#but I am still for the concept of the state of israel even if I don't love it right now

[frances-baby-houseman]

We went to temple tonight for a yom ha'atzmaut party and they started playing david melech yisrael and I was like a sleeper agent being activated. I haven't sung this in decades-- they didn't sing it at our last temple!-- and yet! when it started I did the hand motions as though the last time I'd done it was yesterday.

[eretzyisrael]

by Jake Wallis Simons

People often forget that Judaism is two millennia older than Islam and 1,500 years older than Christianity. Israel was the cradle of Jewish civilisation. At least a thousand years before the birth of Jesus Christ, Jerusalem’s most famous Jew, King David, made the city the capital of the Land of Israel. It has been home to greater or lesser numbers of Jews – the very word ‘Jew’ is a shortening of Judea, the ancient kingdom radiating from Jerusalem in the Iron Age – in Jerusalem ever since.

Culturally, Jews have always intertwined their identity with the land of Israel, particularly since they were exiled to Babylon around 598 BC, when their powerful yearning for return took hold. For millennia, Jews in the diaspora have prayed facing towards the Holy City, exclaimed ‘next year in Jerusalem’ at Passover, mourned the destruction of the Temple by breaking a glass at weddings, longed to be buried there, prayed at the remaining walls of the destroyed Temple, and visited on pilgrimage. Many throughout history have taken the step of uprooting their families and returning to their homeland. All these practices continue to this day.

A thread can be traced backwards through Jewish history that shows the ancient roots of the ideal of repatriation. Beginning in 1516, Palestine – as it had been renamed by the Romans – fell under Ottoman rule, which would last for more than 400 years. Less than 50 years after the conquest, Joseph Nasi, the Duke of Naxos, a Portuguese Jewish diplomat favoured by the Ottomans, attempted to return Jews to their homeland without regard for scriptural prophecies about awaiting the coming of the messiah. In a way, he was the first Zionist.

The fortunes of the Jews of the Holy Land rose and fell over the following centuries. In 1860, the British financier Sir Moses Montefiore, who believed in the divine providence of the British Empire and the Jewish return to Zion, founded the community of Mishkenot Shana’anim just outside the Old City of Jerusalem. Composed of red-brick alms houses and a windmill, it was the earliest forerunner of the future state (the windmill still stands today).

Modern Jewish migration to Palestine began in 1883 with an influx of 25,000 Jewish arrivals, many fleeing anti-Semitic mobs in Russia and inspired by a desire to return to their ancestral lands. Jews also came from as far afield as Persia and Yemen, grouping into their own neighbourhoods. Immigrants from Bukhara, Uzbekistan, including the Moussaieff family of jewellers who had cut diamonds for Genghis Khan, created the Bukharan Quarter (Shkhunat HaBucharim), with its distinctly Central Asian feel. Their imperative to return had been building for thousands of years.

Theodor Herzl in Basel, Switzerland, during the first Zionist Congress, 1897.

Writing in the Jewish Chronicle in 1896, Theodor Herzl, the father of modern Israel, laid out the concept of Zionism. ‘I am introducing no new idea’, he pointed out. ‘On the contrary, it is a very old one. It is a universal idea – and therein lies its power – old as the people, which never, even in the time of bitterest calamity, ceased to cherish it. This is the restoration of the Jewish State.’ He added: ‘It is remarkable that we Jews should have dreamt this kingly dream all through the long night of our history. Now day is dawning. We need only rub the sleep out of our eyes, stretch our limbs, and convert the dream into a reality

[boreal-sea]

Does being indigenous "expire"? Can an exiled, displaced people "lose" the right to return to their homeland? "Sorry, you've been in the Diaspora for too long, so even though it wasn't safe for you to return to your homeland that whole time, you don't have any right to go home now".

If the very thought of that made you recoil, it should.

Jews are indigenous to the Levant. The roots of Judaism, an ethnoreligion, are in the Levant. Jews were systematically exiled from the Levant over the centuries in multiple waves. There are some Jews who never left, some who moved back, and others that were unable to return until recently. Many Jews still live in the Diaspora. Any denial of this is historical revisionism and antisemitic.

So, if you agree with the following:

Indigenous people have a right to return to their homeland that cannot expire

Indigenous people have a right to self-governance

Then guess what: you agree with the basic concept of Zionism.

You might not agree with how all of this was implemented with the modern state of Israel - and I don't either! But the basic concept of Zionism is not the evil boogeyman antisemites have made it out to be.

"But Israel is illegally occupying Palestine!" Yes and no. In some places? Yes. In other places, no. It's complicated.

There is undeniably property and land within the current borders of Israel that belonged to Palestinians before the state of Israel was established in 1948. 700,000 Palestinians were killed or displaced from Palestine during the initial establishment of the modern state of Israel. Any claims that Israel was solely created on "empty desert" is a flat out lie. That doesn't mean all the land in Israel is formerly Palestinian - some of the land was indeed "empty desert" - but there were people living in some of those places. These are facts. This is history.

Personally, any land or property that was lived on by a Palestinian prior to 1948 that is currently held by the government of Israel is being occupied. I don't really know how you could look at it any other way. Someone else lived there, you kicked them out, you're occupying their home. It doesn't matter that Jews are indigenous to the area - you can't steal someone's home and claim it's ok. You can't just go across the street, hold a gun to your neighbor's head, force them out of their home, move in, and claim it's ok because you're both from the same town.

