#jews for Palestinian liberation

[iamdotwav88]

Always

[iwieldthesword]

I need to talk about this because it's making me feel insane.

Last week, my white leftist goyisch friends sat me, a wholeass antizionist Jew, down for a "talk" because they "needed to check in about Palestine" and make sure "our values aligned before we hung out again". They apparently needed to "suss out" where I stood on Palestinian rights, despite having had several conversations about Palestine and them being some of my closest friends. They needed to check, to search for and uncover my true values, because I had said some "disturbing things" that had made them "suspicious".

Disturbing things included:

Supporting IfNotNow which is a "liberal zionist organization" because it normalizes Jewish heritage in the Levant

Not bringing Palestine up enough, despite them also not bringing it up (this was apparently a test)

Mentioning that the Houthi's flag talks about cursing all Jews

Saying Stalin was antisemitic because of the "all the paw-grihms"

...and apparently other things they wouldn't specify, but had been tracking for months.

To clarify, I am an antizionist Jew from three generations of antizionist Jews. I have been vocal in my support of Palestinian liberation and in my condemnation both of Israel's actions and its violent founding as a state, and of zionism in many of its forms. I am a regular donor to Palestinian and Jewish NGOs and advocate for Jewish antizionism in person, at temple, and online. I have been talking about Palestinian liberation before they could point to Gaza on a map. But they needed to make sure, they needed to "suss out", they needed to check. And it's notable that the majority of moments that made them suspicious of me were times where I talked about antisemitism: not about Palestinian liberation, not about Israeli decolonization, not about anything actually relevant to Palestine. It was talking about antisemitism that made them check to see if I was a cryptozionist.

One of the most pervasive and insidious forms of antisemitism is the idea that Jews are inherently untrustworthy and suspicious. You have to constantly be on guard, track what they say and do, "suss out" the real truth. You have to keep them in line and and watch them carefully because they're liars and sneaks, and if you're not looking closely they'll return to their real values (and drag you down with them). This is where the idea of "cryptozionist" comes from and what it's directly building off of: the inherent untrustworthiness of Jews and the need to check. Because no matter how close you become you can't actually trust them, and any upstanding gentile should make sure to avoid associating with Jews before "sussing out" their real allegiances and intentions. You have to make them turn out their pockets, just in case.

I'm the first and only Jew they actually were friends with; I know because they've told me (strangely proud of it in the way white Americans are proud of that kind of thing). They've asked me questions about Judaism and fawned over how beautiful and unique it was for me to be connected to my community and culture. Pre-October 7th, one of them had even mentioned being interested in coming to services at my temple. She still has my copy of our siddur. But now she needed to "check" before she could be seen with me in public. Which is what it was: it wasn't a "you're my friend and I need to give you some feedback because you're fucking up" kind of intervention (which is normal and important to have), it was a trial. It was a last chance for me to prove to them that I'm clean-enough that they could afford to risk being seen with me in public, just in case someone noticed them fraternizing with a hypothetical Enemy and their leftism was compromised. It was a test to make sure that I behave properly when required to, that I'd play along and do what I'm told and turn out my pockets if asked (because any refusal would validate the notion of having something to hide). And above all it was an opportunity for them to reaffirm their own cleanliness by putting my imagined immorality in its place.

I did what I needed to do: I smiled. I apologized. I "didn't know that". I "appreciated the feedback". I turned out my pockets because what else could I do? They'd decided who I was and what I believed, regardless of what I said or did, so there was no point in explaining that they were wrong about me. If I had told them they were being antisemitic, it would just have been proof that they were right. Caring about antisemitism is a dogwhistle in the spaces they've chosen: it's not a real form of oppression, it's a tactic for sneaky, lying Jews to weasel out of admitting their true alliances. There was nothing I could say.

Nothing's really changed for me. I'm going to continue my activism for Palestinian liberation rooted in my culture and my faith. Antizionism is still not antisemitism. But I got a reminder that many white goyisch leftists fundamentally just don't trust Jews, and that the activist spaces they're in not only exacerbate their antisemitism in an increasingly insular echo chamber, but also allow them to finally vent their internalized bigotry in a socially-acceptable way. In my former friends' eyes, what they did was activism—disavowing a Jew (and making me feel humiliated, scared, and unclean in the process) as a cathartic stand-in for doing fucking anything for actual Palestinian liberation—but for me it was a grief that I'll be feeling for a long time: not only over losing friends I loved and trusted, but also over my sense of belonging and security in leftist spaces.

