Arabs from the surrounding countries. So they could just... scooch over and give us the space, please and thank you. In Israel no one uses the term Palestinian. If I do, people roll their eyes and dismissively go "Arab." An Arab is an Arab. It's a way to strip away their unique identity and blend them in with the rest to say they could always move to Jordan, or Syria, or Lebanon, and it's all the same to them.

It's a way to make Palestinian existence by itself into a malicious plot to deny us a homeland.

Because if Palestinians exist as a distinct group of people, we aren't the only ones with a connection to this land. And you don't create an ethnostate by sharing.

I see other forms of this mentality. Why won't all these Muslim countries take the people of Gaza as refugees? That's asking why they won't help Israel make its ethnic cleansing more neat and convenient. Yes, refugees should be taken in and given shelter. But this question shifts responsibility away from Israel. Palestinians shouldn't be forced suffer either ethnic cleansing that leaves them as refugees, or a genocide.

[mashpotatoe]

im a white jew, i was born in israel,

ive lived there all my life and was brought up in an environment that fosters racism driven by nationalism, nationalism driven by racism.

in israel, they teach you jews and muslims (though usually, they just say arabs) have always been enemies, the same way the US deems the entire middle east as a inherent war zone, ridding them of the responsibility for perpetuating war in thst region.

they tell you "were the fair and humane side who strives for peace! its the arabs who never accept the offer!"

i remember the first time i began doubting that sentiment was in fourth grade, when we were having a discussion in class about the character of Saul from the Torah. the teacher was talking about how Saul, the first monarch of the Kingdom of Israel, used to fight the Philistines, and when she added that the Philistines were the natural enemy of the Israelites, she asked the class what group of people is their modern equivalent to which everyone very eagerly replied "Arabs!" and nevermind that there in that same class sat two arab boys, one of whom sat next to me, who i looked at and thought "but he isnt my enemy? hes just a boy in my class."

they teach you to hate arabs. sometimes they say it outright. sometimes they say it more carefully, or make a distinction between good and bad arabs, those who are with us and those who are against us.

in a state based on the idea of (white) jewish supremacy, they teach you jews are naturally superior. they use the conspiratorial narrative of "jews controlling the world" to their favor, giving their own watered down explanation for why antisemitism exists, saying that it must be driven by jealousy.

the zionist movement always used antisemitism to its advantage, either for reinforcing the notion of jewish supremacy or appealing to the real pain and trauma of generations, people who survived the holocaust, connecting them to stolen land where they are "guaranteed" safety ergo granting "justification" for the suffering of others.

its using peoples real pain that makes fear mongering so effective, and when the israeli population grows up being told all of their neighboring countries want to kill them, they quickly get defensive of the "only land where they can feel safe", but the only explanation ever provided for Why these neighboring countries are considered enemies is because theyre arabs.

and when it comes to palestine, it isnt even recognized as a country, nor identity. just a threat. ive talked to many people who are genuinely unaware of the occupation, and they arent willing to believe it either, because the media narrative has successfully shifted the blame on hamas. because "how could it be us? we want peace! its the terrorists who make us look bad! and their children, they grow up to be antisemites*, might as well get rid of them too!" they never stop to think what environment these children must grow up in to develop these "radical" ideas.

* what they mean by antisemite is really just antizionist, but the term anti/zionist isnt practiced in local dialect, being a zionist is treated as a given

any jew who stands against israels oppression is dubbed a self hating jew, but the biggest contributors to antisemitism is the people in charge of an ethnostate, because at any moment they could decide who is not white enough to be jewish, who is too jewish to be white, who stood against the current coalition government and who is an obedient dog.

israelis arent a monolith, but many of them have been won over, convinced its an "us v them" situation, when in reality it could never be the "us" that "loses"

the israeli government was waiting for an event like the massacre on the seventh of october to declare war, to have the so called "right to defend itself", so they could initiate the final steps of an ethnic genocide and displace, if not kill, all remaining palestinians. under the guise of bringing peace.

it isnt too late to call for a permanent ceasefire, to end the occupation.

please contact your representatives, attend protests and rallies if you are able. palestine will be free, and the flowers will rise again.

