#weaponized zionism

[odinsblog]

“I had a Zionist grandmother who grew up, she grew up in Poland, she was supposed to go to Israel to study. Her father had paid for her for the first year of tuition. And then in 1939, when she was in her last year of high school, Germany and the Soviet Union invaded Poland.

She ended up for a couple of years in the Soviet-occupied part of Poland, which was how she ended up in Moscow. And by the time Germany occupied all of Poland. So then she spent the rest of her life living in Moscow.

And 45 years after the end of the war, dreaming of being able to go to Israel, but not being able to because she was now stuck in the Soviet Union. And so I think I was very infected by, infected in a non-derogatory sense, by my grandmother's dream of Israel. And I had my own dream of Israel growing up as a, as a Jewish kid who was bullied and beaten up and teased.

I just wanted to live in a country that, that was majority Jewish. I could not understand why my parents would want to go to the United States and live in another country where Jews are in the minority. My parents on the other hand just didn't want to be Jewish.

Like their only experience of being Jewish was being systematically discriminated against. They were both born during the Second World War, so they were second generation, utterly non-religious and separated from any Jewish tradition, except the tradition of being a targeted minority. So they just, they just wanted to go somewhere where they wouldn't be Jewish.

And so when I was 15, a year after we moved to the United States, I actually went to Israel planning to stay there and didn't. For a variety of reasons, but one of them was being confronted with, with what I found at the age of 15, a shockingly racist society.

So the first time I went to Israel was when I was 15, it was 1982. And then there was like an 18, 17 or 18 year gap.

And I started traveling to Israel regularly from 1999, 2000. And the first time I went back was to actually complete the research on the book about my grandmother's. So it's been a good 25 years that I've been coming back.

And I think Israel has undergone a lot of changes in that time. But no, I don't think that like the kind of Ashkenazi Sephardic racism that shocked me in 1982 has found subtler expressions. But politics of settlement have only been exacerbated.

And I still find them extremely painful to observe, especially because some of my beloved relatives are settlers.

I did visit them this last time I was in Israel, because I really wanted to see what it looked like for them.

I was compelled to go visit them because of a Facebook post that my cousin made. And just to give you an idea, I really hold these people very, very dear. But for years, I would go to Israel, Palestine and not tell them that I was there, because I kind of couldn't face them.

So it's been a number of years since I last saw them, a number of years since I went to that settlement. But my cousin had posted something on Facebook. It was a picture of her son playing the violin.

And she wrote, in one of the houses where they stayed in Gaza, there was a violin. He played for his soldiers and then put the violin back. And I found that post-heart-rending and eye-opening, the picture of him playing the violin was not from Gaza.

It was from earlier, but he had apparently told her about playing the violin in Gaza. And obviously she was worried about her son serving in Gaza and so she's posting about it. And she wants to assert that he is a good boy.

But also, entirely missing from that post and from her world view is that somebody lived in that house in Gaza. That violin belonged to somebody. Like, it was such an extraordinary example of the blindness that we were talking about a little bit earlier that I wanted to go visit them and kind of engage with that blindness more.

And I got a really good dose of blindness to the point where, and we had this incredible moment when we went walking around the settlement after Shabbat lunch. And we sort of got to this hilltop where there's a swing and there's a little free library.

And we're looking out on a Palestinian village. And I said, what are we looking at, to my cousin? And she was trying to get her bearings.

And she said, where are we looking? And she named another settlement, which was kind of, which was not on our line of sight. It was like this literal example of looking at an actual Palestinian village that she drives past every day.

And before the village was sealed off after October 7th, she used to get gas there. And she knows it exists. But somehow she, also it also doesn't enter her geography.

It is nameless.”

—Masha Gessen, the descendant of Holocaust survivors, discusses the dehumanization of Palestinians (part 2 of 3)

[odinsblog]

Using that same logic, Albert Einstein would be considered antisemitic. (source)

The bill is a violation of the First Amendment, it’s unconstitutional, and it’s a massive censorship bill masquerading as a “protection” against antisemitism (eerily reminiscent of the 1930s).

I had the same critique with the Stop Asian Hate bill, because trust me, the racist justice system in America did not just suddenly start caring about Jewish people.

Some of the same Republicans who were applauding white nationalists marching, doing the sieg heil Nazi salute and chanting, “Jews will not replace us” are backing this bill, so please do the math.

Anti-Zionism ≠ antisemitism

The American Civil Liberties Union opposed the bill, telling members: “Federal law already prohibits antisemitic discrimination and harassment by federally funded entities.”

“[The bill] is therefore not needed to protect against antisemitic discrimination; instead, it would likely chill free speech of students on college campuses by incorrectly equating criticism of the Israeli government with antisemitism.”

The Foundation for Middle East Peace (FMEP), which “works to ensure a just, secure and peaceful future for Palestinians and Israelis”, has defined the shifting meaning of “antisemitism” in US political discourse.

“Traditionally,” the FMEP says, “‘antisemitism’ has meant hostility and prejudice toward Jews because they are Jews – a scourge that has imperiled Jews throughout history, and is a source of resurgent threats to Jews today.

