#antisemitism is bad

[transcendragonreblogs]

You absolutely can be antizionist without being antisemitic, but not if you equate Israel with Jews in general. If you equate Israel and Jewishness then you cannot be antizionist without being antisemitic. If you are against Israel and you also equate Israel with Judaism then you are also against Judaism.

If you view Jewish individuals because they are Jewish (regardless of their nationality, including Israelis*) as suspect because of Israel, then you are equating being Jewish with supporting Israel.

If you want to interrogate Jewish individuals about their position on Israel more than you would interrogate others, then you view Jews as suspect and inherently connected to Israel so your anti-Israel activism WILL BE antisemitic.

If you hold Jewish diaspora communities responsible for Israel’s actions, then you equate Israel with Judaism and your anti-Israel activism will be antisemitic.

If you treat diaspora Jews and diaspora Jewish communities as the oppressors of Palestinians, then you equate Israel with Judaism and your anti- Israel activism will be antisemitic.

If you are not Jewish then there are likely times you will be uncomfortable seeing Jews speaking Hebrew and being visibly Jewish because antisemitism is rampant and you must unlearn it. If you act in that discomfort you are being antisemitic, and talking about Israel will not change that.

If you are not Jewish, then the biggest association with Jews in your mind might be Israel because that’s when you most see Judaism being discussed. This is because Jews are a small minority who are mostly invisible to you. It is not because Jews=Israel. It is your bias that you need to unpack.

Antisemitism is bad. You should try your best not to be antisemitic because antisemitism is BAD. But also, antisemitism in organizing against Israel will not be effective! It will give those who support Israels actions more tools and excuses to justify those actions. Your activism will not work to do anything but be antisemitic if your activism is based in antisemitism.

If you are not Jewish, then you must be active in ensuring that you are not antisemitic. That means you must accept and internalize the fact that Israel is not Judaism and vice versa. You must listen to Jews in your community. Being a leftist does not automatically mean that you cannot be antisemitic.

I am a Jewish American. If I hold any responsible for the violence in Palestine, it is because I am an American and not because I’m Jewish. Being Jewish does not in any way make me automatically suspect nor guilty.

*Note: There is an argument to be made that citizens in Democratic nations have some responsibility to their government’s actions and that’s a complex discussion, but that is NOT based on religion or ethnicity. If you single out Jewish Israelis (or believe all Israelis are inherently Jewish) you are still antisemitic and that is wrong. Also, if you treat Israelis as inherently worse than Americans, that is very, very likely based in antisemitism as well.

[finnpoeeeeee]

Genocide is bad. I cant believe people think there’s two sides to this

(Anti-semitism is inexcusable. Do not use the pain of Palestinians as a way to justify hate. Antisemitism is on the rise, we must also fight for our Jewish siblings. No one is free until everyone is free)

[def-not-kaz-brekker]

Listen I acknowledge the fact that I am rather ignorant and young but I know for sure that the fact that Israel is attacking Gaza doesn’t excuse your antisemitism. Nothing does

[rotzaprachim]

i don’t think Jews should have to extend grace to people who engage in Holocaust denial. I don’t think people should engage in Holocaust denial no matter their politics. I think Jews have a right to be angry and cut off contact with those who do engage in Holocaust denial, no matter their politics. I’m so fucking angry we’re at this line I’m the goddamn sand and antisemitism is this rampant

[doberbutts]

Thank you for defending Nazis. They're just little guys. Just misunderstood, with genuine grievances. I noticed you accidentally forgot to defend child rapists. Dumb commies like you are all the same 🙄

Piss on the poor! Also I'm not a commie and never claimed to be one.

[shalom-iamcominghome]

If even acknowledging antisemitism within your community spaces is going to "distract from the cause," maybe that's because the foundation of your beliefs comes down to antisemitism. What you're doing is telling on yourself.

[edenfenixblogs]

If you’re not Jewish/Muslim/Israeli/Palestinian and you are talking publicly in any way about the i/p conflict you should probably do your research about dog whistles and take that info seriously. It shouldn’t be up to affected groups to educate you while actively being triggered and traumatized.

It’s not fun to constantly worry if your friends secretly hate you or if they are sliding into antisemitic spaces or are ok with genocide as long is against the right group of people.

You aren’t free of antisemitism or Islamophobia just because you don’t sit around thinking, “I hate Jews/Muslims/Arabs.” This shit is structural. I don’t care how many Jews or Muslims or Arabs you know. If you haven’t actively deconstructed your own bias against these groups, you’re probably still hateful whether you realize it or not.

[hilacopter]

wild how literally any time we mention experiencing antisemitism that isn't blatantly right wing neo-nazi stuff leftists will immediately jump to "well is it actually antisemitism or is this a sneaky Bad Jew™ that's lying and defining what antisemitism is in a way that's inconvenient for me, a person with no internalised antisemitism whatsoever"

[gingerswagfreckles]

"Criticizing Israel isn't antisemitism" yeah but accusing Jews of making up hate crimes to derail the conversation around Gaza is. Claiming that the media is controlled by a secret group of all powerful Zionists is. Acting like the Holocaust is something Jews use to get out of trouble instead of an actual genocide that happened within living memory is. Telling us to go back to where we came from is.