[halalchampagnesocialist]

How to spot Liberal Zionist Propaganda 101

This post is by no means exhaustive at all. There are many Liberal Zionist talking points but these are just some of the most common ones. While on the surface they seem a little naive and hopeful at best, they are very much harmful. If you claim to be an ally to Palestinians, this post is primarily for you!

For starters, liberal Zionists will often try to both-sides the issue of Palestine, talk about how it's complicated, they'll claim that the conflict hurts both Israelis and Palestinians, how the only way forward is one where Jews and Arabs "just need to get along," amongst other things. They also often like to centre themselves, even when acknowledging Palestinians as the victims of Israel or this "conflict." From time to time, they also like to engage in tokenising certain Palestinians whose views tend to more or less align with theirs. Here are some common arguments you may hear from them:

1. Any form of justifying Israel's existence or claiming that the only solution is two states

It does not really need to be said why justifying Israel's existence is harmful but justifying its continued existence also means legitimising Israel's land theft, its expulsions of Palestinians, and its ongoing harm to Palestinians and other populations. Reducing any sorts of “solutions” into a binary is unhelpful. Needless to say, a 2ss would not even address any legitimate concerns Palestinian have, such as the right of return, and would only legitimise Israel’s colonialism. Talking about a two-state solution also implies that the root of the conflict lies in Palestinians not having their own state rather than being an occupied people. It is very much also possible to construct a paradigm where Jews and Palestinians both live together on the same land as equal citizens that doesn't involve two separate states, much less an ethnostate.

2. Security for Israel could only come through peace

This is a similar talking point to the one above. Not only does it centre Israeli safety and security above Palestinian liberation but it mistakenly assumes that once Israel makes peace with Palestinians, it'll achieve security. The reality, however, is that Israel's imagined security has quite often come at the expense of peace. In fact, "peace" has just acted as nothing more than a smoke-screen for Israel to carry out its expansionist policies, particularly in the West Bank. When liberal Zionists talk about peace juxtaposed with Israeli security, they're talking about attaining a negative peace rather than a positive one.

3. Israelis are not their government.

This point does nothing to actually help Palestinians. It is also an incredibly tone-deaf thing to say when Israel has targeted many Palestinian civilians by having alleged proximity to Hamas, such as being family members of militants or leaders (inc. children!), civil servants in a Hamas-led government, or even any male above the age of 15 they consider to be a potential combatant! It also deliberately erases Israeli civilians' support of and culpability in Israel's actions towards Palestinians.

4. Netanyahu and/or the Israeli right are the source of conflict.

While it is true that things have gotten inadvertently worse under Israel's various right-wing governments, they are not the source of conflict, but rather a product of extremist nationalism and Jewish supremacy perpetuated by the system. Both the 1967 occupations and settlements were undertaken under centre-left governments in Israel, and Israeli policy under non-right wing governments has been just as harmful towards Palestinians and has paved the way for where we are today. Blaming Netanyahu just also obscures the violent nature of Israel's military occupation over Palestinians which long precede him coming into power.

5. Netanyahu and Hamas are two sides of the same coin

I don't think I've seen any allies give validity to this claim but it's an extremely reductionist claim and is sort of similar to the one above. Groups like Hamas are merely a response to the Israeli occupation while Netanyahu is a byproduct of it. While some Israelis may see Hamas or their actions as an "obstacle to peace," Israel's actions and policies long pre-date Hamas and how Israel is currently responding to Hamas is no different to how Israel has engaged with Palestinian militant groups in the past, regardless of political affiliations or political goals. It is also important to note that Hamas has agreed to the establishment of a state along 1967 borders while Netanyahu aims to prolong the occupation and empower the settler movement (some of whom are part of his coalition government) as much as possible.

6. Israel is not a settler-colonial state.

While it is indisputable that Jews have historical connections to Palestine, that doesn’t automatically make you Indigenous or negate Israeli settler-colonialism. Colonialism in particular describes a relationship of exploitation. There are many cases of this, but we most clearly see this in the West Bank where Israel exploits natural resources on occupied Palestinian territory for its own political and economic gains. In terms of settler-colonialism, it is widely known that Israel expelled hundreds of thousands of Palestinians to make way for Jewish refugees and migrants to the new state of Israel, and is still actively facilitating Jewish migration to Israel today while denying Palestinians their right of return.

7. (X) doesn't help Palestinians.

