#my one single concern with anti-zionist sentiment is that it often doesn't mention that the jews are native to the land too

[smile-files]

i think there is an important distinction between "wanting the jews to have status in their native homeland" and "wanting the jews to have absolute power in their native homeland, at the complete expense of others native there." the one is valid; the other is horrid.

the only point i will ever agree with a zionist on is that we, the jews, deserve to call the holy land home -- that is where our people are from, after all. but i will forever be disgusted by how zionists are not only willing but *eager* to accept the idea that it is *our home and our home alone*, and that we have the right to treat the resident palestinians with violence and cruelty because of that.

and no, i don't know how exactly the politics could be arranged such that the land could be shared peacefully, but treating the current state of things as an inevitability and a necessary, unfortunate expense for our freedom and independence as the jewish people is horrible: just because i don't know the logistics of coexistence doesn't make me naive or unrealistic for believing it is right and possible.

so many jews implicitly swear undying loyalty to the state of israel, even those who critique it in every possible way -- if anything, this is just an insidious corruption of our undying loyalty to our people, our land, and our history. the palestinians obviously deserve better, and so do we: who are we, if the tangible manifestation of our beautiful religion has been built on the blood of the innocent? we were taught that human sacrifice for our god was cruel and unnecessary, and yet our people seem to be doing it anyway... are we not betraying god? are we not desecrating the land we, and so many others, call holy?

and i've heard people go into semantics about how there are many types of zionism, and that the type driving this horrible violence is just one of them, and that they shouldn't all be lumped together as unilaterally bad... i really don't know enough about it, sure, but i honestly don't care: the only people making this argument are those who, at the end of the day, are loyal to the israel that exists now -- otherwise, you wouldn't feel so threatened by today's anti-zionism which is, more than anything, in opposition to the israel that exists now and the way it twists the right of our people to live in our homeland into an entitlement to domination and destruction. and anyway, there are way bigger things to worry about (if you actually care about palestinians, that is).