This Is Not Jewish

thehummusdance:

Palestine has always been the framed picture in the living room. The song and dance. The magnificent rosary decorating the hallway wall. My parents, along with numerous family members, only heard about Palestine. I did, too. I knew from a very young age that Palestine was the cause that I was to live for, and if necessary die for. I was lectured that it is beautiful enough to deserve so.

Like the 7 million Palestinian refugees around the world I only dreamt I can one day visit and go to where all of my childhood fables took place. And when I felt I was old enough to bear seeing my imagination come to life, I asked to be allowed a visit. I felt I was now capable of holding the responsibility to fulfil everyone’s dream.

When I expressed my desire to go, I was faced with either great aunts falling back and gasping or grandmothers patting my shoulder in pride. I really didn’t know what to make of it. On one side, my family was all of a sudden worried for my safety and visiting the homeland has magically turned from being a dream into some irrational anxiety. On the other hand, however, others told me I was crazy but went on saying “I can give you the address of our old building that we owned in Jerusalem. Check it- if it’s still there, will you?”

None of this really jolted my desire to go. I knew all that I should expect: hours of waiting in grey halls, hours of investigations, more draining hours at unnecessary checkpoints; I knew my suitcase was to be open wide and that all of my belongings would be on the filthy floor and that the sun would melt any sanity I had left. I knew I should expect hardship. Yet, I also knew the way there by heart. Literally. There was no turning back now. I had obtained my degree and I had no other plans.

My passport and other documents have been scanned around 30 times. Pictures of me not smiling were scattered across a number of desks. Mother’s name written the other way around and every information I thought irrelevant were all noted. I was supposed to leave the Palestinian Embassy and “pray” as I was advised. I did.

“Now it’s up to them”

“I hope they like my face”

“Well”

“They thought I was from Haifa because of Mum’s name anyway”

“Is that good or bad?”

I waited to know. For months, January through April. And after a while it didn’t matter whether or not I was to be graced with the Israeli approval of my application for a Permit. Because for a while I felt really, really stupid. I didn’t want to have to apply for a permit. Still, my desire was greater than my pride. For once I let it win. So I prayed my application accidentally slips from between the hundreds of applications into the pile of those permitted. I prayed my application falls into the hands of someone newly employed. I prayed my application would be previewed at ten in the morning; not that early nor too late in the day.

But I guess it’s always too late in Palestine and everyone is too old with emotions. Everything is rigid. The land doesn’t change, does it? I am not permitted a visit to Palestine. No note left in the explanation section.

This current state of turbulence is not because my application for a permit was declined. Nor is it all of these kids boasting about getting their Birthright Application through who must be packing by now. It is the the fact that while I know street names in Palestine, most of those who are granted a free trip to the land are not the least acknowledged on the languages, the geography or the history no matter how controversial. Nothing. Yet, I would either be fortunate to go through hell or don’t get to go at all. Simply because, unlike those teens, I am anything but Jewish. These kids do not know my story even exists. They are told that while Palestinians are not real, their newly found ties to the land, however, absolutely are.

For them it’s “Israel this summer!”, for me it’s “sometime, hopefully”. But perhaps next year in Jerusalem. Perhaps not. It’s a game now and I will try again.

Reblogging here because this should not be ignored. Of course Diaspora Jews should be able to visit our homeland, but when that same right is denied to others with more recent or direct ties to the land, that’s fucked up. This is privilege and racism at work, and it’s high time we stood up and called it out for what it is.

thearcanetheory:

There is actually very little to the Israel/Palestine issue mess to which the Holocaust is currently relevant or applicable to.

Talking about the post-war trauma of the Jewish people: relevant

Talking about the guilt the Western world had in perpetrating and not stopping mass genocide on an industrial jaw-dropping scale, and how they tried to fob that off in various ways, thus resulting in this bullshit: relevant

Talking about how the West will do anything to get rid of its ethnic minorities including shoving them out of their borders even directly after a mass genocide: relevant.

Talking about the anti-Semitic shit imported into the Arab world pre-, during- and post- war and how that affected Jews in the Middle East: relevant.