It is not up to anyone to determine whether certain tactics or strategies are helpful or not. This point only seeks to discredit pro-Palestine organising. Only Palestinians get to decide what is actually helpful for the cause or not.

8. Any sort of Hamas-blaming.

On the surface it may seem like there’s nothing wrong with this, but this point is often harmful and usually lends itself to right-wing talking points because its objective is to deflect blame away from Israel. Certain arguments blaming Hamas also aim to minimise Palestinian suffering perpetuated by Israel. It also paints Israeli violence as retaliatory to Palestinian violence which only obfuscates Israel’s (and by extension, the US’) role in its state military apparatus and the differing power dynamics between Israelis and Palestinians. In other contexts, this point seeks to also legitimise certain opposition, such as the Palestinian Authority. Hamas-blaming also tends to sometimes lead to racist diatribes about Palestinians and their culture.

9. Al-Jazeera is not a credible news source.

Al Jazeera is a news source like any other. It has varying editorial policies and therefore will have equally good reporting on certain issues while having terrible reporting on others. The difference is that Al-Jazeera's news on Palestine is credible because it comes directly from their Palestinian reporters on the ground and first-hand eyewitness accounts. Western news sources are no more or less credible than al-Jazeera. Compare this to CNN, NYT, and any other Western news sources where Palestinian voices are often entirely missing from the narrative.

10. Overemphasis of antisemitism on the left

Antisemitism is a real issue and has the potential to fester in left circles if not directly addressed head on. Combatting antisemitism is extremely important, however, it is not an issue exclusive to the left. There is also a double standard in that no one expects Zionists to call out Islamophobia and anti-Palestinian racism. Certain accusations of "antisemitism" also seek to distract from what's going on in Palestine by making it about Jewish comfort and feelings. Combatting antisemitism, Islamophobia, anti-Arab racism etc is always important as the basis of good politics.

Last but not least, be wary of native collaborators or any sort of normalisers! They are Palestinians or Arabs who try very hard to appeal to Western liberal consensus and can end up perpetuating a lot of harm to the cause and/or other activists. You will know them when you see them.

[notaplaceofhonour]

One of the most frustrating parts of the extreme rhetoric around Israel/Palestine (besides the obvious reliance on antisemitic & anti-Arab, Islamophobic tropes) is that it exceptionalizes so many things that are actually pretty standard features of nation-states and war in a way that completely compartmentalizes the criticism of these things into just being about criticizing the “few bad apple” countries instead of criticizing the entire institution of nation-states and war as a whole.

For instance: the fact is that war kills civilians, at an alarming average of 6:1 civilians-to-combatants deaths. The status quo of war, across the board, is that way more civilians die than combatants. And yet, despite the high death toll, despite Hamas using civilian infrastructure & noncombatants as human shields (which Hamas has openly admitted to doing), despite the imprecise & destructive nature of using bombs on urban targets, and despite the inadequate humanitarian aid that has been able to make it into Gaza… the IDF has still managed to stayed well below the average of civilian casualties.

The point of saying this is not “this is what war looks like so it’s not a big deal” it’s “this is what war looks like so we as a species need to stop doing it”—seeing the devastation war has brought to the people Gaza should move you, and it should make you never want to see another war again. It should make you want a ceasefire not just for Israel and this war but all wars always. And obviously, in practice, it’s not that simple���peace is more than “just don’t do war” and the thing about ceasefires and peace treaties is they kind of have to be mutual to mean anything—but the point stands: War Bad.

However, if instead you see the destruction in Gaza and think it’s an exceptional case, where Israel is evil and the only way war could be this destructive is genocide, you get to preserve this romanticized, idealistic fantasy of war as, violent yes, but perhaps only in a cathartic, tragic-but-beautiful way—a glorious struggle where two armies clash on a battlefield far removed from everyday life and only soldiers die. You get to preserve your belief in Just War, to look forward to a morally uncomplicated Glorious Revolution™️—you may even preserve your ability to cheer on the death of Israelis.

And that’s just one issue. There are others: the claim of “ethnostate” obscures criticisms of nation-states as a concept, the claim of “apartheid” obscures criticisms of how borders & citizenship are set up across the world, etc. This inverse Israeli Exceptionalism where Israel is treated as uniquely or exceptionally problematic isn’t simply discriminatory or rooted in prejudice (which are reasons enough to criticize it, as I have), it’s actively impeding the left’s ability to criticize the actual structural systems that are the problem.

