#i know enough jewish people who are pro Palestine to know it’s not everyone who supports genocide

[vermiciousyidreborn]

So people keep assuring me that Palestinians are also indigenous to the southern levant and...well, I admit I'm skeptical of this. Like, I'm NOT advocating expelling them or genocide, etc. Those are all bad, just questioning the notion of indigeneity here. Mostly as a consequentialist. If Palestinians are indigenous to the Levant, that seems to imply other things. Let's think through this.

We're going to set aside the UN notion of indigenous because that's crafted to exclude Jews and often enough this is a statement by people who reject that and consider Jews to be indigenous, they're often saying both groups are. So...I guess that means something like "A group is indigenous to the region where they underwent ethnogenesis" so we'll take that as our definition of indigeneity. Jews are indigenous to the Levant, check. We're good. Arabs are indigenous to Arabia. All makes sense.

So, anyway, what's an ethnic group? From Wikipedia:

An ethnicity or ethnic group is a group of people who identify with each other on the basis of perceived shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include a people of a common language, culture, common sets of ancestry, traditions, society, religion, history, or social treatment.[

Ok, so common language, culture, traditions, history, etc.

So European American Protestants are indigenous to North America? Common history (going back to the 1600s!), identify as a group, believe they have a common culture (even if we need to break things up more finely, you can find common cultures, say, New England, or Midwest, wee American Nations), common language (English, which I will posit is part of why there's basically a moral panic about Spanish and has been almost my entire life, in much of the country). Note that an ethnicity "can include" and doesn't need ALL of these things.

So it seems pretty solid that European American Protestants are, at the least, a collection of ethnic groups unique to North America. Which means they did ethnogenesis here. Which means they're indigenous now.

So...let's be clear, to me this is a reductio ad absurdam. OF COURSE white US protestants are not indigenous to North America! But I've yet to see definitions that mark Palestinian Arabs as indigenous to the Levant without also implying that white Americans are indigenous to fucking Ohio (along with the rest of the country).

Especially when you consider that white american protestant as an identity in this sense is older than a distinct Palestinian identity. It just brings us to the eternal questions that the Israeli/Palestinian conflict brings up and that people REALLY don't want to discuss:

When, if ever, does indigeneity expire? Personally, I think it doesn't, and Jews are and will always be indigenous to the Levant, just like the Cherokee Nation is indigenous to the US Southeast, even though they've been displaced. Though I know many "Pro-Palestine" activists implicitly believe indigeneity does expire, at least for Jews, but even if I weren't Jewish, I wouldn't want that precedent set because it would fuck over EVERYONE

When does a colonizer become indigenous to the place they colonized? This is rarely discussed, but lies implicitly behind a lot of things. Again, I want to avoid setting bad precedents, but I don't see how Palestinian Arabs can have hit this threshold and white people in the US haven't, which leads me to reject the idea that colonizers can ever become indigenous, at least while holding onto the identity that did the colonization (White and Arab, respectively, hell, White Christian and Arab Muslim if we want to get more specific).

Now, I don't believe colonizers need to be killed or expelled, I'm generally against violence outside of self-defense, but I do think that the rhetoric we use matters, and I want to interrogate it.

[theamazingannie]

We can’t get a functional healthcare system or a solution to school shootings or a federal minimum wage above the poverty line or the fucking ability to expel actual fucking nazis from our congress but somehow we can get a near unanimous vote to equate antizionism with antisemitism, something that is only going to harm Jewish people even more than they already are. What a joke country this is

[still-searching-for-something]

It’s so funny seeing the gentiles gradually distance themselves from the pro-Palestine movement and acting like they’ve been fighting antisemitism all this time. Because, like—

Where did the people who attended “long live the intifada!” rallies go? By any metric, pro Palestinian protests have been becoming less and less attended (see the DNC) and less well received. But the people who used to attend them haven’t vanished. They’re still out there, living their lives. Do you think they’re embarrassed? Ashamed? I doubt it.

The pro Palestine movement has, as it was always going to, alienated potential allies and out purity-politicked their members into radicalism and terrorism. And while I am glad the world seems to be leaning away from them now, I will never trust the goyim again. Their first instinct upon seeing the deadliest pogrom of Jews since the Holocaust was to cheer and celebrate it.

The news uniformly decided the word of a genocidal terrorist organization was more credible than the official press releases of the rules of engagement abiding armed forces of a liberal democracy. Why? Because said liberal democracy was Jewish. The academics decided human rights, feminism, antiracism, and historiographic honesty were useful, until it would have applied to the Jews.

And the world swallowed it up. Eagerly. Like it was cathartic to return to the status quo of the Jews being responsible for the ills of humanity.

And now, the news cycle has moved on to other topics (Biden steps down! Deadpool and Wolverine! Trump Trading Cards!). The pro Palestine movement has attacked everyone who doesn’t traumatize themselves with gore or set themselves ablaze to protest a nonexistent genocide. And shockingly, that doesn’t make people particularly sympathetic to your movement. So, the world’s decided yeah, okay, maybe there was some antisemitism in that pro Palestine movement.

No fucking shit.

We’ve been telling gentiles for the last 10 goddamn months that! I don’t know about you, but I saw that antisemitism on October 8th! And for pointing it out, we were accused of “playing the antisemitism card!” and “defending genocide!” and called “Zionazi scum!” But now, it’s so loud it cant be ignored and they’re deciding to disavow it.

Well, thanks. Thanks for stating the obvious after spending a year attacking Jews in every quarter. Thanks for making us fear for our lives and livelihoods. Thanks for reminding us why we need a Jewish state. And thanks for correcting those of us who were naive enough to think maybe the world wasn’t so antisemitic anymore, that maybe we were accepted and valued members of our countries, universities, companies, and communities.

We won’t forget this. Even when you do, when you deny your role in this, when you delete the celebrations you posted on October 7th, we will remember. Always.