“In recent years there has been an energetic effort to redefine the term to mean something else. This new definition – known today as the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance’s ‘working definition of antisemitism’, is explicitly politicised, refocusing the term to encompass not only hatred of Jews, but also hostility toward and criticism of the modern state of Israel.”

not to be a dumb bitch bc i understand that a lot of the people claiming to fight antisemetism actually just hate palestinians and are hiding behind jews but. why is a bill monitoring antisemitism a bad thing?? im jewish and asking this in good faith bc i want to be a good ally to palestine

If passed by the Senate and signed into law, the bill would broaden the legal definition of antisemitism to include the “targeting of the state of Israel, conceived as a Jewish collectivity.”

[arabian-batboy]

Crusaders ruled Palestine and most of the Levant for far longer than Zionists have ruled Palestine and just like how the Crusaders no longer control even one inch of Palestine and the rest of the Levant anymore, there will be a time where Zionists will no longer control one inch of Palestine anymore.

Its only a matter of time before their lobbying money runs dry.

[p-paradoxa]

(x)

after over 139 hours and at least 12 showers one of the Palestinian student targets of the chemical attack at Columbia University believes her endometriosis symptoms are being exacerbated. she’s also reported dizziness, nausea, lack of sleep, vomiting, lack of appetite, skin rashes, and pain, which no doubt compound on each other. Odortec, the zionist company that manufactures and exports Skunk, touts its “non-toxic, non-lethal” properties, but Palestinians and targets of police violence in the u.s., such as prisoners and immigrants, have experienced its harm for years. and despite the irregular periods Layla and other victims of crowd-control weapons experience, many so-called advocates of feminism and reproductive justice are presently concerned about things that don’t matter.

this is just one attack here in the u.s., and not one of the most lethal. but it tells us that the thin, racist veneer of “the ‘conflict’ is in another country, so we shouldn’t get involved, let’s worry about feminism here at home” never held up. Palestinians and close allies everywhere are having their collective struggle dehumanized for their Palestinian-ness. it’s zionism, and it’s colonialism, ethnonationalism, and (in many cases) run-of-the-mill racism and Islamophobia. we can call it what it is

[agentfascinateur]

This is Zionism:

View this post on Instagram

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

Shameful. Against any shred of common sense.

[news4dzhozhar]

[omgellendean]

[houseofpurplestars]

AL-JAZEERA: [occupation] tanks were firing intensely on the tents of the displaced in Al-Mawasi, northwest of Rafah, south of the Gaza Strip.

PRCS: The Red Crescent said that it had completely evacuated its temporary administrative headquarters in the Mawasi area of ​​Khan Yunis due to the falling of shrapnel on the headquarters building and the direct shelling and targeting, which posed a threat to the lives of the crews working inside the headquarters.

REUTERS (quoting US officials): The United States has sent 14,000 2,000-pound bombs to Israel since October 7.

[icedsodapop]

Watching the Israel defense team at the ICJ hearing, I still don't know if I was witnessing White mediocrity or weaponized incompetence in action.

[hussyknee]

the reason that the US treats the holocaust the way it does is so it can congratulate itself on "saving" jews from it and ending the holocaust. never mind that a huge reason so many jews died is bc the US basically wouldn't let us in after 2023 and we weren't able to escape Europe (many, many tried). Anyway the response to this isn't "stop thinking the holocaust is important" or "antisemitism isn't pervasive/non-Jews don't harbor subconscious antisemitism." Honestly your post is pretty gross and I've unfollowed. Sorry my intergenerational trauma no longer serves whatever political affiliation you have, and so now you have to minimize it as a reaction. Maybe Jews shouldn't be rhetorical tools at all. The Holocaust was a massive disaster to Jewish culture and soul and identity that will take centuries to heal from, and we never fully will. And none of that is what the US cares about. Be careful when you critique philosemitism you don't just veer into antisemitism instead. Because that's all philosemitism ever really was.

...why are you repeating everything I said back to me?

Me: ''The US governments

used philosemitism to weaponize the Holocaust by pushing a revionist narrative about their role in it

and making themselves look like the champion of Jews

to push their own military propaganda and deflect from their own ongoing war crimes and genocides

and turned antisemitism into a cudgel to attack anyone criticising Israel or the political establishment

(mostly BIPOC‚ so it looked like racism and anti-blackness mattered less)

all the while ignoring actual antisemitism or protecting their own Jewish citizens in any material way

as though the state had no role in empowering white Christian nationalism

because it served their purpose for Jews to migrate to Israel."

Some weirdo who can't read: ''you think antisemitism doesn't exist and the Holocaust doesn't matter??? Antisemite??"

I have better things to do than endlessly refute shit I never said nor implied and deal with your piss on the poor reading comprehension. This commitment to misunderstanding everything a PoC says and whitesplaining stuff we already said comes from your own racist suspicion and condescension. Dont let the door hit you on your way out.