Talking about “the Holocaust happened therefore Israel is perfect and can do no wrong”: NOT RELEVANT. (also wrong)

Appropriating Holocaust imagery to launch it against either Jews or Palestinians: NOT RELEVANT (and also really gross and factually incorrect. DON’T.)

Trying to emotionally manipulate the audience in (EITHER) specific political direction: REALLY GROSS AND IRRESPONSIBLE. DON’T.

Talking about the Holocaust when confronted with the horrific shit Israel has done: NOT REMOTELY RELEVANT

The Holocaust happened. It happened over 50 years after the formation of Zionism and Hebrew national self-determinant thought, in it’s various streams. It happened after other genocides and ethnic cleansings. IT HAPPENED.

But it is NOT your political prop to use to beat others over the head with. Not on either of the many sides of this political mess. If you use this horrific event in history as nothing more than an emotional club, you receive my hairiest eyeball. 

THIS MESSAGE IS ALSO RELEVANT FOR MY FELLOW TRIBE MEMBERS.

Yes, our people suffered the Holocaust, alongside others. This does not give you the right to take our history and use it with which to beat your opponents over the head, especially when whipping out the Holocaust instead of addressing actual issues regarding Israel-Palestine. DO NOT TREAT THE HOLOCAUST AS YOUR GET-OUT-OF-JAIL-FREE-CARD. (Which is a different thing altogether than referencing the actual effects of the Holocaust re: the conflict.) If you cannot win your argument without resorting to emotional manipulation and not facts, I strongly advise you to reconsider your argument.

This is a very problematic topic because of the way the Holocaust DID interact with and reverberate along many social axis, especially directly post-war. It’s a complicated topic and ought to be handled with care. Take care that you do not use an emotionally fraught piece of history as an emotional club, rather than the watershed history-altering event/series of events that it actually was. To do so is to reduce the significance of our history, and the history of all who suffered alongside us, and to over-simplify some truly complex, but incredibly important historical and sociological processes.

GENTILES

Recognize the incredible seminal importance of the Holocaust, especially in the context of a long history of the Jews being persecuted for their ethnicity and their religion, and generally being “foreigner” and “not from here.” (Europe especially (but other places as well) has a very long history of telling Jews to “go back to where you came from” and the ever-present “go back to Palestine!!!” In fact, many white gentiles tell us that today - both “get out of Palestine!” *as well as* “go back to Israel!”)

 Understand the incredibly deep trauma the Holocaust has had on the entire Jewish people, and the inter-generational affect of this. Realize this, and LISTEN when a Jewish person is trying to explain this to you, especially when it comes to the cultural milieu and mindset of the modern Diasporic Jew, and Jews in general. Do not call it “the Holocaust card.” That shows us that you aren’t listening when trying to explain the VERY REAL EFFECTS of such an incredibly large genocide that destroyed over 1/3 of our people WORLDWIDE. Not one-third of European Jews; ONE THIRD OF ALL JEWS IN EXISTENCE ON THE PLANET. That’s fucking huge, and it is within living memory. LISTEN WHEN WE TALK ABOUT OUR HISTORY AND HOW IT AFFECTS US TODAY. You are free to disagree, but to shut us down wholesale is another thing altogether.

I also highly recommend everyone read these posts.

mohandasgandhi:

talldarkarab:

Oscar Nominated Film  ”5 Broken Camera’s is screened to Israeli Youth”

Watch this.

This is important. This matters.

(via zaatarwitholives)

readyokaygo:

zaatarwitholives:

Oh, I guess this is what I and most of the Jews I know believe. And here I thought we believed that Jews, after two thousand years of brutal and deadly persecution, have a right to self determination in our homeland just as Palestinians have a right to self determination in theirs and that, with effort, we can achieve both.

But thank you to the white Catholic who took it upon himself to explain what millions of Zionist Jews believe to us.