[yvesdot]

80+ PROTESTERS VIOLENTLY ARRESTED AT UCSC

PROTESTERS ARE ASKING ALUMNI TO PARTICIPATE IN AN EMAIL ZAP: bit.ly/zap-ucsc

& FOR EVERYONE TO DONATE TO THEIR BAIL FUND: (Venmo) pizza_party_1312

[ID: UCSC students waving Palestinian flags and holding protest signs at the base of campus. /ID]

Longer write-up based on personal knowledge, news articles, and multiple direct sources below.

****

For roughly a month, UCSC administrators, including chancellor Cynthia Larive, have been essentially politely asking protesters at the pro-Palestine encampment to "voluntarily disband." I was told personally by members of the encampment that among the demands they were given by the administration, two were 1) to guarantee Larive's safety, in part by not allowing any calls for violence against her, and 2) not to use images of her to make memes. "They specifically said memes," said the protester I spoke to. Additionally, protesters were told the use of the word "genocide" in a public statement by UCSC admin was "off the table."

The consensus among organizers appeared to be that Larive was vainly hoping to "wait [them] out," knowing she was in a no-win scenario: call the police and risk looking evil, or let the encampment stay and risk looking toothless. (It was clear which side she leaned towards.) Additionally, @kiegotakami mentioned hearing from a source at the department that "none of the local cops want the public scrutiny nor do they care abt the encampment so they’ve been avoiding it."

Protesters escalated by first blocking the entrance/s to campus temporarily, then moving their encampment down to the base of campus, beginning an academic worker strike on Monday 5/20, and finally, as of Tuesday 5/28, blockading both campus entrances indefinitely. Classes moved online. There was a dispute as to whether an ambulance was blocked from entering campus to help a child who was choking; protesters maintain that it was police, not them, who formed an obstacle. Larive later claimed again that it was the protesters.

(Larive also characterized SJP's demand that UCSC cut ties with specifically pro-Israel groups as "demand[ing] that we end relationships with organizations that support our Jewish students and funders that support important student success work and happen to be Jewish organizations." (emphasis mine) SJP did not call for the disbanding of all Jewish groups, not even all Zionist ones. They singled out the ones which list furthering Zionism in their mission statements. The conflation of holding a specific political opinion with being Jewish generally is an unacceptably racist one that echoes the "dual loyalty" myth.)

After protesters refused to disband their encampment at the base of campus, 100+ police officers from Eureka, San Francisco, Watsonville, Berkeley, San Mateo, San Jose, Santa Clara, and Riverside, as well as the California Highway Patrol, slowly dismantled the blockade, bulldozed the encampment, and arrested anywhere from 80-100+ people. (Numerous student/protester/organizer sources list more than 100 arrested, as well as greater numbers of police.) The bulk of the conflict occurred between 12 and 9 AM on Friday 5/31 morning, marking the 31st day and a full month of the protest.

Students present at the demonstration say the police were outfitted in riot gear and focused their abuse immediately and especially on women of color at the encampment. Students were "stabbed... in the stomach" with batons, hard enough that some vomited. One was covered in a spit hood for saying the cops' "glasses looked stupid," and thrown to the ground hard enough to give him a concussion.

From an anonymous source:

We were thrown to the ground and dragged along the concrete. Our faces were clawed at, masks were ripped from our faces, helmets were torn from our heads so the straps dug into our throats, and our eyes were gouged out. Several of the women had their clothes ripped off, one particular trans comrade who was pleading for the cops to have any form of humanity, had “trick” screamed at her before her skirt was ripped off and she was thrown to the ground. All the while, they laughed. Snickering as people were beaten unconscious. After each one of us was detained, the police took selfies with us, grinning over their trophy. We were shoved into buses and vans where they blared music that rattled the cages we were thrown into until we couldn’t think. This went on for hours. In one of the buses, people were told to go to the bathroom on the bottom staircase. We were organized by sex (not gender) and the cops called non-binary people “x-rays” for the x identification on their license. First, it was the county jail, then a university parking lot, then a university building. The cops, with their hands on their pistols, shouted for us all to sit down. We all sat with our wrists tied behind our backs, the marks of which I still have on my arms a day later. The cops proceeded to play the “good guy” act as though all of us weren’t covered in bruises inflicted by them just hours earlier. Our restraints were cut, and they slowly called us by name. After several hours, my name was called. I was banned from school for the rest of the year, given a court date, and sent out like none of that had just happened.

Despite the brutality, protesters were back at the base of campus by the end of the day on Friday. Morale appears largely unshaken, and (despite bots brigading r/UCSC) student support across online and in-person spaces is at a high.

Some students were asked by KSBW about their arrests. “The people in Palestine are going through far worse than a citation," said Aydan Beavers. "So yeah, I believe it was worth it."

****

Once again, students are asking alumni to support them in an email zap at bit.ly/zap-ucsc, and for everyone to please donate to their bail fund, Venmo @/pizza_party_1312.

Sources: [Sentinel] [KSBW] [SJP Instagram] as well as multiple anonymous private sources.

[menlove]

like yes "from the river to the sea" is not antisemitic and neither is protesting "jewish businesses" if that business happens to be a weapons manufacturer

but yall seem to think that those two things are the only things people are talking about when we say leftists are being antisemitic rn

like sure fine that's great! but are you

spreading antisemitic conspiracy theories (ie "israelis are stealing unborn babies out of palestinian women and burning them/eating them/using them in xyz ways" w 0 backup yes I've seen that)? connecting absolutely everything to zionists and saying they run the world/media/banks? making random connections to this situation w no proof? (just saw someone say puerto rico getting rid of its stray cat population "has ties to 🍉" like yall need to get serious)

are you saying "idk I just can't trust anyone wearing a star of david now like at this point the star of david is basically a swastika :/ you shouldn't use it"?

are you responding to the list of celebrities who support israel with "well this isn't surprising, hollywood is jewish"?

are you saying israel and every israeli should be destroyed? not "from the river to the sea" or that israel shouldn't exist as a state but I've seen multiple popular leftists saying "idc if the entire place gets bombed and everyone dies" like you realize that includes innocent civilians and people protesting their government and non-jews as well right? like you are advocating for genocide in response to genocide and at this point yall just want more violence, not justice.