[odinsblog]

“I'm observing such a huge gap between different social groups that I didn't even realize were different. I, you know, most of my friends are in the media. A lot of my journalist friends are just much better informed.

A lot of them have had experience reporting in Israel, Palestine, and are quite critical of both Israel and the antisemitism narrative. Then, like, my wife is a lawyer, and her circle is a little bit different, right? It's not dominated by media people, like people in the law or in other professions seem to be broadly much more kind of taken by the sense of profound insecurity and shift in the American Jewish experience.

I think we sort of see different things, for example, when we watch the hearings in Congress on antisemitism on campus.

The university presidents, of which there have now been two hearings, one with three presidents, one with the president of Colombia, and there will be many, many more. And what I see is a right-wing campaign against higher education that is weaponizing antisemitism as an idea, right? Not antisemitism as a practice.

And what they see is, with the possible exception of the president of Colombia, is people who represent institutions or lead institutions that they feel an affinity with, often institutions that they graduated from, who are not standing up for them. Which I find that viewing of those hearings somewhat shocking because people seem to be turning off their critical faculties. But people, intelligent, educated, politically astute people don't turn off their critical faculties unless they're scared.

So I think the underlying fear is real. But just because it's real, it doesn't mean it's justified.

I think a factual account of what we're seeing on campuses now is that this generation of Americans is far more critical of Israel than their parents' generation. And this is true of both Jews and non-Jews. I think that they look at information available to them and they see a 57-year brutal illegal occupation.

And they don't understand how it's possible that their parents and the politicians that their parents support and the politicians who come and give commencement addresses and all that other stuff that I can say about politicians, how it is possible that these people support that state? I think that is an entirely understandable view. It also reflects a huge generation gap.

I think some of those young people are assholes, and some of them are antisemites. I think it's a small minority of the protesters, and it is not actually part of the critique. The protesters' demands, the protesters' organizing beliefs are not in any way or shape antisemitic.

And then there are Jewish students who were brought up Zionist, who were brought up to identify strongly with the state of Israel, who are, I think, a little bit like my cousin in the settlements again. They see these protests, and even probably the participation of their fellow Jewish students in these protests, as threatening their core identity, as threatening their ties to their families, as threatening everything that they were taught for the first 18 years of their lives is true. And of course they feel rattled, of course they feel unsettled, of course they feel threatened.

Like, wouldn't you, if you felt that everything you had believed in was being turned on its head, and if you, by apparently reasonable people? And so you have a couple of options. One is to look at what the protestors are saying, to engage with the facts, to engage with the critique of everything you've ever believed.

There was a terrific, George Curran's podcast a couple of weeks ago with three Columbia students, one of whom sort of narrated that kind of trajectory, getting to university and finding this stuff out and having their mind blown. That's a very difficult path, and it's a very difficult path, especially if you are, say, a first year student in 23, 24.

And then there's the easier path of staying integrated in your community, in your beliefs, and saying this is antisemitic.

Because unfortunately the things that the protestors are talking about are so horrible that you can't say, okay, let's agree to disagree, that you can't hold both of these things in your mind at the same time.

You can't continue to hold your family's uncritical, long-standing support of Israel, and an understanding of what is happening in Gaza and the occupation that has preceded the war in Gaza.

So yeah, of course they feel rattled. That doesn't mean that they're being surrounded by antisemitism.”

—Masha Gessen, the descendant of Holocaust survivors, discusses campus protests (part 3 of 3)

[queerbauten]

QUEEN YOU WERE RIGHT

They don't wanna hear us; they just wanna dance. ����

[arabian-batboy]

When I was younger I was absolutely scared of the concept of hell, the only thing that was more terrifying than the unimaginable level of torture a person will experience in hell is the fact that they will always be immediately resurrected after dying to experience the same gruesome torture over and over for eternity, but now as an adult, I don't have much fear when it comes to hell, if anything the existence of hell comforts me and gives me some peace of mind,

Because now I know that it doesn't matter how many horrors, tortures, rape and deaths terrorists such as American terrorists and Israeli terrorists accumulate against my people, even if their regime continues for centuries to come, every evil act they have committed/will commit against innocent people on this Earth will not be even a fraction of a fraction of the punishment that awaits all of them when these pigs would be thrown to the deepest level of hell to suffer for eternity.

And while all of this is happening, all of their victims that they spent so much time and resources to make them suffer as humanly as possible, will be living in pure bless in heaven.

[agentfascinateur]

The US's love for Israelis unrequited:

[news4dzhozhar]

How deranged does the US look to the rest of the world to be proudly welcoming an indicted war criminal to address Congress?

[hathorik]

From the Government Media Office in Gaza:

The most prominent internationally-banned weapons used by the occupation army against civilians in Gaza:

BLU-113 Bunker-Buster bombs

BLU-109 Bunker-Buster bombs

SDBS Bunker-Buster bombs

GBU-28 bombs

"Halper" missiles

GPS-guided bombs aimed at destroying infrastructures

White Phosphorus bombs

Unguided "dumb" bombs

JDAM "smart" bombs.