[rebel-girl-queen-of-my-world]

“From Palestine to Stonewall,

Break the chains and let them fall!

The first Pride was a protest,

We will not stop! We will not rest!”

I and a number of other activists marched with @pawboston, a queer labor rights group, in order to spread our message of #NoPrideInGenocide. We handed out fliers against pinkwashing with action items for supporting Palestinian liberation (see last images). The outpouring of warmth and support was, as you can see, deafening in the best way!

It was another gut punch to come home to news of the Nuseirat massacre after such a positive day. I can only hope our resources will do some good, and that the passion for justice shown by the hundreds of spectators, marchers, and activists alike will help us aid in Palestine’s liberation.

Let @bostonprideforthepeople observe how they have become the very corporate, complicit, cop-ridden Pride we sought to escape from.

[fireflysongbirdperson]

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A post shared by Jewish Voice for Peace (@jewishvoiceforpeace)

[secular-jew]

In 1977, Zahir Muhsein, a member of the Executive Committee of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and a military commander of the PLO, in an interview with the Dutch newspaper, TROUW, declared the Palestinian people to be a propaganda invention. His exact words:

“The Palestinian people do not exist. The creation of a Palestinian state is only a means for continuing our struggle against the state of Israel for our Arab unity. In reality today there is no difference between Jordanians, Palestinians, Syrians and Lebanese. Only for political and tactical reasons do we speak today about the existence of a Palestinian people, since Arab national interests demand that we posit the existence of a distinct ‘Palestinian people’ to oppose Zionism.

“For tactical reasons, Jordan, which is a sovereign state with defined borders, cannot raise claims to Haifa and Jaffa, while as a Palestinian, I can undoubtedly demand Haifa, Jaffa, Beer-Sheva and Jerusalem. However, the moment we claim our right to all of Palestine, we will not wait even a minute to unite Palestine and Jordan”.

“It is common knowledge that Palestine is nothing more than southern Syria” — Ahmed Shukeiry, head of the PLO, to UN Security Council, May 31, 1956

“… Palestine is not only a part of our Arab homeland, but a basic part of southern Syria.” — Syrian President Hafez Assad, Radio Damascus, March 8. 1974

“Yes, the existence of a separate Palestinian identity serves only practical purposes. The founding of a Palestinian state is a new tool in the continuing battle against Israel …” — Zuheir Muhsin, Head of the Military Department and Executive Council, PLO, Trouw, March 1977

In the Quran, there are 10 passages which state that Allah bequeathed the land to the Jewish people. In all of these instances, it is written that there is not only the right but the obligation placed on the Sons of Israel to inherit the land. On the other hand, there is no mention in the Quran of bequeathing the land to Muslims, Arabs, Palestinians, or any other nation not called the Jewish people.

[isorottatime]

“so then what? you want jews to have no place to go?”

regardless of any peoples’ “having a place to go”, it should NOT be coming at the expense of people already living there. any ties, religious or otherwise, shouldn’t ever mean you have the ability to kick REAL, LIVING, BREATHING PEOPLE, WITH FAMILY AND MEMORY AND CULTURE out of their ANCESTRAL HOMES in favour of settling somewhere you have never lived. EVERY religion & culture should have access to their holy & historic places. liberation for palestinians & their land doesn’t mean a reverse in the roles of oppression. this is the coloniser’s fear; fear that the subjugated will call for revenge; an eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth. this fear justifies their genocide. genocide, for the “safety” of the oppressor. the solution to the oppression of a people is not to expedite them to a land you’d like a convenient ally in. the solution is to create a world that isn’t so violently hostile it creates the need for a “homeland”. a “homeland” that, no less, is hostile to an entire sector of the people it claims to be home for.