And what's worse, is that Palestinian land continues to be seized. Palestinians continue to be displaced. This is still happening in the West Bank. Illegal (unsanctioned by the state of Israel) and violent Israeli settlers continue to steal land from Palestinians, forcing them to flee their villages, and are destroying homes and schools. There are literally no other words to use for this other than "illegal occupation". Even the state of Israel doesn't sanction these settlements - although it does sanction forming other settlements in the West Bank.

I absolutely believe in the Jewish right to move to Israel and to self-govern in Israel. I am for the modern state of Israel existing in some form. I am against how the modern state was established and I am against how the government of Israel has continued to abuse the Palestinian people and steal and illegally occupy their lands.

I can't change the past, I can't undo the Nakba. But the modern state of Israel could take steps to do reparations for the damage and pain caused by its formation. It could pull the illegal settlements out of the West Bank. It could cease endorsing future settlements in the West Bank. It could work with the Palestinian Authority to establish a strong Palestinian government. It could stop treating Palestinians as second class citizens. It could stop controlling every aspect of life in Gaza. It could be an ally to Palestine and make it strong.

"You have a right to do the thing in principle" and "how you are currently doing the thing is harmful to human life and dignity" are two things that can simultaneously exist. I have the right to drive a car. That doesn't give me the right to drive my car on the sidewalk and mow down pedestrians. Same thing here.

[akajustmerry]

Sorry to bother you, but i would like to hear you opinion on the international day of action taking place on Invasion Day. I know these movements are incredibly intertwined and there have been a lot of pro Palestine movements and solidarity actions co organised by Aboriginal Australians and this years Invasion Day march will most likely be in solidarity with Palestine while also addressing more specific (although similar to the genocide thats currently occurring) issues in relation to Invasion Day, but I am unsure how to go forward without unintentionally overshadowing the significance of both days even though a lot of the what’s currently occurring is similar to why we protest, march and mourn on Invasion Day

hello, okay so just to be clear I'm not the speaker for Aboriginal people everywhere. I can only tell you my opinion as a single Aboriginal person who is also Arab. So, please, only take what I say as one opinion and not a rule.

I believe and know that all colonial powers are linked. Australia as a colonial power is inseparable from the UK and the USA. The UK are responsible for invading and establishing a colony in "Australia", just as they were responsible for invading and establishing a settler colony in Palestine, and the same goes for the US. And while the colonies of "Australia" and the US and "Israel" took on their own identies as settler colonial states, they share and maintain colonial roots with the UK.

So, you see, it's not just that the struggles are similar, they're the same. Literally, the same. So called Australia was colonised under the British law of "terra nullius", the legal concept that no one was here so it was free for the taking. Palestine was colonised by British and European Zionists who saw Palestine as "a land without people for a people without a land" which is just terra nullius by another name.

Palestine and Palestinians, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples share similar conditions because our oppressors are the same and are still in fucking cahoots. The Australian government is sending weapons to Israel and Israel bankrolls a LOT of Australian financing, tech companies, and universities. Our struggles for liberation are inseparable because the institutions oppressing us are inextricably linked.

I say all this to remind you that Invasion Day rallies and protests are not about the day itself. They are about how the day represents colonisation and the ongoing violence of it. They are organised to remind settlers that we First Nations peoples are still here and we do not condone the celebration of our colonisation and ongoing genocide.

I've said it before and I'll say it again. The Free Palestine movement is a global anti-colonial movement. To stand with Palestinians is to stand with every Indigenous person living under occupation and fight for their liberation. The Free Palestine movement isn't a stopgap movement or a charity movement, it's a land back movement. What you need to really sit with and ask yourself is why you're in the Free Palestine movement. Because if it's not because you believe that Indigenous people everywhere should have their land returned to them, then you're not really an ally.

What I mean is, there shouldn't ever be a question of which one you should support because the answer is both. They can't overshadow one another because our movement is the same, our struggle for liberation is the same. You and anyone else out there worried that supporting your local Indigenous peoples' liberation is going to overshadow Palestine or vice versa need to learn more about how our struggles are not separate. They're one struggle against the same Imperial colonial powers. When we say that none of us are free until all of us are, we mean it's because it will take all of us in solidarity to liberate one another because our oppressors are all the tentacles of the same imperial colonial monster.

Most rallies for Invasion Day in major cities will also be in solidarity with Palestine. One of the first times I went to Invasion Day in Eora/Sydney in 2014/15 I was moved to tears by a Palestinian speaker at the rally who said he'd been coming to Invasion Day rallies since he landed in this country as a refugee in the 90s because he instantly saw our shared struggle as Indigenous peoples under settler colonialism.

So I hope I've helped you see that there is no supporting one or the other or overshadowing because we are fighting for the same thing. It's why so many Palestinians advocate for other oppressed peoples and stand in solidarity with Black Americans, Indigenous peoples around the world, and vice versa because it's not that we're in lots of struggles in competition with one another. We're in one struggle, an end to our occupation, and our permanent and whole liberation.

[kay0783]

I prefer to keep this account separate from politics, just for the sake of mental health and being able to have something that is fun and not serious. However, I really am genuinely confused as to wtf happened tonight in the election.

I was so confident that it would be close and that Harris/Waltz would win in a landslide. Nope. In fact, they lost in a landslide.

I'm having trouble understanding how a CONVICTION FELON who incited an insurrection on the Capitol, threatening to overturn the very right that each civilian in this country (and that was fought for by the Civil Rights Movement and Suffragette movement), which led to multiple people being killed, a shock to the nation, etc. is now back in the very office he was so dedicated to ruining.