[ghelgheli]

I don't think now, at the time Iran is viciously defending against US imperialism, is the time to be making left-communist critiques of them.

The Islamic Republic of Iran is not some unimpeachable bastion of anti-imperialism in western asia and it is dangerous to withhold critique just because it is opposed to US hegemony. The IRI is a theocratic ethnostate pushing back against euro-american imperialism while enacting its own centuries-long imperialism on the ethnic and religious minorities that fall within and around its borders. On a weekly if not daily basis, the IRGC, the paramilitary basijis, as well as the regular police harass, arrest, and kill not only such minorities as Kurds, Balochs, and Ahwazi Arabs (don't have to look far for this), but also ethnic Persian political dissidents and gender and sexual minorities.

The history of the 1979 revolution speaks to the development and rise of Khomeinism in the 1970s as a bourgeoisie opportunism that claimed the martyrs of Iranian communists while at every turn promising the disenfranchised baazaaris the protection of their private property. The purge of the Mojahedin in the months after the revolution, the associated purge of all deemed communist, and the immediate suppression of Kurdish autonomy movements in the northwest, all form the legacy of Khomeinism. It is important to be honest about this, to be honest about the reformulation of institutional misogyny and the other ills of Pahlavi Iran under the IRI, while simultaneously recognizing that the revolution was successful in one thing: exorcising the puppeteering hands of the united states from the country. It is important not to fall into the trap of valorizing an imperial power, while understanding that the only liberatory future for the people on the plateau and surrounding regions is revolution from within and below, not external intervention. These are compatible and, indeed, complementary halves of a whole politic!

As a Tehrani, and particularly as an ethnic Persian/Iranian Azerbaijani (Iranian Azerbaijanis being subject to linguistic and cultural suppression, but nonetheless perhaps the most integrated minority), it strikes me as my responsibility to talk about this. And it is something I talk about regardless of what is going on. As an esoteric Shi'a, it especially seems like my responsibility to talk about what Khomeinism has wrought.

And all of that is to say nothing of the fact that in my post I was just critiquing left-Shi'a infatuation with Khomeinism qua ideology, with no mention of the IRI—whose relationship with Khomeinism is varied, nebulous, and I would say secondary to the three decades of theocratic nationalism that has developed since Khomeini's death.

[kittyninja2013]

more context from OP in a reblog:

'From the river to sea' is a very poetic way of saying jews have no place in this world.

[ne0n-and-garbage]

Clarification on a common misconception about Israel.

(pasted from my reboot of an antisemite’s post because this needs to be said)

Israel is by definition NOT an ethnostate.

The definition of ethnostate is:

"a sovereign state of which citizenship is restricted to members of a particular racial or ethnic group."

As of 2022, the religious population makeup of Israel is:

"Jewish 73.5%, Muslim 18.1%, Christian 1.9%, Druze 1.6%, other 4.9%"

Clearly, citizenship and residency is not denied based on religion. How about race?

"73.2% (about 7,208,000 people) are Jews. 21.1% (around 2,080,000 people) are Israeli citizens classified as Arab, some identifying as Palestinian, and including Druze, Circassians, all other Muslims, Christian Arabs, Armenians (which Israel considers "Arab") An additional 5.7% (roughly 554,000 people) are classified as "others". (various ethnic/racial backgrounds.)

A quick google search shows that while Jews are the majority, many people of different races reside in Israel. White Christians are the majority in America and many European countries, and yet I have never heard them called ethnostates. Is this only because Jews are the majority? Hmmmm....

In contrast, Gaza WOULD fit the definition of an ethnostate. It has specific ethnic requirements not only to gain citizenship, but also to even enter the territory legally.

[halalchampagnesocialist]

You can’t convince me that Zionism isn’t just another form of white supremacy. It doesn’t matter who its perpetrators or followers are. Zionism is entangled in whiteness and white interests. Most of the people attracted to Zionism and support for Israel are non-Jewish white supremacists, because not only do they see it as a model for a [white] ethnostate, but see Israel’s war on Palestinians as one against “barbaric, backwards terrorist Arabs and Muslims.”