#i started writing this reblog with a 'these two statements can should and must coexist' format and well

[faggotry-enjoyer]

a number of statements that are not contradictory:

jews are not collectively responsible for anything the state of israel does.

expecting the relationship israelis (whether jewish, arab, or otherwise) have to israel to be fundamentally different, more sinister, more antagonistic, more nationalist, or less valid than the relationship people anywhere else have to their countries is an antisemitic double standard.

expecting jews, whether israeli or diaspora, to have any specific take on israel is antisemitic (dual loyalty).

demanding to know any jew's take(s) on i/p is invasive and disrespectful.

attempting to divide jews into good antizionist israel-hating tokens and evil zionist palestinian-hating monsters is antisemitic.

jews are indigenous to the land of israel, and denying their connection to the land is antisemitic.

jews, like any other indigenous group, deserve the right to self-determination in their homeland. in our current world, the typical form of self-determination is the nation-state. therefore, the state of israel is as legitimate as any other nation-state.

the modern state of israel was established for jewish refugees, and continues to be a place for jews to go when the rest of the violently antisemitic world expels them or makes fleeing the least dangerous option. it is the only place in the world where jews are not an extreme minority, and the only place in the world where jews can be visibly jewish without fear. therefore, israel's existence is essential to jewish safety.

roughly half of the world's jewish population lives in israel, which would make their loss of sovereignty devastating to the jewish community as a whole

a number of significant aliyah waves are within living memory. there are very few jews in the world. jewish communities tend to become stronger and form more ties with each other whenever antisemitism increases. communication across long distances is easier than any other point in human history. all of these factors combined makes it so that many diaspora jews are only at most a few degrees of separation away from at least one israeli jew.

all of these factors, and probably more i'm missing, mean that most jews are probably going to have some kind of feelings ahout israel, which are often going to be very personal. expecting their thoughts to fall into your outside party line is antisemitic and quite frankly callous.

the state of israel has its problems and deserves to be criticized like any other country

most outside criticism of israel is done in bad faith, and israel is not treated like any other country. no other country has its right to exist denied or called into question so frequently or so widely.

antisemitic tropes are commonly projected onto the state of israel

the state of israel is commonly used as a rhetorical prop for justification or denial of antisemitism

if the anti-israeli crowd and broader discourse on i/p wasn't antisemitic, we wouldn't see massive increases in antisemitism every time tensions rise or large-scale violence breaks out in israel and/or palestine

inverting an incorrect point of view does not produce a correct one. inverting "jews are inherently more likely to support israel and anything bad israel does" to "jews do not have any connection to israel" doesn't get rid of the antisemitism. it's just a different antisemitic talking point.

i am not jewish. all claims about jewish community and culture i make here are based on the most common views i see expressed by the many jews i follow. political takes are heavily influenced by analysis and stories from a number of jews and middle easterners, especially israelis and mizrahim, but are ultimately my own and always subject to change. this reblog was written on january 19, 2024.

thinking about how so much of the left spent so long making dual loyalty accusations that so many jews had to reiterate that "judaism != israel" as in "just because i'm jewish doesn't mean i support anything and everything the israeli state does wtf" only for the left to turn around and start saying "judaism != israel" as in "israel has nothing at all to to do with judaism" as in "any and all discussion of antisemitism with regard to israel is irrelevant derailing" (at best) and have the gall to act like they're saying the same thing because those are the Right Words, right? forced them to put up a shield only to rip that shield from their hands and beat them with it. vile. fucking vile.