FREE PALESTINE 🇵🇸

[madtomedgar]

The thing that's scaring me right now is how many well meaning gentiles just genuinely have no idea when something is an antisemitic canard and so they are internalizing and parrotting ideas that can will and do get Jews killed everywhere because it's couched in pro Palestinian rhetoric and all they know about this is that settler colonialism is bad and they are trusting any leftist or or professed leftists who are actually alt-right types actively using this horror to recruit. And all they knew about antisemitism is like. The Holocaust happened and right wingers are often antisemitic and that anti-zionism isn't necessarily antisemitism. So you have people who honestly do not know better reblogging excerpts from fucking Protocols and thinking it's good information that explains and supports the Palestinian struggle because someone replaced the word "Jew" with "Zionist," and misatributed it. And I know it sounds wrong to say that you need to learn about what antisemitism looks like and how it works in order to effectively advocate for the one group of people in history who are actually being oppressed by Jews-as-Jews, but if you can understand why you need to learn about and recognize transphobia in order to be an effective feminist, you can understand that.

Rootless cosmopolitan tropes, dual loyalty tropes, blood libel, accusations that (((they))) control the media, banks, or governments of other countries, assertions that it's all rich white privileged landlords from nyc/jersey, accusations of making up atrocities or causing their own oppression or using misplaced sympathy to silence criticism for nefarious ends or always lying doesn't stop being antisemitic just because someone used the word Zionist instead of Jews. Go read "The Past Didn't Go Anywhere" so you can avoid becoming Jackson Hinkle's stooge on accident.

[ocdhuacheng]

I love my mom but she’s such a fucking liberal

[rebel-girl-queen-of-my-world]

I’ve seen this at every protest and it’s one of the things that keeps me going.

I'm very tired of this "queer college students should stop supporting Palestine, they'd kill you there!" I watched a hijabi ask a trans man, "but what name do you want to go by?" A butch giving a woman their hoodie so that she could keep her hair covered after the cops took her scarf. Muslim girls making sure the lesbian couple got through the system together. Religious men making sure purple haired protestors got out safe. I don't want to hear it. Solidarity forever, free Palestine.

[theleafwarden]

Glad I took a Twitter break before the news about Gaza today. It's about to get even more worse. Bibi is gonna have the IDF completely eradicate Gaza now and I don't think I can handle reading anymore. Especially since we're a month out from Rosh Hashanah and October 7th 😮‍💨. Now I have to deal with the pro Israel sermon or whatever Rabbi is gonna say during Shabbat service 😓

[freedomalready]

z!onists are not indigenous to that land.

[caelstyx]

I wanted to highlight examples of actions I've seen people organize to protest the genocide happening in Palestine.

[ID: A tweet by Demilitarize Western Mass @demilitarizewma that reads “BREAKING. We're blockading all vehicle entrances to the L3Harris facility in Northampton, MA. L3Harris is one of the largest weapons contractors in the world, and they profit from war, the prison industry, and the violent occupation of Palestine..” End ID]

[ID: A tweet by Rebecca Pierce @aptly_engineerd that reads “Happening now: Jewish emergency protest blockading the San Francisco Federal building in solidarity with Gaza and calling for a ceasefire and end to US complicity in the occupation of Palestinians.” End ID]

[ID: A tweet by Jewish Voice for Peace @jvplive that reads “JEWS SAY: STOP THE GENOCIDE OF PALESTINIANS! Over two-thousand Jews protested in front of the offices and homes of elected officials in NYC, San Francisco, Chicago, Seattle, Indiana, Florida, and Los Angeles to demand action to prevent the genocide of Palestinians..” End ID]

Last thing I wanted to highlight was this message from Palestinian-American Author Nadia Shammas. You can read the full thread on twitter.

[ID: A tweet by Nadia Shammas @Nadia_Shammas_ that reads “I want to hear non-Palestinians to hold the same faith in their heart as we do that Palestine will be liberated. I dream of a world where, when it’s too painful to keep faith, I can rest knowing they’ll believe it just as hard for me, that they’ll carry it for me just as firm"]

[jelliclebellsthatjelliclesring]

Showed their true colours by getting mad

Jewish lgbt pride flags at pride marches 💖🧡💛💚💙✡️