are you saying antisemitism isn't a real problem anymore? or like everyone's favorite celebrity rn susan sarandan said "now jews know what muslims feel like" as if antisemitism and islamphobia don't go hand in hand? are you saying antisemitism is a "sad interpersonal problem but not systemic"? are you saying that during the holocaust the jews should have found an alternative to israel (true) by "civil resistance" implying that no jews resisted during the holocaust and that the holocaust was somehow the fault of the jews for not doing enough for themselves? are you saying that anyone bringing up your antisemitism rn needs to shut up bc "it's not about you" because you can't comprehend that people can care about multiple things at once?

are you asking every jew you meet where they stand on palestine and accusing every single jew you disagree with about literally anything of being a zionist? are you calling jews zionists who are just scared of rising antisemitism rn? are you using "zionist" as a placeholder for "jew" bc you can immediately say you're talking about zionists and not jews even if the post has nothing to do w zionism and only judaism?

are you agreeing with and marching with nazis and white supremacists and not realizing?

are you making jews afraid to attend pro-palestine protests because they're getting harassed? and yes this happens at pro-israel protests too but this is a post aimed at pro-palestine leftists bc I am one and that is my audience

are you acting, in general, like the actions of a shitty government and shitty people equate to the beliefs of every single jew on earth? are you making posts comparing judaism to christianity bc of this? saying jews have a history of violence and conquest on par w christianity when it's quite literally just israel and in the rest of history for the last SEVERAL THOUSAND YEARS jews have been anything BUT a world power? do you not hear the parallels to antisemitic conspiracy when you insist on this? outside of israel, what instances can you think of where judaism has been a historically violent and oppressive religion? spoiler: it's not, israel is the baby of colonial interests and thus follows their pattern. it's not because of judaism

are you tolerating and okay with people shouting blatantly antisemitic things at jewish people bc they're shitty people? like think of it this way would you be fine w a bunch of straight people shouting "faggot" at a white gay republican? or a racial slur at a republican of color? would either of those things be fine? no? then aiming actual blatant antisemitism at a zionist is not okay either. you can shout all manner of things at them that don't involve antisemitic phrases, remarks, and threats.

[jewish-vents]

(Post this anonymously, please!!)

I am an artist with an 8k+ follower blog which I have been active on for over 12 years. I've always felt safe here and have considered it my internet home. After October, watching the amount of people in my fandoms and artists who I had admired and found community with who immediately went full-in on a very black and white, aggressively conspiratorial and antisemitic brand of pro-Palestine activism, my idea of community here and my place in it was totally shaken. It was like I had put on a pair of glasses that allowed me to see the latent radicalization that had been going on around me, and the pervasive antisemitism that exists, unacknowledged, in nominally pro-social justice leftist spaces.

The loneliest part is that it feels like, with few exceptions, only other Jews can see it. Even the gentile friends who i love most and who would unquestionably stand up for me are just not attuned to the dogwhistles enough to see 95% of it. It's like living in a bubble reality, unable to take these glasses off, while everyone else goes on as if everything is the same.

Yesterday, I logged in, and saw image attached from a gentile artist i'd followed for months, who had never before given me a reason to feel unsafe. Their tags read "don't come in my inbox to debate this, i have no interest and will not change my mind." I wanted to cry from frustration- this person likely has no understanding of how revoltingly antisemitic this post was because they have no understanding of the complexity of what "zionism" actually means, and, as they've made clear, they have no interest in learning or being told they're mistaken. There are so few of us (Jews) here- how the hell are we ever supposed to combat this? The worst part was that it had 98 likes, and zero replies suggesting that any of them saw a problem with this or disagreed.

I myself never really understood zionism before this- I am ashamed to say that I took a lot of the twisted definitions held by gentiles in my progressive social media spaces without question, and thought that because I believed in Palestinian self-determination, I must be an anti-zionist by definition. It took the "glasses" coming on in the time since October for me to fully learn and to understand that while the nuances of the term go deep, to the majority of my people, basic "zionism" means belief in Jewish-self determination in Eretz Yisrael, and that when many gentiles say "Zionist," they just mean "bad Jew."

In all of this mess there's one thing i'm grateful for, and it's that, even as i've lost community in unfollowing/blocking previous mutuals and acquaintances who've shown their incuriosity and prejudice, this shakeup has driven me to find community with other Jews on this site and a greater curiosity about and sense of belonging in my culture in the real world. I can't be mad that my eyes are open, because i've only lost community that wouldn't accept me as I am, and am gaining community that does, that shares my struggles and that sees the world in ways compatible with my values. When I look at my activity tab and see notifications from my mutuals now, I feel safe knowing that I have been honest, shared the truth of me, and that they have chosen to stick around, whoever they are. I love you all.

[gayjaytodd]

It's so pathetic and despicable that the only posts about Israel's genocide of Palestine you've shared are the ones defending all you 'diasporic' Jews as though you're in no way complicit in Israel's actions. You just sit there, in your first-world comfy homes, whining about the holocaust and whatever else happened centuries ago while ignoring the cruelty of your own people *today*. You should be ashamed of yourself. I hope Hamas kills every single one of you.

k. so. it's been just over a week since I received this message and it's not until today I've been calm enough to formulate an answer, but here goes:

you do not know me.

you have no idea what I do offline. you don't know if I'm attending daily meetings with the Danish Zionist Federation or if I'm marching for a free Palestine or if I'm collecting signatures on Amnesty's petition for a ceasefire.

because you. don't. know me.

all you know is that I'm a Jew, and that is enough of an indictment in your eyes to make me shoulder the blame for Israel's actions.

it doesn't matter to you that most of my extended family were victims of the Holocaust and that I have no connection to Israel, that I am not and do not want to be Israeli, that I consider myself Danish, Scandinavia, European, Jewish, but not Israeli.

all that matters to you is that I'm a Jew and that I'm not reblogging the exact type of political, pro-Palestine posts that you want me to reblog.

so honestly, you can take your fucking antisemitism and shove it up your ass for all I care.

and the same goes for everyone else who's using the Palestinian people's pain to justify their own antisemitism.

May all you names and memories be erased.