As far as I've seen, and from what I've kept up with, he only has *concepts* of a plan. In a country that is so vital in the world and that indirectly affects other nations, you CANNOT have C O N C E P T S of a plan!!! People are struggling to survive, us college students are struggling to get by with the hundreds of thousands of dollars we racked up in debt in order to get an education. Children are years behind in reading levels, education funding keeps getting cut, abortion rights are at stake (regardless of whether or not politicians say they do not plan on banning abortion), lgbtq+ lives will be affected, minority lives will be affected, etc.

What are the plans for Medicare/Medicaid? What healthcare system do you have in mind? How can the middle and working class be relieved of the price gouging and inflation that makes them struggle to pay rent/bills? Our food is basically poisoned, Americans are still dealing with the aftermath of two major hurricanes, mothers and infants are dying at an increased rate after the abortion bans in certain states, the foster care system is STILL screwed, children are STILL being killed in school, Russia wants Ukraine for whatever reason, North Korea is blowing up roads to South Korea for some reason, and for some reason Israel is commiting a genocide in Palestine still. And much MUCH more.

How do you NOT include policies that you plan to enact in your speech? I listened to it all. Family was introduced, a woman I've never heard of was introduced, the future VP talked, some bald guy talked, and there was little to NOTHING SPECIFIC about the policies for this country?!?? There was talk about keeping the promise from the first term. What were those promises? The border wall? What were they? It was never repeated. Then there was rambling about Russia and China. Why speak upon them first, especially when you only have *concepts* of a plan?!?! What about those concerned about the bomb threats? Even though there were no bombs, there was nothing addressed about the fact that someone was trying to intimidate Americans from performing their civic duty (at least from what I heard). Did you comfort them? Encourage them to stay in the polls and make sure their voices are heard? And what about the cheating claims in Philly? It was hardly after PA started returning results!! It's a repeat of the past--claiming fraud because you didn't win in that area.

And the attacks on Harris and how she let people out of jail. Now there's a convicted felon in the office. And what about the economy? It was worse due to the pandemic, which was highly politicized and resulted in so many preventable deaths. At least Harris has a plan. Not just concepts.

To say that I am disappointed is an understatement. Bewildered is more like it. Again, I try to keep this one social media account away from politics, but me and everyone on my dorm building floor were in shock. We know nothing about future policies that will be heading our way. We're confused.

[statisticalcats2]

Please don't take this as hate, I just want to be educated, but what nuance about Zionism is there? How is it complicated? If you could link me to some articles I'd love to read them

So, like I said this is very complicated and deals with thousands of years of history, and I am still learning myself. I'm a gentile who is not a historian or any other relevant type of scholar, and there's a lot of debate about this just amongst Jewish people, and even among people who identify as Zionist, there's difference in opinion on what exactly it means. I'm just a person doing their best to listen to and support people and their safety and lives.

At it's base, Zionism can be defined as the belief in self-determination for the Jewish people and having their own nation-state in their homeland. It can even be defined as simply being neutrally ok with such a concept. Judaism isn't just a religion, Jewish people are an ethnic group with origins in the Levant. They've been scattered around and have mixed with other ethnicities and cultures, but they're still a group in their own right, as so many others are. I see a lot of people compare the Palestine/Israel conflict to the colonization of the Americas but they are not really comparable, there's a lot more history behind it and the truth is more complex than "Jews are foreigners".

Zionism has definitely been militant and colonial, but there are also Zionists who are progressive and support Palestine as it's own nation-state. Simply living and planning to continue living in Israel can be considered Zionist and there are Israelis fighting right now for the rights of Palestinians and for the rights of non-Jewish Israelis. I recommend looking into the organization Standing Together for one such organized example.

And while Zionism has had ties to British and American colonialism, it also has ties to how Jews have been chased out of their homeland and basically every other place they've ever lived in throughout all of history, with many being murdered along the way. In many ways, Israel is a refugee state. It doesn't make everything done along the way or that their governments and militaries have done ok (which, welcome to the whole world!), but their story is way more complicated than "white supremacist colonizers".

There are Zionists who are militant and violent, and support the complete destruction and eradication of Palestine, I have seen them myself. There are also Zionists who simply want to live in peaceful co-existence with their Palestinian neighbors, and support the rights of non-Jews within Israel and I have also seen them myself.

From my personal experience, I see more Zionists actively working to raise up and support Palestinians and non-Jewish Israelis than I see anti-Zionists actively working to clean their ranks of blatant anti-semitism. I see Jewish Israelis (whose base existence can be considered Zionist) on the ground actively fighting for the rights of Palestinians and non-Jewish Israelis and I see American and Canadian anti-Zionists on the ground actively aiding and abetting hate crimes against Jews and laughing at Jews feeling scared for their lives no matter what their political beliefs are. I see Israelis wanting and actively working for peace and safety for everyone and anti-Zionists cheering on the murders and rapes of Israelis. And there's plenty of people all across and in between that spectrum, I know. Life is complicated. The world is complicated. History is complicated. Too complicated for me to feel comfortable being anti-Zionist or to be against the base existence of Israel.

When life is complicated I turn to and want to work with and be among people who value human life and want peace and safety for everyone.

[blessedarethebinarybreakers]

Thank you for your many insightful posts on the current conflict going on. The one giving a detailed breakdown on the "who was there first?" argument was particularly helpful given that, as someone very familiar with the "Land Back" movement in America, I struggled from trying to approach the Palestine issue from that same perspective.

