#we can't call ourselves “the homeland of human rights” and do that

[thelastofthebookworms]

Looking at the elections' results and feeling sick. How can all those people vote for the triumph of fascism is beyond me

[jewishvitya]

After writing this post about why I'm an antizionist, I got an ask arguing that we're more indigenous than Palestinians. That they were forcibly brought here from Europe. I blocked that person because they're known to harass Jews on tumblr and I just don't take anything they say as a good faith argument. I'm sure I'll have to block them again, they always make new accounts.

Anyway. I'm not a fan of the Khazar myth when it targets Jews, and I'm not going to replicate it onto Palestinians. And I could go and write about how they're genetically related to the area so obviously they're from here, because that's true, but I'll be honest. I don't particularly care. There's a reason I called the whole thing a distraction.

Why are these sorts of technicalities even worth bringing up? Do they suddenly cancel out the deaths? I described how I watched a building of 80 apartments in Gaza collapse from Israeli bombs, and you go "actually these people have European ancestry" as if that lie would make the blood we spilled mean less to me?

I'm not trying to say that it doesn't matter if they're indigenous. It does. It matters that the homes and lands they've had for generations were taken from them. It's important because our connection to this land can't cancel out theirs.

I still call the whole argument a distraction, because of the way I see it used. We have no right to uproot, displace and kill them to create ourselves a shelter. We want safety, but it shouldn't be at their expense. They deserve to be safe too. And saying "this is our ancestral homeland" can't change that.

What I'm trying to express is that every time someone argues with me in favor of Israel and zionism, it boils down to "here's why you shouldn't care so much about Palestinian lives and human rights." That's been my experience from the moment I started talking about this.

If this is your bottom line when you try to argue with me, you're not going to change my mind. I can't stop caring. Lives are lives. They're human beings that exist here, under a regime that harms them regularly and controls so many aspects of their lives, suffering ethnic cleansing for the sake of an ethnostate.

Palestinians deserve to be free from our oppression because they're people. It's that simple to me.

[eatdirt420]

Hey! So, I get where you're coming from (especially on the text limits thing— literally the worst), however Hamas is a direct result of the Israeli government. I believe it is incredibly dangerous when discussing the Israel/Palestine conflict to go "what about Hamas" as it feels directly into Israeli, and Zionist, propaganda.

Throughout this (because this is going to be a post), I am going to add things that you did not initially say in your reply, but that I find relevant both to other people's replies (which I have already responded to and encourage you to read if you have the time) as well as to the post itself. As you read this, if you go 'this is not my argument at all', know that it is in general as your reply seems to be common sentiment throughout both my replies and the discussions of other people as well.

I also want you to note that if I am coming across as aggressive or in some way that feels wrong, know that is not my intention. I want to educate before I want to argue; I believe you are either misguided or misinformed. This is not to say you are stupid (for, you are not— you are human), but it is to say that I would rather assume ignorance before I presume malice, so I do not create enemies that do not exist.

When I ask about the 'terrorist attack' Hamas did (as well as all the killing of civilians they've done, a lot of which has been falsified and disproven or remains unproven), I also ask what you suggest Hamas should do instead? They don't have anything— no army, no land, no PR team— they can't exactly go against a US backed military superpower without killing civilians.

Does Israel have to justify what the IDF does regularly? Do we ask Israel to justify their apartheid? Do we ask Israel to speak for their far-right military regime? Do we say the IDF hates Palestinians because they're Palestinian so equally in the same way we call Hamas antisemites?

(And, make no mistake, Hamas labels themselves as antisemites— ask yourself why they would do this? What leads them to this hatred?)

Or do we leave this to Hamas, to the Palestinian people, as a way to inadvertently discredit them? To make them seem just as bad? To, for ourselves, justify our own biases, to tell ourselves "both sides are bad in war" and brush away the burden of knowing that innocent deaths have to occur to find freedom? To prevent ourselves from thinking that some violence is necessary to survival, when all we've been taught is that violence is inherently bad?

No matter what they did (even if they somehow managed to strike a military base instead), Israel would still label them as terrorists and antisemites. Even if Hamas, and the Palestinian militias, found some way to only kill IDF soldiers with absolutely no harm to any civilians— Israel would slaughter them indiscriminately. Even if Hamas did not exist, every single Palestinian's life would still be in danger not because they are at war, but because they were born Palestinian.