[edenfenixblogs]

Goyim non Muslim/Arab/Palestinians who are trying to help with the situation have to understand this:

Reading one book. Reading 3 news articles. Reading even three scholarly articles. Watching the news every day. Even doing ALL OF THESE THINGS EVERY DAY since 10/7—this is nothing more than a drop in the bucket of the work you need to be doing to contribute to conversations about this conflict, let alone leading any kind of charge.

I have been intimately aware of the conflict and it’s intricacies since I was seven years old. I have been learning and unlearning things my whole life. I am Jewish and pro-Palestine and have spent my adult life learning about Palestinian needs as well as combatting pervasive propaganda from extremists on BOTH SIDES meant to confuse newcomers to the situation like most of you are.

It is, honestly, entitlement that makes you think you can’t waltz into a complex situation involving a 2,000+ year old conflict, multiple identities of non-western origin, multiple cycles of extremism and expulsion and ethnic cleansing and wars from all sides—and take the lead on any of this. You can’t. You don’t know enough. You don’t even know enough to know what you don’t know or how to tell if what you know is wrong.

That doesn’t mean you aren’t necessary for helping to solve this conflict. It means a lot of people are being more vocal than they have any right to be about a situation they know almost nothing about. And they’re doing it so they can feel morally righteous and on the right side and like they’re helping.

But if you actually want to help rather than just looking or feeling like you’re helping, then you need to listen to affected groups when they are speaking. You need to not declare either side right or wrong. You need to learn the difference between terrorism and activism. You need to understand the impact of your words on Muslim, Palestinian, Arab, Jewish, Israeli, and even south Asian communities who are constantly roped into the conflict by racists who just hate all brown people.

You need to learn about the foundations and warning signs of antisemitism. You need to learn about the same about Islamophobia. You need to be open to being wrong. A LOT. Because you will be. Because this conflict is complicated and even those of us who have been in it forever learn things and have to revise our opinions and stances. You need to not assume you are correct about anything and you should have reliable sources for anything you add to this conversation.

You outnumber ALL OF US. You outnumber everyone who is actually affected by the conflict by A SUBSTANTIAL AMOUNT. And your job should be to focus your efforts on FINDING A PATH TO PEACE. Move the conversation away from the personally fulfilling but globally damaging good guys v bad guys narrative. Move it towards a mutually beneficial peace agreement that keeps both Jews and Palestinians safe and protected and equal in their shared homeland.

This is not a Western European-American Christo-centric conflict. Stop applying your principles to it. Start considering that marching, calling senators, and calling for more or less bombs to happen to the “right” people isn’t helping. It’s not helping. You’re not helping.

What will help is listening to people who are actively working to achieve peace. Listening to concerns about ongoing attacks against Israeli civilians during ceasefire. Listening to ongoing segregation of Palestinians and depravation of essential resources from Palestinian Territories. Learn about the official political history of the international community with Israel and Palestine and what the motivations of EACH NON-I/P COUNTRY might have been over the course of Palestine’s 2000yo history. Learn how that might still influence modern western nations today. Learn about Jewish diaspora. Read about counterterrorism and propose or spread awareness of methods and means that can both protect Israeli and Palestinian civilians and defang or eliminate antisemitic or Islamophobic extremists and terrorists. Look for organizations devoted to SHARED PROSPERITY FOR PALESTINIANS AND ISRAELIS.

Furthermore, anyone who tells you that the conflict is simple or repeating a phrase over and over is simple or tells you there is an obvious good answer is at best uninformed but is most likely operating in bad faith. Their “simple” answer isn’t something every world leader ever has magically overlooked. It is one of the routine, recurring “solutions” that depend upon the disenfranchisement, death, or displacement of an affected population that they deem unworthy of consideration.

Israelis aren’t going anywhere. Palestinians aren’t going anywhere. Both populations deserve safety. Both populations’ religions and cultures deserve equality and, yes, explicit constitutional guarantees that they will have their religious and cultural practices respected and protected from violence or suppression. That may not fit with your modern secular ideas that having any guarantees for any religion in a constitution is inherently evil.

But we are dealing with two groups who have been brutalized to near extinction on the grounds of their religion and culture for millennia so consider that asking for guaranteed safety in writing is a pretty reasonable thing to want for everyone, actually.

[aelinfireheartgalathynius]

The discourse about Sarah J Maas being called a Zionist is giving witch hunt vibes at this point. Nothing I've seen has been conclusive at all. Just because she's a Jewish woman who went on birthright doesn't mean you should loudly denounce her as supporting genocide.

I am a Jewish woman who is pro-Palestine — so, not a Zionist — but who loves her Jewish diaspora culture. I have anti-zionist and non-zionist Jewish friends who went on Birthright because it's a free trip abroad. I know Jewish people who are staunch Israel supporters and I have Jewish friends going to pro-Palestine protests. Jews are not all one thing, and in fact it's ingrained in our culture that we have NEVER been one thing. There are Jews of all races, of all levels of religious belief, across the political and socioeconomic spectrum, scattered across the world.

If I were a semi-public figure (I say semi because Sarah has been clear that she is not the one posting on her public accounts and she doesn't have much interaction with fans outside of tours) people would probably have loud assumptions about me being a Zionist because I am publicly Jewish, I was a Jewish Studies minor in college, and I used to work at a synagogue. Guess what? I'm not a Zionist. I donate to UNWRA monthly, I do my clicks for Palestine, and I do my best to support with what I have. As a multi-disabled person that's all I can handle right now. If I were a semi-public figure I don't know if I would feel comfortable posting anything publicly either, because people are vicious and terrifying creatures. Sarah has a husband and child. She had gotten threats about fucking ship wars. This is so much more intense than ship wars.

Making these loud assumptions and calling for boycotting SJM, commenting on her social posts even though she isn't the one reading those comments — this is what antisemitism looks like. I know those of you who are angry at Sarah won't want to hear that, or will say that 'everything is antisemitic now' — which is a refrain that should raise red flags since it's the same argument other people use about transphobia, homophobia, racism, etc. You're the good guys, you support Palestine and you're anti-genocide and so on. But using stereotypes about an ethnic group to make assumptions and harass an individual of that ethnic group is not a good look even if you're convinced you're doing it for a good reason. Take that energy and put it toward spreading awareness, contacting politicians, attending protests, maybe even sharing messages from public figures who have posted publicly.