I did have something else I've been struggling with that maybe you can help me out on, though: I've seen "Zionist"/"Zionism" used a lot to help separate those who endorse the concept of a modern state of Israel from Judaism as a whole, since a very large portion of the Jewish community doesn't support what Israel is doing. For me personally, however, I've frequently seen that word used as a dog-whistle for antisemitism in general (most infamously in relation to The Protocols of the Elders of Zion), so I've been kind of wary about using Zion/Zionist in regular discussion. Did I just have a misinformed first impression towards using that term, or is it indeed something we still have to be careful about using even in regards to current events?

Hello! I hope you don't mind me publishing my response, in case anyone has further information to share on the topic of zionism. I am by no means an expert on this — I'm kind of synthesizing various posts & articles I've read over the years to write my answer, and I may be missing some important elements. I welcome correction or added info from anyone with more knowledge than I.

I'm with you in feeling there's a need for care when encountering talk of "zionists," because this term is indeed bandied about inappropriately. Just here on tumblr, I've seen various Jewish folks speak out about how freely people label any Jew with an opinion they don't like a "zionist" in order to dismiss any concerns that Jewish person tries to raise.

So when "zionist" is used to mean "any Jew I disagree with," or "all Jews," or anything not specifically related to "movement in favor of a sovereign Jewish state (e.g. modern Israel)," it's being used incorrectly and harmfully.

...And ugh, it's bad enough when randos on tumblr are doing it; it's been disturbing to see political leaders and activists and the like doing it on a wider scale these past few months.

We all need to be able to talk about the very real issue of zionism without contributing to antisemitism. How do we do that? Here are some rules of thumb I follow (and again, I welcome more if anyone has other tips):

I educate myself on what Zionism actually is. This article on the Jewish Voice for Peace site is super helpful as a starting point. It discusses where this ideology originated, how zionism takes various forms, and how Zionism is harmful for Jews (for instance, it's harmful because it rejects the diaspora as "inherently toxic and unhealthy for Jews," which means rejecting elements of Jewish culture that have arisen from diaspora).

I resist wondering if a Jewish person is zionist / pro-Israel without any reason to think they might be. (I've seen a couple posts from Jewish people now saying that gentiles do this to them. It's super inappropriate and antisemitic to do this — after all, we don't demand that of every non-Jewish person, so we shouldn't be demanding it of every Jewish person.)

If I see a claim that X person is a zionist, I don't just take that claim at face value; I investigate. See if that person has self-identified as a zionist anywhere, etc. If I can find no evidence, I don't spread that claim around; and I might reach out to whomever posted it to ask what gives.

I focus my time, energy, and concern on zionists / people who are pro-Israel in my own communities — rather than running around declaiming every Jewish zionist I can. As a Christian, I focus on trying to cultivate conversations with fellow Christians whom I know hold zionist or philosemitic views; those are the people I'm more likely to be able to change, after all. For any other Christians interested in what Christian zionism tends to look like and how to combat it, I highly recommend this post.

(Another helpful post tangentially related to this topic is this one about "the three Israels")

[ablednt]

"You can't remove Jewish people from Israel because they're not safe anywhere else"

1. Returning sovereignty to Palestine does not equal expelling everyone else, they'd become citizens of Palestine. The idea that restoring sovereignty doesn't equal colonizing the colonizers is a basic concept of the Land Back movement please actually listen to people

2. You can say that being israeli and being Jewish are synonymous as long as you want but it won't erase antizionist Jews OR Palestinian Jews

3. Imagine thinking Israel is safe for Jewish people like. The whole reason y'all are so loud about october 7th is because it shattered the illusion that Israel is a safe place except instead of considering that a nation that actively and violently displaces people is generating that hostility itself you blame the evil brown people for wanting their homes back

4. Even if Israel was some magical perfect utopia free of antisemitism, if that comes at the cost of violent oppression of the native people then yeah I don't care the same way I don't care when people in the US are afraid of Land Back movements because "they'll do to us what we did to them". Get the fuck over it. Yk like you've been making them do for decades to centuries.

5. To reiterate here when you say that Israeli occupation must stay in power to protect Jewish people everywhere you are quite literally saying "my safety is more important than Palistinian's" and "my life is worth more than theirs" like it's not doing you any favors

Don't get me wrong the world is a terrifying place especially if you're marginalized, especially if you're Jewish, I am not going to deny that or to minimize the centuries of generational trauma and ongoing oppression that Jewish people face. I don't blame you for wanting to prioritize your own community's safety. I just don't think that your need for safety (especially everyone who's never even been to Israel but needs the Israeli state as a symbol of safety rather than a current reality of it) outweighs Palestinian's needs for safety.

"Being Jewish is traumatizing my friend has trauma over being bombed" that's really awful and I feel for them. I also feel for the thousands of children with amputated limbs because Israel is bombing them. Right now. As I type this.

"Jewish people have been displaced for generations we lost our homes" yes and that's extremely traumatizing, everyone deserves to have a home and to feel truly safe and like they belong there. Millions of Palestinian's who made new homes after their real ones were stollen are now living in tents that are still being bombed and shot at.

It's absolutely not that Jewish people's safety shouldn't be a priority or that it's at all okay to pretend that being Jewish is what gives any Israeli their privileges or to equivalate Jewishness to oppressiveness.

