#pardon us for being a bit skeptical of the assertions that it won't happen again when like all of our history has been it happening again

[indecisiveavocado]

why I support the existence of the state of Israel (TW: Antisemitism, Shoah)

There's a tl;dr in the tags (starting after am yisrael chai assuming it doesn't get reordered by the Tumblr Gods)

Antisemitism has been pretty much a constant throughout Jewish history. Current reprieves appear temporary (historical ones were). And, while it would still be bad, I would be okayer with the state of Israel not existing if the world had demonstrated a strong track record that, where/whenever Jews were persecuted, they would immediately accept them in. It still wouldn't be great, but it would be okay.

But the world hasn't done that. Let's take the biggest example: the Holocaust. The world was silent - despicably so, even though any reasonable person would have known beyond a shadow of a doubt (shitload of citations available upon request, since I don't want to clog this up, but start by looking at the USHMM on America and the holocaust). The world had a perfect opportunity to show Jews they wouldn't fuck it up, and they failed.

Miserably.

(In contrast, Israel has a long history of helping Jews in antisemitic areas.)

So: we've established that a) antisemitism exists and likely will continue to and b) the world's governments, when given the opportunity, failed miserably at showing Jews they could be trusted to not leave us dying. A Jewish state could reasonably be expected not to abandon Jews. So a way to help alleviate concerns about antisemitism is to establish a Jewish state.

But where?

Jews are indigenous to the area roughly around Israel (again, shitload of citations available, but start by looking at the Wikipedia page of genetic studies on Jews, of which they also have many citations). It doesn't make sense to displace another group, and it seems reasonable to, if needed, make the state on their historic land. If one was to create a Romani state, it would be odd to put it in Nunavut, Canada. If you were able to get the residents of Portland and a few surrounding counties to agree to voluntarily become part of a Jewish state, I'd consider it. But, absent such an alternative, the default should be where Jews are indigenous to -- the Levant, or thereabouts. Borders are more tricky, but this isn't about the current incarnation of the state of Israel. It's about its hypothetical existence and blanket antizionist positions.

[indecisiveavocado]

why are jews skeptical of antizionism? a guide for gentiles

I'd be ok with the notion Israel wasn't needed if y'all could be trusted not to fuck it up when Jews needed somewhere to flee. But last time (to put it politely) you fucked it up real bad, and six million Jews died.

Fundamentally, antizionism is asking Jews to put our lives in the hands of the same people who saw us screaming for help, who knew that death awaited us, and did all of nothing. Nada. Nil.

(As demonstrated by the recent Amsterdam pogrom, Israel is totally ok and often proactive in flying Jews out. Around the same time as Palestinians were being exiled, Jews from all over the Arab world were being driven out in similar numbers. The reason you don't hear about that refugee crisis? Israel accepted them, without complaint or delay or objection, just urgency.)

Pardon us for being a bit skeptical of your assertions that it won't happen again when a constant theme throughout our history has been it happening again.

This is a slightly modified form of an older, longer, post's tags/tldr.