I understand that a lot of non-Jews (and a small number of Jews) are saying that it "has nothing to do" with Sarah being Jewish, it's just that she hasn't "used her platform." I implore you to consider why you are seeing and sharing such anger toward this one (fairly private) Jewish woman and not toward other prominent authors, especially those who are more active online, who have also not spoken out. Do some soul-searching and many of you may find that because Sarah is Jewish, you feel that she owes you a public stance more than other people. Because she is Jewish you feel confident enough to make an assumption about her views and post publicly about these assumptions. That is antisemitism at work. That is why this feels like a witch hunt to me, and why it is upsetting to watch.

As a reminder, I am pro-Palestine. I am not posting this to defend anyone. I am posting this to remind everyone that Jews are not all Zionists. Jews are not all one thing, ever. And deciding you get to hand down judgement on a Jewish person who has not shared their views publicly is antisemitism. It is deciding that you can assume negative things about Jewish people from afar. It is deciding that some antisemitism is actually okay — good, even, if you think it's warranted. I understand that people have other qualms with her writing, but those are not tied to her Jewishness, they're tied to her doing things like using the name Illyria and Illyrians for her ACOTAR series, etc, which is the kind of thing other fantasy authors have done over the years. Doesn't make it good or right but it certainly doesn't have anything to do with Palestine or Zionism.

If you disagree with me, please do not send hatred into my inbox. I am asking you to interact with this post thoughtfully. If your disagreement is going to be an explanation of how Jewish people owe the world every ounce of our energy, health, safety and lives, please step away and take a breath. I do not share your opinion. I have great admiration for those risking life and limb, risking jobs, risking arrest, to support Palestine. However, not everyone should be *required* to do all of those things, especially if you're disproportionately expecting those larger actions from Jews, thinking we "owe" it to the world.

Also, I want to be clear: This is not really about whether Sarah is a Zionist. It's about the fact that we don't know, and you cannot pretend to know. Most of the arguments I'm seeing are making a lot of assumptions, and that is the part that makes me uncomfortable.

If Sarah ends up being a Zionist, I still stand by this post, because it isn't about defending Sarah, it's about my hurt and disappointment in seeing people make assumptions rooted in antisemitism, assuming someone's views based on Jewishness and little else.

[jewishbarbies]

I used to be so radical about pro Palestine after October, but like 2 months ago, I put down my phone and sat on the floor and thought to myself: “this is an online war”

What I mean by that is that all of these leftists are literally pretending to give a fuck about Palestinians, they don’t actually care. They literally found a way to trivialise this shit. It’s not about the dead and dying Palestinians or Israelis, it’s about “my fav celebrity is better than yours because yours didn’t say anything!”, “omg I can’t believe that the hunger games is real now teehee 🤭.” Like this shit is actually real. Real people are dying. Real people are injured. Real people are kidnapped and raped. But social media has just turned this shit into another online beef thing. All of these people are just fantasising about some Katniss Everdeen rebellion, but they actually… don’t care. They just care about spreading hatred towards Jewish people and trolling online. Celebrity block lists because people don’t want Israelis to die, harassing people because they held an Starbucks cup in their hand, flooding the comments of anyone who is happy that the hostages are home, twisting the meaning of Zionism and colonisation to suit their narrative, bullying anyone who is Jewish, Israeli, or both, celebrating when Jewish people are attacked. It’s actually kinda baffling. The amount of power people feel when they hide behind a screen vs how they act in real life is so… strange. They’ll bully everyone for not saying anything about Palestine/israel but none of them are actually talking to Palestinians or Israelis, none of them are helping the communities, etc. Like it just dawned on me then that nobody (leftists) don’t actually give a single shit. They just want to hate and hate and hate.

it’s actually all really sad because the only people losing because of it are the palestinian and Israeli civilians who are asking for help. antisemitism is at an all time high and for what? palestinians still don’t have food, water, or medicine. none of the “demonstrations” thus far have resulted in any change or aid to gaza AT ALL. it’s all about social points, optics and online discourse. that’s it. just winning the online argument. there’s streamers and influencers fundraising millions of dollars “for palestine” but sending it to charities who give it all to hamas because they don’t actually care enough to do their due diligence, they just want to look like they care. it’s so hollow and meaningless and they’re absolute fools if they think we don’t know.

[matan4il]

Just wanted to send some love your way 🩵 Im a left-ish diaspora Jew who had, up until really recently, taken the stance that the conflict between Israel and Palestine was too complex for me to fully understand. I appreciate blogs like yours because they have genuinely helped me understand and see through the narratives that both sides are equally at fault, or that Israel is some colonialist war machine bent on gobbling up all available territory at the expense of everyone else’s lives.

It’s kind of frightening for me to have a stance at all, when the people around me were all silent on October 7th but have no issue hanging Palestinian flags outside their homes and filling their social media with slogans that they claim are simply “anti Zionist” but are absolutely anti-Semitic.

I don’t know how to explain to them that YES my heart bleeds for every average human in Gaza who genuinely does want to just exist, but that doesn’t meant that I think the onus for peace lays exclusively on Israel’s shoulders, and I don’t support disbanding Israel as a country. I worry a lot about being too one-sided or simplifying things too much; I still feel very much like I’m sitting in a middle position, due to those concerns. And it’s scary that it still wouldn’t be enough for people — FRIENDS, even — around me.

Sorry for the ramble. Thank you for your informative posts. Speaking as someone who finds a lot of joy in fandom stuff, I really hope the tides turn so that kind of thing can occupy more space in your mind than worrying does 🩵

Awww, Nonnie! I am hugging you SO MUCH!

My heart aches, because you're absolutely right. It doesn't matter how much we'll denounce racism, they will still call us racist. It doesn't matter how often we state that we want life and dignity for both Jews AND Palestinians, they'll still accuse us of supporting genocide. It doesn't matter if we'll criticize the government, they'll still claim we're brainwashed to silence our voices.