It's not even to say that Israel's existence as a colonial project is uniquely evil or that the US is exempt from that same scrutiny (like all the white americans parroting "the only good colonizer is a dead colonizer" without a hint of self awareness)

It's that a nation built on the blood of another's will never truly be stable or safe for anyone. You can stall the violence but it will return eventually and even the most oppressed people Will Fight Back.

I will add to this to any fellow goyim though that whilst you fight for Palestine you should also be fighting to create safe places and communities for Jewish people where you live. The only way to combat the rhetoric that only Israel is safe (when it never has been and never will be) is to prove that there's safety and community to be found elsewhere.

It's important to listen to Jewish people and to take their fears into genuine consideration and act on that. What is never okay is allowing their fears to thrive at the expense of Palestinian lives.

[durnesque-esque]

This is mostly a repost from my IG, but I wanted to make sure it got said on all my platforms.

I worry about saying the wrong thing, but I can’t say nothing. Let’s establish a few things right off the bat: the state of Israel is NOT representative of all Jewish people and criticism of a NATION STATE does not and should not equate to religious discrimination. Criticism of Israel and a defense of the millions of innocent citizens does not and NEVER WILL equate to tacit approval of Hamas. If you cannot understand these concepts, then read no further. 

What the nation of Israel is doing to the citizens of Palestine… it’s not hyperbole to call it apartheid and genocide: to corral millions of people into a section of land smaller than Kansas City - known as the “world’s largest open air prison,” half of whom are UNDER 18 - CHILDREN, to call them “human animals,” to blockade and starve this population that has been systematically oppressed in their own homeland for decades, to demand they evacuate then bomb the evacuation routes and the hospitals. These are war crimes.

The U.S. government is complicit in the purposeful destruction of innocent Palestinians. The massacre of children does nothing to stop terrorists.  

One of my foci in college and my graduate studies was the Holocaust/Shoah. The greatest fuel for those atrocities was the silence of bystanders. We cannot be silent. I have contacted my representatives and you should too.

There are so many doing difficult educational work on this topic and so many directly posting from within Gaza. I know I am still listening and learning and bearing witness. Here are just a couple of accounts to get you started: @sbeih.jpg@gazangirl@ifnotnow This is a link to a post: “a lot of things are true” that I find more complete in its coverage of the nuances of what’s going on. I’m doing a lot more reblogs on my tiktok which I encourage you to watch - especially those messages from the people of Palestine. So many are sending out what may be/ have become their last messages to the world. The least we can do is to hear them. 

I will not be debating anyone in the comments or DMs. This is not an invitation to try. The block & delete are my friends.

It truly distresses me that I can be sitting at my desk trying to manage film billing, or scrolling tiktoks while grocery shopping, or for fuck's sake telling scary stories to drunk people while elsewhere in the world a genocide is happening, paid for and supported by my government. I know many forms of violence and oppression are happening throughout the world always, but this... this is so much. We cannot look away. We cannot be quiet. Even when we continue to go through the motions of our lives.

I reiterate and wish to make clear that I denounce anyone using this situation to fuel either their anti-Semitism or Islamophobia. This is a matter of humanity.

Image is from @chnge

[obislittleone]

It has been brought to my attention by a grand total of four people now that a certain shithead in the fandom is trying to dox me yet again. Though I don't care if someone disagrees with me and can move on with my day, someone posting misinformation about my blog and getting others to block me on the account that I am a 'genocide supporter' is not something I will stay silent about.

So, for the last time... here is my stance.

I do NOT support genocide, and will never support the mass killing of innocent people.

I have, and will continue to publicly condemn Bibi Netanyahu for his actions and use of the Israeli government.

I will keep working closely with the organizations I've volunteered for in collecting funds and aid for Palestinian refugees and families still caught in the crossfire.

I will always call out Islamophobia when I see it, as it’s very common in the far right communities on tumblr.

I am a proud zionist, and I want to reiterate yet again that TRADITIONAL JEWISH ZIONISIM DOES NOT EQUATE WITH FAR RIGHT 'ZIONIST' BELIEFS.

Once more, for those confused, here is the jewish meaning of the word zionsim: the belief that the jewish people have a right to self determinate in their homeland (in most charters stated 'to protect themselves from another holocaust') which as you'll notice, does not say anything about an ethnostate or the rights to wipe out innocent civilians in another territory. It quite literally just means that jews existing in Israel get to keep existing and shouldn’t be wiped out either. It's pretty reasonable of a belief if you're not mentally demented.

I have family and friends in Israel, who are not immigrants, and their lineage far surpasses even the concept of Roman mandated Palestine. They are also traditional Jewish zionists, and I completely stand with them. One of my friends was a survivor of the music festival slaughter by Hamas, and her mother was killed.

I will never stop bringing awareness to the hostages remaining in Gaza , and will always call anyone out who says the hostages are, and I quote 'being treated well' by Hamas. They are hostages. They can not leave, a lot of their family members have been killed, and they have to go through this time wondering if they will also die.

I will continue to block people who interact out of poor faith, or are of the mindest that 'these jews aren't on my side, so I'm going to harrass them.' That’s antisemitism, bub...

I can't believe I even have to say this but: newsflash! Israeli citizens are not evil, and are not responsible for their government, as you should be well aware of, at least if you live in america. Another newsflash! You can support the indigenousness of Jews while ALSO supporting the indigenousess of Palestinians!!!