"Criticizing Israel isn't antisemitism" yeah well a lot of you aren't being accused of antisemitism because you are criticizing Israel. You're being accused of antisemitism because you are being antisemitic and do nothing but evade and double down when it gets called out.

[politicaljewishblog]

The antisemitic comment:

The video it was inspired by:

People hate Jewish customers because they request Judaica and Jewish holiday-related products be accurate?

Hm.

[lawbreaker13]

It’s actually insane how some of you justify your antisemitism. And yes, this time I’m specifically talking about being anti-Israel.

When Israel is attacked by Hamas, it’s their fault for retaliating. When is Israel is attacked by Iran, it’s ok because it’s retaliation. When Israel calls out the UN for being unhelpful, they’re getting what they deserve. When Israel asks the UN to step up, it’s a sad cry for help.

THEY CAN’T ATTACK, THEY CAN’T DEFEND, THEY CAN’T ASK FOR HELP, THEY CAN’T CONDEMN TERRORISTS, WHAT CAN THEY DO?? BE BLOWN TO BITS??? IS THAT WHAT YOU’RE WAITING FOR? WHAT MAKES ISRAEL SO SPECIAL??

It is no coincidence that Israel can’t do anything right and that it houses 7 million Jewish refugees. It’s the oldest excuse in the book. “It’s just the zionists!” Israeli children are children, too. They have no better of a concept of Zionism than you, and yours is scarce. Zionism IS LITERALLY ABOUT JEWS.

Just say you won’t be happy until half the world’s Jews are dead. It’s a lot better to be an antisemite when you’re comfortable with your identity.

[statisticalcats2]

I feel like a lot of people, even if they don't realize it, just truly do think that Jews are supposed to be a minority with little power wherever they are and it's bad and suspicious when they're not.

Criticize all the Muslim majority countries there that have it enshrined in law that the government needs to be majority Muslim and only Muslims can hold the highest positions and then maybe I'll trust you're sincere in your concerns about Israel "fixing the game to always keep Jews in power".

[nonbinary-vents]

There’s been a distinct shift in how leftist Jew haters are starting to express their Jew hatred and it’s… very back to the old days, to put it lightly. It’s two specific things that I’ve seen. The more moderate stance of ‘it’s so terrible that the bad Jews are playing into Jew hating canards, how dare they!!’ which, just… ugh. And then you have the extremes, the ones who say ‘yeah, I hate Jews, but it’s their fault because of them being the scum of humanity’, it’s the ‘Hitler hated Jews for shit they didn’t do but I hate Jews for shit they did do!’ (a direct quote taken from someone who I can only describe as completely deranged)

And, honestly, seeing this shift has kind of broken me

At this point, there is no denial left. There is no going back. The pretences are starting to be dropped, people are becoming more and more comfortable with their Jew hatred being about Jews, and they’ve realised that it’s acceptable to say that out loud. All they need to do is say it’s our fault, and they get a free pass. We are fully back in the nineteenth century, all we’re missing is the ‘no dogs, no Jews’ signs (oh wait— what’s that about a bar in America banning all (((Zionists)))?) and the pogroms that go with it (oh no, what’s that about Russia, Dagestan, an airport, and a hotel?). We’re back in mid twentieth century Iran, where Jews are stuck between a country not yet legally aggressive to us, and all of the people in said country who want us dead

I don’t think things in the west are at the level of nineteenth century Europe yet, just in the style. But I’m also smart, I’m also connected to my history. My safta left Iran in 1951, at the age of ten, because her family saw what was happening. Ninety thousand other Jews in Iran saw it too. They caught on and they left. And then two decades later the revolution happened, and now our family can’t even visit without being executed. Many Jews have convinced themselves that we’ve assimilated, that were just like everyone else, that were safe. But we’re not safe. We are a people who have been persecuted and expelled and massacred for over two thousand years, it’s not going to suddenly stop now. And now that the people who are supposed to be fighting to keep us safe have started killing us, we have nobody but each other

I don’t think everyone should pack up and leave their countries right now. But I do think you should have a suitcase ready

[koshercosplay]

Neil gaiman is a Zionist :(

this is so funny because if you google "neil gaiman zionist" nearly all of the links are to unsourced tumblr posts or responses to a single tweet from 2015 that just acknowledges Israel's existence

I see gaiman has once again committed the heinous crime of Being Jewish When Israel Is In The News

[shalom-iamcominghome]

[leroibobo]

really do not think people understand the extent to which palestinian sites/landmarks (especially muslim ones) were destroyed, beginning in 1948 until now, even in cities. the oldest extant mosque in jaffa (al-bahr mosque) was built in 1675, even though islam came there in the 7th century