So if it's not about our actual beliefs and positions, what's it about?

It's about the fact that we're Jews. And we're told that we can only be "good" Jews if we throw our fellow Jewish people under the bus, even though for every other minority, solidarity is encouraged and celebrated. We're only "good" Jews if we give up our native rights by adhering to a narrative that paints us as colonizers of our own ancestral land, even as native rights are upheld as vital for every other indigenous group. We're only "good" Jews by doubting the multiple testimonies of rape and baby beheadings, even though every victim is supposed to be heard and believed. We're only "good" Jews if we agree to give up the right to self defense, which means we give up the right to live safely, to live peacefully... really, if we give up the right to live, period. All while telling us this is due to the value of all human life. They're literally gaslighting us with "All Lives Matter," and it's the same crowd who could recognize the issue with that slogan, when it was used to silence black people demanding that very same right.

We do not have to go along with this modern "witch test," where they try us by dunking us into water, and the only way to be "innocent" is to die drowning, so if we didn't, then we're witches, and we die still, because they burn us at the stake. I refuse to collaborate with the erasure of Jewish identity, history and rights, which leaves all Jews stripped of protection, vulnerable to abuse, and I will keep speaking, even if they call me every dirty name they can think of for recognizing the Jewish right to live, and to live in our historic homeland, especially as we have always been willing to live here side by side with others. Whatever they say about me, at least I won't be a tokenized Jew, that they can use to bully other Jews into silence.

We absolutely can be pro-Israeli AND pro-Palestinian, rather than turning anti-Israeli to "prove" we're good, pro-Palestinian Jews.

I'm sorry, IDK if I'm actually helping here! Just know that you're not alone in feeling this way. Actually, the fantastic Mayim Bialik also talked about this recently, so I'll give you her eloquent words:

(this is just a part of the vid, you can find the whole thing here)

Thank YOU for the kind words! And may we all get back to just being able to enjoy fandom as the fun, escapist hobby it should be. Sending you lots of hugs and love! xoxox

(for all of my updates and ask replies regarding Israel, click here)

[jellybeanium124]

I'm mad again. and honestly this post is me being an asshole and deeply upset about it because I'm not a good little jew

another mutual gone just proving my theory all of you goyim have a ticking clock in you until you can't handle this little jew ruining your perfect story of the heroic wonderful amazing revolutionary group called hamas who are going to free palestine from the evil nazi demons called the jews zionists who deserved to be raped and dunked in a volcano. I hope you feel guilty when you block me. I hope a part of you knows that you did it because you can't actually listen to minorities when it's the teeniest bit challenging to your worldview. I hope part of you knows you're being an antisemite. and I hope that guilt eats at you and eats at you until you die peacefully at the age of 100.

it was river himbohargreeves btw I don't even fuckin care anymore to vagueblog about who's doing it. funny enough our last two convos were 1) them reaching out to me to ask for advice on avoiding antisemitic tropes in their book about aliens secretly taking over the world, and 2) me reaching out to them after they reblogged a post that was like "the ofmd renewal campaign is stupid donate to hamas instead" where I was like "hey man you can think the renewal campaign is stupid but please don't reblog posts about how you should support hamas from a person who is a 100% dead serious hamas supporter because that's super antisemitic." and they apologized and agreed that was fucked up of them. guess they were lying the whole time! I hope river and hamas are very happy together. I wish I was seeing you thirstblog about diego and his stupid dad look rn but the occasional i/p post from your friend of three years was too much for you to take!

I don't want to lose any of you.

I have blocked TWO former friends, one who immediately said disgusting antisemitic shit on one of my posts a day or two after oct 7, and one who reblogged super antisemitic shit a few weeks later (after unfollowing me already so we were no longer mutuals). everyone else has been them deciding to end our friendship. everyone else has been them deciding the opinions of a jew are something that is too difficult for them to hear. everyone else has been them saying "I can't take this fuckin' kike anymore," never me saying "I can't handle this person's opinions on i/p anymore" because my bar is straight up on the floor. it's below the floor. my bar has descended below the ground straight through to china and is continuing to plummet through space to this day.

all you goyim have no idea what it this has been like, slowly watching every single person leave you because of, ultimately, who you are. because they can't handle the average jew's opinion. because mine is the average jew's opinion, at least the average tumblrina jew. I feel 100% comfortable saying that. I'm actually less "pro israel" or whatever the fuck than some people, and I've seen a lot of posts I'd reblog if it weren't for a sentence or two I really disagreed with.

none of you understand how this has foundationally impacted my ability to trust goyim. irl I'm "in the closet" as a jew for the first time. I meet new people now I keep fucking shtum and any stories that involve my judaism in some way are bent and edited to erase it. I went to jewish camp. I took a jewish choir trip. I'm actually jewish eastern european.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry I'm not a good jew. I'm sorry I'm not parroting the party line. I'm sorry I'm not reblogging 15 "free palestine" posts per day. I'm sorry I haven't denounced my people or our right to self-determination. I'm sorry I keep talking about it even though I shouldn't. I'm sorry I think hamas is evil. I'm sorry I think israel should get to exist. I'm sorry I don't say bibi is evil enough. I'm sorry I said you don't get to be antisemitic towards jews you don't like no matter how evil they are. I'm sorry I don't condemn the IDF's actions enough. I'm sorry I didn't share the AI "All Eyes On Rafah" image. I'm sorry I keep reminding you "from the river to the sea" is antisemitic. I'm sorry I'm not a good jew. I'm sorry I'm not a good jew. I'm sorry I'm not a good jew. I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm sorry!!!!

I'm sorry

I'm sorry

I'm sorry

I'm sorry

I'm sorry

I'm sorry

how can I grovel enough for you? can I be a good little jew? one who doesn't upset the goyim? one who has friends? how many of you haven't blocked me yet because even though you want to it'd be a bit awkward? maybe we're in a discord server. or just talk enough that suddenly getting blocked would make things weird. just make friend groups a bit tense and uncomfortable.

I wish I could be a good jew for you and earn your goyische love but I can't. I'm a rat bastard kike who thinks israel should continue to exist. shove me in an oven about it.