I am so tired of asswipes virtuesignaling on this site, doxxing jews and crying their eyes out about a word they don't even understand, when I live literally done more for Palestinians than they ever have. It's antisemitism at its absolute worst, and it pisses me off to no end.

As I like to say:

Oh brave tumblr goy, what have you done for Palestine today? Because instead of harassing jews and harassing zionists, I sent actual aid to Palestinians.

For those who would like to actually contribute, here are some links to verified organizations (that ensure your donations will not be stolen by Hamas or their sympathizers):

Water For Gaza

World Central Kitchen (provides food directly to citizens without going through Hamas or UNRWA)

Shelter Boxes

And for those who would like to donate to an emergency fund for Israeli citizens being harmed by incoming rockets and attacks near the border, this org is partnering with a few medical associations in Israel to supply more ambulances to the hospitals:

Israeli Ambulances (Magen David Adom Fund)

And for those interested in donating to both Palestinian and Israeli children that have been caught in the crossfire, visit this link:

Save the Children

I may be keeping this as my pinned post for a while, just because my masterlist links haven't been fixed yet, and I need to keep this at the top of my blog for a while.

[wot-tidbits]

Wheel of Time plagiarized from Dune

With the coming of the new part of the awesome Dune movies, we again witness several people and fans to speculate on the similarities between Dune and WoT. There are many who even step further and claim that Robert Jordan was “inspired” (plagiarized) from Herbert. In that light, I want to bring back to your attention that Robert Jordan has spoken on that topic and he completely denies it.

INTERVIEW: May 19th, 2004 Rome Signing Report - Raven (Translated) ROBERT JORDAN Someone else asked if while writing the Aiel he got his inspiration from Herbert (re: the native inhabitants of Dune [the Fremen people]); he answered that it was not that, that the real source of inspiration is the Cheyenne people, originally shepherds and forced to became warriors and to flee into the desert when the white man came.

INTERVIEW: Nov 11th, 1998 MSN eFriends Interview (Verbatim) TIJAMILISM I love all the similarities between Frank Herbert's Dune and WOT. Was this intended? If so, are you a fan of his? ROBERT JORDAN No, there was no intention to make any similarities between Dune and my writings. And I am certainly a big fan of the original Dune novel. Although I doubt if I've read it since it first came out!

SOURCE.

The fast answer to these two quotes is “But of course he is obviously lying!”. To this day we still have no example of Robert Jordan lying to his fans. Moreover Robert Jordan publicly stated about using Tolkien in his writing and had no problem to admit it. Why he will admit about Tolkien but won’t do the same for Herbert? I do not see any reason to not believe Robert Jordan except the obvious “but it must be a lie”.

For first time we also can finally use RJ’s notes as proof that the similarity is coincidental.

ORIGINS OF |THE WHEEL OF TIME by Michael Livingston Aiel. The idea of people living in a harsh desert landscape beside a great chain of mountains is one that came to Jordan early: Altaii has a similar concept, and the Aiel are present in some of the earliest Wheel of Time notes: “They are infantry, in many ways like a cross between the Apache and the Zulu, with touches of Cheyenne. Physically, most are tall, with blonde or reddish hair and blue or blue-gray eyes most common.” To this he added elements of the culture of the Bedouins and the Irish—the latter, he said, at least initially intended as a joking comment against the tendency of novelists to all have the same kind of desert people (see Tuatha’an). Indeed, it’s nevertheless been commented upon that Jordan’s Aiel are strikingly similar to the Fremen from Frank Herbert’s Dune (1965). That similarity, however, is almost entirely the result of Herbert and Jordan using the same source materials of the real world: in particular, the ancient Israelites who wandered in the desert while awaiting their entry into what they believed was their Promised Land. Rand al’Thor plays a role akin to both Moses and, at least within Christian mythology, Jesus (as the Messiah who both splits and saves the Jews). Other notable Jewish parallels include the Aiel Tribes and, somewhat obviously, their name: Aiel derives from Israel. Their connections to Native Americans (particularly Plains Indians) should not be forgotten, however: from their rituals to their clan names, Jordan made frequent recourse to them.

[theprinceofpeacesposts]

Be still and trust God

"For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; In quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” But you would not," Isa 30:15 SUV

In this world, which is characterized by chaos, conflict, and uncertainty, the concept of strength is often associated with power, might, and military prowess. However, the scriptures offer a different perspective on where true strength is found. It is not in human strategies or military power but rather in quietness and trust in God.

The word of God today delivers a powerful message emphasizing that our salvation and strength lie not in our own abilities or alliances but in quietness and trust in our God. This verse encapsulates a profound truth that resonates throughout the Bible: God's strength is made perfect in our weakness, and true power is found in surrendering to His will.

Quietness, as described in this verse, goes beyond mere silence. It suggests a state of inner peace, calmness, and tranquility—a heart undisturbed by the storms of life. It is a posture of surrender, where one relinquishes control and allows God to take the reins. In Psalm 46:10, the Bible says, "Be still, and know that I am God." This stillness is not passive but an active choice to trust in God's sovereignty despite the circumstances.

Furthermore, quietness is closely intertwined with trust. Trust involves a deep reliance on God's faithfulness and promises. It requires us to let go of our fears, worries, and anxieties and place our confidence entirely in Him. The word of God in Proverbs 3:5-6 says "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways submit to him, and he will make your paths straight." Trusting in God acknowledges His wisdom and goodness, even when we cannot see the way ahead.