The Palestinian revolution, with or without Hamas' existence, would always be labeled as unjust and antisemitic— this is the way of Zionist propaganda. It is in the best interest of the Israeli government that everybody believes that Palestine is, so that they may cloak themselves in the suffering of the Jewish people's centuries of suffering. I find this both abhorrent, by the way of the Israeli government, and unjustifiable that they would do this to a people that has had their own genocide less than 100 years ago. (I'll get into this more later.)

Now, I will attempt to put the Israel/Palestine conflict into perspective using a made up, but similar, situation using the Americans and the British.

(Do note I do not go into every single atrocity committed by the Israeli government against Palestine, most notably the Apartheid and militarized border of the Gaza strip. I fear this post would be much, much too long if I put all that in here.)

If, tomorrow, a million Americans woke up and decided to "return to the homeland of Great Britain" because they were "indigenous" and they deserved to live there— they say their ancestors never would've left if it was not because of the constant wars the Monarchy creates— would we call the British "Yankee haters" for being upset?

What if France came in and split Britain in half— giving all the fertile land to Americans? What if Americans still slaughtered British people, encroached on the British allotted land, after this— they described them as "human animals"— and came into their homes (individually, but still backed by their settler government) and slaughtered British people? When the British people fight back and the Americans drone strike all of them?

Would we say the British hated all Americans if their American-created, American-backed, 'terrorist' group said they 'hated all Yankees'? Would we condemn them for saying so?

Then, the British kill a civilian. Maybe they kill this civilian so horrifically and immorally and parade their body around like a trophy to be won— do we debate whether or not their cause is now in danger? Do we debate whether or not they deserve our support in their freedom?

To believe the Palestinians have the right to fight back violently, but to condemn them for doing so when violence leads to civilian death is a juxtaposition. Israel already had all the International support ($2B a year from the US government alone, not to mention the iron dome they use as their defense) and Hamas being 'terrorists' changes nothing.

My greatest criticisms on antisemitism are aimed directly at the Israeli government and Zionists, who know exactly what has happened to the Jewish people and have put them in danger once again by creating a self-proclaimed Jewish ethnostate and choosing to commit genocide against the Palestinian people. They know exactly how oppression ends (historically)— it is not the oppressors who win. The Jewish people actively have been genocided and discriminated against— and they have survived. How do they think their own Palestinian genocide would end? In the oppressors finally winning?

I keep seeing posts in regard to the attack on Israel caused by Hamas (mostly in support of Israel), and I feel it imperative that I mention some context:

For years (in particular, since 1967, though the conflict has been happening since the 1940s), Israel has been occupying Palestine with apartheid conditions (i.e. Palestinians are not allowed to use certain roads, live in certain areas, have basic necessities, or even leave the Gaza strip) in an "open air prison", of which Israel regularly bombs.

Often and consistently, Palestinians have tried to protest, boycott, and use other non-violent approaches to bring about their freedom. Almost every time (if not always), Israel has answered harshly, violently, and without mercy.

While antisemitism is never excusable, do not make Israel (as well as Zionism) and Judaism synonyms— a religion (nor a specific ethnic group) should never be hated for the actions of a government body. Do not forget that the enemy will never lie in that of a common man, but that he will always be a man with power who commands others to harm. (In this, the enemy is not the Israeli people, but in the Israeli government.)

Still, when a different ethnic group responds to colonization and its subsequent slaughter, of which they have been consistently and systemically oppressed, it is of no shock that they fight back. Revolutions are never won through peace.

As we have seen time and time again when oppressed people fight back against their oppressors (Vietnam, Ireland, South Africa, Korea, etc)— the oppressed often win. There is no moral high ground in war, but Palestinians have no way to be free through peaceful means— that only lies with the Israeli government.

So, I do urge you to do your own personal research (learning the basics of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, which I have given some links to through the underlined texts) before you give into outrage. Perhaps, you will determine that I am wrong and that Palestinians should just give in to Israel and "be the bigger man." Regardless, I am of the belief that giving into your oppressors does not make you any less oppressed.