[frida-kahl-of-the-rocky-horror]

I am very pro-Palestine (as someone who grew up in the Middle East) and while I think there are valid criticisms of how large movie studios are treating actors like Jenna Ortega who speak out in solidarity with Palestine, what is not cool or valid are people saying this is proof that “Jews run Hollywood”

Now let me be clear, this is mostly white Leftists who have no direct connection to this conflict saying this

But let me explain why Jewish Americans have such a prevalence in Hollywood

1. During the late 1800s and early 1900s, prior to the rise of the Nazis, antisemitism was still prevalent, particularly in France, Germany, and the Austro Hungarian empire. Jewish people in many places were barred from traditional jobs, with one job they were allowed to do being banking (since in the Bible, it says Christians couldn’t loan money to other Christians but it didn’t say anything about Jews loaning money and hey people need to borrow money. A similar thing happened in majority muslim countries with Christians). Because when filmmaking when to Europe after being pioneered in USA it was an unregulated market, many Jewish Austro Hungarians or Jewish Germans worked in this industry because hey, being an accountant FUCKING SUCKS AND NOT EVERYONE WANTS TO DO IT

2. As restrictions both on cinema as well as antisemitic laws became more prevalent in Europe, many of these Jewish filmmakers immigrated to the nation of immigrants USA, and, due to how immigration flows from Europe transpired, they landed in the Northeast of the USA, where the American filmmaking market was headquartered and thus were able to quickly continue their craft, especially as filmmaking was still seen as a underclass job

3. Funny Gene

4. If you aren’t a WASP in the USA, that is to say, you aren’t privileged, you’re more likely to have a drive do better and actually create talent. This extends to all minorities including Jews. And because Hollywood was still racist, minorities who were white passing enough — like Jews, the Irish, and Italians (think about how many Italian directors and actors you know of) — inevitably rose to the top

I think this scene from South Park says it all:

Kyle: My message is, we can't control what people say, so we have to be smart about what we choose to believe. If one idiot says that a certain group "runs Hollywood", look into it. With very minimal effort, you will find that "Hollywood" is a multi-tiered industry run by tens of thousands of people from all over the world. In the past, Jews were shut out of most professions, so they came to dominate vaudeville, which back then was considered too low-brow for good Christians. Those Jews eventually moved West and started the first movie studios when movies were also considered work for the underclass, and their descendents are now a decent percentage of the thousands of people of all races that make Hollywood run.

Fuck Antisemitism. Free Palestine

[azhdakha]

The thing I hate about the leftist mainstream, forgive me for repeating myself, is that they mindlessly repeat slogans and get emotionally and frantically invested in these slogans, while in fact not really understanding what is there behind these slogans. Not even knowing it. Not even bothering to know.

And whenever you obviously try to ask them what exactly do they mean by these slogans and how do they plan to achieve it, they get mad that you question these slogans.

So recently I finally had the bravey to ask someone. Let me explain my point before that: to me it's obvious that immediate "Abolish Israel", meaning, if we just erase the borders on the nearest future and unite both countries into a future Palestine, it will most likely end up in violent clashes between ex Israeli and Palestinian citizens. Hear me, both populations if not hate each other definitely aren't chill to each other. Currently they are enemies. I think it's totally valid for Palestinians to feel hatred to their oppressors, but even if we say that they wouldn't express any hatred, do you assume that nationalist Isralites will be in peace and agreement with that situation and won't try attacking Palestinians, even if they arent the government anymore? Personally, I think that both nations have mutual hatred, and both are capable of violence and nationalism towards each other. Both have instances. If you add Israeli Arabs to Palestinians, Jewish and Palestinian populations will be around the same. Other than that, we all know that Israel has enough weapons on its territory and we don't know who's gonna get hold of it.

So there goes my question: how do you ensure that this crisis won't happen in the decolonized Palestine you all demand for? And another obvious question: how exactly are we gonna achieve the abolishment of Israel?

And not a single time I asked, I got a valid answer. People either don't know, or don't care. For example, I got replies like this:

Just imagine demanding something and not knowing what are you actually demanding. Imagine demanding something because you claim you care so much for people, but once you achieved it, the said people's well being isn't relevant to you. How the fuck does that work?

After that I tried to explain my thoughts, its much more possible to apply pressure to get a ceasefire and then change the Israeli government. Most likely and most farely Israel will have to pay reparations and must withdraw its control over current Palestinian territories. After that it will definitely require some time for both nations to be ready to unite, to heal Palestinian trauma and to undo the Israeli propaganda. That'll require cooperation from both Israeli and Palestinian government. And only then it will be possible and actually safe to unite both nations into one country.

After I wrote this, Op closed the replies.

And I want to say that I'm nor Palestinian, neither Israeli, so I am not the one to decide the fate of both nations and land they live on. I merely say what I think makes sense and is fair. I do not demand anything other than to save and value people's lives. Neither are these people. But they're emotional and passionate in their demands. This reminds me very much of russian opposition. Everyone passionately wants putin and his regime to get dismantled but has literally no idea about what to do next.

And despite what pro-putinists say using this as an excuse to justify putin's rule, it doesn't work like that. The only conclusion we can drive is that too often people who speak on politics the most loudly are the ones least educated and conscious on the subject.

[skiplo-wave]

Am I wrong for thinking that there’s a link between cancel culture and pro censorship? I don’t know… the whole thing of, ‘if you say or do the wrong thing, your career or life will be ruined and destroyed’ is quite disturbing to me. And yes, I understand that there’s nuance to it. E.g. someone like Trump or Weinstein or R. Kelly should probably not be in the same vicinity as most people because they pose a danger to the public and their employees (who could get raped or some shit. Trafficked maybe). Or someone like that lady from Baby Reindeer should be “cancelled” because she actually harms lots of people.

But society has created this culture of making individuals feel scared of saying the wrong thing in fear of their lives getting ruined. People wonder why more celebrities don’t speak up about the genocide in Palestine, well maybe it’s because if they say what people have deemed is the “wrong thing” they’ll lose their livelihood? It’s a double edged sword.