The Bible is replete with examples of individuals who found strength in quietness and trust. David, facing the giant Goliath, declared, "The Lord is my rock, my fortress, and my deliverer" (Psalm 18:2). His confidence was not in his own strength but in God's power to deliver him. Also, when the Israelites stood at the edge of the Red Sea with Pharaoh's army closing in, Moses told them, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still" (Exodus 14:14).

Even in the New Testament, Jesus exemplified quietness and trust in the midst of adversity. In the Garden of Gethsemane, facing the agony of the cross, He prayed, "Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done" (Luke 22:42). Jesus' surrender to the Father's will demonstrated the ultimate act of trust and paved the way for our salvation.

Your true strength is not found in your strategies but in quietness and in trusting God. As you navigate through the challenges of life, may God help you to follow the example of those who have gone before us, finding your strength in surrendering to His will and trusting in His unfailing love.

Prayer: Father, you know my heart, I pray to you, help me to rely on you and to trust you always. I surrender to your Holy Spirit, so He May Guide me in Life. Through all life’s challenges and troubles, I keep my trust in you. I know you are with me to lead me in the way I should go, and you are fighting my battles. Amen

[tomorrowusa]

'They cut heads off people': IDF major general describes aftermath of Hamas attack

A lot of people are still not clear about what happened in Israel last weekend. It was not a military operation, it was a massive terror attack.

It had no military goal that anybody can discern. Its only motive was to kill and kidnap a lot of civilians – and in the most brutal way possible.

Hamas acted like a cross between Hitler's SS and ISIS – and should be regarded as such.

People in the West who make excuses for Hamas terrorism are cheerleaders for atrocities. Do their friends and family know that they approve of babies being beheaded to further political goals?

To be clear, I am sympathetic to the plight of the Palestinian people. I believe in a two-state (or possibly even a three-state) solution. I feel that Netanyahu's Likud Party has harnessed the support of religious fanatics and ethno-nationalists to prevent such a solution and, as such, they are a danger to peace in the Eastern Mediterranean. Netanyahu is a power-craving dickhead who is on the wrong side of history.

The Hamas orgy of murder and brutality has done nothing for Palestinians and has resulted in a war that will not end until those who committed last weekend's atrocities are dead or off the scene for good.

Ukraine has suffered for centuries – not just decades – because of Russian imperialism. Stalin even starved to death much of the population in the early 1930 in a genocide known as the Holodomor.

And Vladimir Putin has renewed Stalin's efforts to eliminate even the concept of Ukraine. Yet despite this long history of persecution, Ukrainians have not been conducting mass murder sprees in Russian villages across the border – even though Putin's Russia has no qualms about murdering Ukrainian civilians either close up or by drones and missiles.

What Hamas did is not liberation or resistance. Nobody got liberated and many people in Gaza are now suffering because of Hamas.

Read the Hamas Charter. It is filled with anti-Semitic tropes which sound like they come from Mein Kampf. This is NOT anything like the Freedom Charter of the Nelson Mandela era ANC.

It is easily possible to be pro-Palestinian without being a shill for anti-Semitic mass murderers. But some people on social media haven't gotten that message.

[bonyassfish]

Hot take perhaps but the way some Jews (I say this as a Jew) have gone full on qanon levels of paranoia in the past year is a bit astounding. Like we’re not even talking about your aipac uncle who leaves services in the middle to go drink scotch and be islamophobic with his kiddish club. I’m talking about people who probably think of themselves as moderates or liberals or even leftists, who have lost the plot so much. They think the Holocaust is happening on college campuses (it’s not). They think every celebrity is personally throwing fundraisers for Hamas.

Obviously, antisemitism is still a thing, I’m never going to deny that, but if I am to be honest, I will tell you the most salient threat to Jews right now, at least to American Jews, is the creeping rise of Christian-fascism/white supremacy that’s been happening since 2016 but will get much worse in the next four years. But some of us are apparently so delusional that we think someone like Mike Huckabee could be our allies. Are we so delusional or impressionable that all we need is for someone to make the right noises about Israel to us and we can forget that they either want to kill us, convert us, or use us in their dumbass plan to bring back Jesus?

And it’s frustrating because I don’t want it to seem like I’m saying that Jews are lying about antisemitism en masse. It’s more that the Jewish community in the US, especially the ones here who have the most power and influence, adamantly refuse to genuinely interrogate our community’s relationship not just to the state of Israel itself but to Zionism as a concept. As if this is a sacred part of our tradition and not a political concept that only emerged a few centuries ago, one that was mostly unpopular until we were severely communally traumatized by a genocide that left many of us displaced, and many of us thinking the only way for us to be safe was if we built a country and removed the people living there because it needed to be “ours”

And now those of us who are antizionist Jews mostly don’t know how to talk about except to each other, because non Jews who are antizionists will say we’re being self-indulgent, non Jews who are Zionists will say we’re being self-hating, and Zionist Jews will also call us self-hating but it stings much more coming from them.

