Is it bad that I don’t hate Israelis?
Is it bad that I don’t hate Israelis?
I was raised reform Jewish and am half Jewish by family history. I have ancestors who were victims of the pogroms in the Russian pale of settlement – specifically, all four of my great-grandparents on my father’s side, along with their parents (my great-great-grandparents). When they were children their families fled and eventually resettled in the USA.
There is another place that they could have gone instead: Palestine. At that time it was still part of the Ottoman Empire, and some of the displaced Jews of that time did elect to go to Palestine. As it happens, my ancestors chose the US, but they could have gone to Palestine if they’d wanted to.
The fashionable posture on the left to take towards Israeli Jews recently has basically been a combination of glibness and vitriolic hatred, often reaching the point of wishing death upon them (examples: 1 2). I don’t know… I just can’t really feel good about stuff like that. The fact that my family ended up in the US and not Palestine is really just a quirk of fate. I don’t think that my ancestors were, like, morally better people for choosing the US over Ottoman-era Palestine. (And given the recent uptick in “Turtle Island” discourse, it seems like a fair number of leftists believe my ancestors shouldn’t have been allowed to resettle in the US either.)
I think that Zionism (with the possible exception of cultural Zionism) has generally been a noxious idea throughout its history. I don’t think the state of Israel should continue to exist as it is currently constituted, and I think the near-ubiquitous racism among Israelis is shameful. But I also don't think that every Jewish person who moved to Palestine in the last 150 years was a bad person for doing that, and I’m not prepared to circle-jerk over the deaths of people that I have a fair amount in common with historically.
Am I missing something? Have I been hoodwinked by Zionist propaganda?
You're viewing a single thread.
exception of cultural Zionism
All forms of Zionism is racism as Zionism itself is settler colonial ideology. Instead of confronting Europe's antisemitism deep within its core, Zionism posits that all Jews must be cowards and submit to the same settler-colonial worldview of statecraft. In attempting to manufacture an arbitrary Jewish nationality, Zionism erases the uniqueness of the diaspora and the struggles of individual diaspora communities. Please notice that Zionism only gets popular when Jewish corpses get piled up, it was never about justice.
morally better people for choosing the US over Ottoman-era Palestine
They are, Zionism in its early stages was a terrorist organization that would commit attacks on the local Palestinian population. Zionism only succeeded with the European Holocaust. The US is a infinitely better option than joining Jewish proto-ISIS.
But I also don't think that every Jewish person who moved to Palestine was a bad person for doing that,
Intersectionality, these Jews are still Europeans who have no right to settle on the land, they still internalize their European worldview of settler subjugation and domination. Moving to the US would still be a better option than joining in a soon genocidal fascist replica of the same terror that forced them to flee. Why do Palestinians have to suffer for the actions of European antisemites? The Zionist is the European antisemite.
Of course, you're partially correct, Israelis are not the problem, they are a symptom of settler-colonialism, racism, and capitalism. But bombing Israelis and making them fear for their lives is the only language a settler will understand. All Palestinian/Arab violence against the State of Israel is in self-defense.
And given the recent uptick in “Turtle Island” discourse, it seems like a fair number of leftists believe my ancestors shouldn’t have been allowed to resettle in the US either.
Huh?
tldr the answer is always bill all backers
settler-colonial worldview of statecraft
Can you elaborate on what you mean by this? I have a feeling that I probably subconsciously believe some of the concepts to which you are referring.
For instance, would you consider this to be an example of a "settler-colonial worldview of statecraft"?
What view of statecraft do you support as an alternative?
you elaborate on what you mean by this?
The use of armed conflict, enslavement, and settlement of lands. You'll hear Zionists say that since they've been in the land for over 70 years that they have a right to it and you cannot take them away.
It's ironic because really no one is going to take them away. But they've internalized this view of the world of being the oppressor, that they can only see Palestinians as being the same oppressors to them.
Is the exact same paranoia that is common in all settler countries in Western Europe, in the United States of America and Australia.
For instance, would you consider.
Yeah, Europeans don't know how to do diplomacy.
What view of statecraft do you support as an alternative?
I'm hugely in favor of the Chinese view of diplomacy, especially in the win-win diplomacy, where foreign policy is non-interventionist and seeks the best interests of all parties.
China has demonstrated that this type of diplomacy is not only possible but highly valuable in creating a better, more just world.
While the US stays paranoid that its enemies that it's created will do the same sort of crimes to it, China doesn't seek revenge but only to make amends.