If they are pro Palestine, the pro Israel camp will crucify them and they’ll lose endorsements. If they’re pro Israel, the pro Palestine camp will crucify them and they’ll lose endorsements. So most choose to remain silent. But they’re crucified for that as well.

The Israel/Palestine issue does have nuance, it’s not as black and white as people say and I’m saying that as someone who is very pro Palestine. I was HORRIFIED at the amount of antisemitism thrown at Jewish people for mourning their loved ones and their loved ones’ loved ones on the 7th of Oct. Bullied people into absolute silence using antisemitism. But I’m also simultaneously horrified at the Islamophobia and anti Arab sentiment being spread around.

People tried to cancel Hozier because his statement wasn’t pro Palestine enough, same with Lewis Hamilton. God forbid someone shows compassion towards CITIZENS (not the government but CITIZENS). Same with Neil Gaiman, a literal Jewish man. God forbid he show compassion towards JEWISH PEOPLE.

[and yes, I’m aware that Judaism ≠ Zionism, but 73.6% of Israelis are Jewish people and majority (not all) of Israelis are Zionists, so are Jewish people abroad not allowed to feel sad about the deaths of other Jewish people?]

And reducing people to one statement is horrible. If someone is pro Israel, I don’t think that makes them a bad person overall just because of their one opinion. Someone could be pro Israel and a stand up guy. Someone could be pro Palestine and a bully towards everyone in their life, does them being pro Palestine erase the fact that they’re a horrible person? Does someone being pro Israel erase all of the good things they’ve done in their life?

Idk man, to me, cancel culture and censorship are two sides of the same coin. Censorship is done by corporations and businesses while Cancel culture is done by society. Both the same thing though.

And side note, if people think that all Israelis are sick and evil people, does this logic apply to Russians when it comes to Ukrainians? Or Chinese people when it comes to the Ughyurs? Or the Turkish when it comes to Armenians? Or Dominicans when it comes to Haitians?

Is every single Israeli/Russian/Chinese/Turkish/Dominican/etc a sick psychopath while every single Palestinian/Ukrainian/Ughyur/Armenian/Haitian/etc a wonderful soft and delicate fairy?

Is Obama a pure and good man simply because he supports Palestine? What about all of the Arab blood that he has on his hands? Is Zelenskyy an evil man for supporting Israel? What about all that he’s done and has been doing to support the Ukrainian people, his people? Which action are you going to reduce them to? The good one or the evil one?

My point is that black and white thinking will be the death of this earth as we know it.

And to reiterate, I am pro Palestine and do not support Zionism.

That’s just current culture with rise of social media and everyone having to be in everything ( regardless if it effects or about them)

I’ve seen people get upset at YouTubers for holding Starbucks cup in frame of their video. Followed by comments going “ how could you support them!!!?” Followed by said youtuber having to explain “ hey that’s old cup I reuse etc etc I’m not in loop but I support xyz”

That type of knee jerk reaction is very (??) cause on global scale YouTuber with 100k subscribers having product that supports a certain group ain’t really helping the main cause.

[pumpkinspice-tanuki]

"too much blood has flowed"

If you support isr*al or think support palestine is support t*rrorism or antisemitism you're free to GET OUT ! 👉 🚪

I don't likes to talk about this subject but time is going serious now

If somes of you know since long time palestine has been through a genocide, not since October 7 2023 but 76 years by isreal

I don't know about you but I have enough to see this ! I have enough that people turn back to the situation . To see these poor people suffering because of us everytime I want to cry and want their pain to stop too much blood too much death and almost everyone. the big industries. Support their murderer, isreal. Why they are hypocrite and so blind because their sponsors? It's the definition of unfair . Why just why these poor people have to suffer instead to get all support. needs. And help ? Someone who support isreal doesn't even deserve to being call a human. I can't even believe they think isreal is victime while it's the one who make pain. And worse somes A**holes make you guilty or brainwashing you by saying "bla bla bla supporting palestine is supporting terrorism and antisemitism" No it's false !. Stop traiting Muslim and Arabic people like that ! And the Jewish community does talk and support palestine, so they can put that excuse you know where!.

What you can do to help palestine?

Educate yourself: if you don't know or confused it's okay. If you wanna know what's it's going on. you can do research but be wary about what you're reading there unfortunately also zionist talking about it that might try to make you believe otherwise about palestine like saying "palestine is support antisemitism"(it's a example there somes of these I saw like that)

Donate and support palestine association/creators: if you're financially able that's one of the best ways. For creators I talk about palestine singer and artist many do a good work and you might also find artist that donate to palestine. but again be wary check if the association or artist aren't a scam

Boycott and find alternative: if you have the choice it's also a good way to help. Like I said many big industries support isreal I don't have all the boycott list but you can find them easily in internet I can give you the few funders of isreal I have in mind. Coca cola. Mcdonald. Starbucks. Disney. Paramount. Eurovision(they allowed isreal to participate). Carrefour. Amazon(streaming service including). And if you love Starbucks or McDonald's I have a good news for you since a few month you can find starbucks recipes easily in internet. For Mcdonald KFC and burger king you can find alternative, for usa you have Wendy's who even support palestine . Different recipes can being find too and are even healthier . And you can also goes to small business instead

Share and talk: also a good way. whatever the media you're using you can share the situation on palestine and all news or even donations links you can find. it may not being much to somes but it helps a lot to keep a contact with palestines.

What you can't do:

Guilt tripping: yes it's important to talk about palestine but guilt tripping is never okay. Like for the ones who doesn't have the choice of boycotting like minors or people living on a neutral or pro-isreal family. (Which is unfortunately my case. my family is neutral. my mom says it's not our problem. because it's not our country. but I don't care what she said. I still worry and care about palestinian for me they deserve freedom but I still trying to boycott the thing I can like somes video games stores) . But if it's just somes zionist. yes you can make them shamed about it.

Putting chain messages: I mean these like "isreal is murderer isreal is murderer isreal is murderer" that doesn't help !. And it's not really useful to do...

It's all for now. Sorry for my bad grammar and if I did a mistakes let me know . Let's give back their freedom to Palestinian