I take great pride in being Jewish and I always will. But this community of ours is letting fear and distrust turn us into paranoid separatists

[ramorazinn]

I am an Ignorant White Person™ and also an Ignorant American™. (That's not pride in ignorance you're reading, that's acknowledgment of privilege and the inability to fully understand no matter how much I know theoretically, OK?) And my dash is curated such that 99% of what I'm seeing re: Palestine is in line with what the tiniest bit of critical thought would produce, including, but not limited to:

Genocide is bad (and this is genocide)

War crimes are bad (and Israel is committing war crimes with the tacit or outright support of most of the rest of the world, especially the US)

"Israel" is not the same as "Jews" or "Jewish people," whether they be inside or outside Israel (so suck on your antisemitism)

"Hamas" is not the same as "Palestinians" or "Muslims" (so suck on your racism and Islamophobia)

Terrorism is bad (but does not happen in a vacuum)

And I don't want to hijack any of these posts, because this is so very Not About Me, and I know I am treading dangerously close to the Tone Argument regardless. But I do want to scream out into the void because I see so much stuff that is just... tailor-made to shut down USAmerican sympathy/engagement and I don't understand,

because I really genuinely thought the rest of the world had some concept of American culture – not because I subscribe to Americentrism, but just out of self-preservation, because the USA is the big bully around here (or at least the one that's out and proud about it).

Stated-or-implied, there's a strong sentiment of "every individual USAmerican is culpable," including such flavors as:

You voted for these people

There was not a Non-War-Criminal option on our presidential ballot (and there hasn't been in the average Tumblr user's lifetime)

Even if there were, majority vote does not determine the president

Politicians are not afraid of losing their next election over this (most positions are effectively predetermined by demographics)

You aren't protesting loud enough

Only three years ago, "I can't breathe" (George Floyd edition) was international news and prompted global protests and still wasn't loud enough to do anything in our own country

The USA is vast and cannot be disrupted by protest in the same way as smaller countries

The media is owned by the same corporations that own the government and will not be covering protests in an unbiased way if at all

Our police and in-country military are encouraged to do things to our citizens that would violate the Geneva Convention if performed on enemy combatants (we have to walk into any protest willing and able to sacrifice our bodies/lives and by extension our families' safety and security)

You need to educate yourself

This is true, but also

USAmerican media is propaganda

The average USAmerican does not have even a passing relationship with someone who can speak to the issue personally

The average USAmerican is starting at ZERO in this educational journey (Terrorism bad! Palestinians whom? Gaza Strip where? Colonialism what?)

I get what you're saying, Blogpost Written In Justified Anger, but you are speaking to a group that already has trouble distinguishing between criticism of a part and criticism of a whole, so when you skip right over "your country is culpable" and start at "you, as an individual, are culpable," you lose half the people who might have been willing to listen. And I am afraid that the pervasiveness of this sentiment is actively pushing USAmericans to support the actions of Israel.

[anarchywoofwoof]

hey!

i genuinely just had one question to ask, ignore it if you're not comfortable with answering it.

The whole Palestine-Israel conflict has been harbouring a lot of takes and I don't support the hamas nor the IDF, I support the civilians of both Palestine and Israel. But people keep asking me if i expect that revolution is non violent or how else are you supposed to fight your oppressors, i try to answer but they never let me say what i want to and i don't know confidently how to answer that either, Can you pls help me answer that?? If you can tell me at least where to learn more about the Palestinians and their actual history and not the hamas group, which media should i even listen to??

i've had a few days to think about what's going on in the middle east and i think this is a good ask to revisit the topic.

i do believe that armed revolution is an acceptable form of resistance against an oppressor such as Israel. i do believe in Palestinian independence. i do believe that the Palestinians have endured unspeakable acts of violence and terrorism at the hands of Israel for far, far too long. i do believe that Bibi Netanyahu oversees a terrorist state and Israel is actively carrying out genocide against the Palestinian people. i do believe that Hamas only exists as a result of Israel's colonial-settlerism in the Middle East, largely propped up by Western Governments as a defacto "outpost" to commandeer influence in the region.

all of that being said, let me be 100% clear: i am an anarchist. i don't like titles, but that is one i feel wholly comfortable applying to myself. therefore, i reject the concept of a governing state. i reject the existence of groups such as Hamas altogether. even putting aside the terroristic origins and nature of their existence, i reject the existence of Israel. i believe borders cause more harm than they do good and there is nothing to gain from nationalism.

the fact of the matter is: no, i do not expect that revolution should be non-violent. i quite disagree with that assessment actually. however, i also believe that civilians are not a valid target in wartime. military casualties? fine. targeted airstrikes or raids on military targets within Israel? sure. the IDF? absolutely, valid targets. but indiscriminately slaughtering civilians, women, children, etc. is not acceptable. it's not acceptable when Israel does it. it's not acceptable when Hamas does it.

but Israel is not the IDF and Palestine is not Hamas. and i will, and always will, support the people of Palestine and their freedom. Palestine is the quintessential example of imperialist settler colonization and while no, i do not "support" what Hamas did or what Israel is currently doing to Palestine, my support and heart is still with the everyday average human being living in these areas who had the unfortunate fate of being born into living hell.

now, to answer your question about the Palestinians, their history and what media to listen to:

The Palestinian People: A History by Kimmerling & Migdal

A Quiet Revolution: The First Palestinian Intifada and Nonviolent Resistance by Mary Elizabeth King

Palestine Inside Out by Saree Makdisi

The Hundred Years' War on Palestine by Rashid Khalidi

The Iron Wall: Israel and the Arab World by Avi Shlaim

Noam Chomsky also has a number of works surrounding Palestine as well; On Palestine, Interventions, Fateful Triangle to name a few.

as far as mass media goes, there's not really much that i can offer; Al Jazeera is a pretty good source, but most western media is going to be hard slanted against the Palestinians.

this blog is still very much and always will be Free Palestine. but i also am not going to act like there aren't innocent people who are also suffering from this conflict in Israel. to do so would be wrong and just flat out denying the truth.