Your homeland? Please tell me how far back you can trace your ancestry to the land of Palestine and why YOU deserve the right to get citizenship to a state that was established through the ethnic cleansing of nearly a million people. I would love to know. Please explain to me why YOUR “self-determination” which is a Eurocentric concept, can come at the expense of the right of return for millions of Palestinian refugees who were forced out of homes they have been living in for centuries. Oh, and let’s not ignore the fact that you are white yourself. You are not “Middle Eastern”.

Yo, Brandon, I’m really happy for you and I’m going to let you finish, but you just posted some of the most laughable bullshit of all time.

You are not Jewish and thus have no right at all to define a multifaceted, exclusively Jewish movement for us (and no, you didn’t have that right back when you were an Israel-supporter, either), especially when you won’t even do your damn homework. Yes, there are militant branches of Zionism—and yes, they suck major racist ass. There are also non-militant, “one state solution,” and even nonstatist/antistatist branches of Zionism, and you need to stop erasing and talking over them. Furthermore, while the political aspect of Zionism did take its cue from European movements, it is intellectually dishonest to paint it as a purely European movement by dismissing or omitting the ongoing Temple-mourning and Israel/Jerusalem emphasis of Judaism dating all the way back to 70 C.E, without which there would be no concept of “Jewish nationality” to form a movement around. This is especially true when you play up the European nationalist influence on Zionism and Israel’s undeniable modern-day racism, but downplay the European nationalist (specifically, Nazi) influence on the Arab nationalist movements that opposed the partition plan and attacked/robbed/expelled Mizrahi Jews—and which still influences Arab dialog about Israel today.

For the record, this is an explanation of Zionism from someone actually qualified to talk about it. Next time you get an ask like this, your white Christian ass needs to defer.

Now, let’s break this fuckery down in detail, shall we?

Zionists believe that all non-Jews are innately antisemitic and the only way Jews will be safe from another Holocaust is if they live in a state that is exclusively their own in which Jews have absolute authority and sovereignty.

If that were true, there would be no Zionists living in the Diaspora. Instead, there are millions. Also, if Zionists believe that living in Israel makes them safe from another Holocaust, why are the right-wing, Revisionist Zionist scumbags in Israel so terrified that Iran having nukes will lead to “a second Holocaust?” If you’re going to make shit up, at least try to make it plausible.

They have absolutely no desire to live in equality with non-Jews in the state. It is not only militant and fascist, but is fundamentally an ethnic supremacist ideology.

Given that Jews living in Arab states (remember them?) as well as those in European states have been treated like absolute shit for centuries, I can’t imagine why they might be hesitant to live under a Gentile majority again.

Not wanting to be an oppressed minority anymore is separatist ideology, not supremacist, and Jews are hardly alone in starting a separatist movement in response to oppression. We can certainly debate whether separatism is a legitimate or helpful response to ethnic oppression (and by “we,” I don’t mean you, Mr. White Christian Male), but the fact that Diasporan Jews were and are an oppressed group, not a privileged one, is not up for discussion. And on that note…

Oh, and let’s not ignore the fact that you are white yourself. You are not “Middle Eastern”.

Whoa there, sonny. You are correct that Ashkenazim are not “Middle Eastern” (to say otherwise is to erase Mizrahim), but we are not a European people.

Yes, most Ashkenazim are noticeably lighter than their ancestors. You may also notice that many blacks and Natives in America are significantly lighter than their ancestors. This isn’t the result of magic, it’s the result of rapes and forced assimilation. The reason Ashkenazi Jewish culture is so diluted and Europeanized is because the vast majority of our Semitic culture was systematically stripped from us over centuries by white Christians and because we tried to “fit in” to avoid being fucking murdered. And in spite of all this, Europeans reviled, persecuted, and murdered us because we were Semitic. (There’s a reason the Germans chose the term “antisemitismus” for their hatred. and it’s not because they saw us as white Europeans.) In spite of all this, when Europeans picture an Ashkenazi Jew, they think of “swarthy” skin, dark eyes, large “hook” noses, and tightly curled dark hair—all of which are Semitic traits, not European.

Ashkenazim have been persecuted by white Christians (like you) for millennia for being too Semitic, and now that we dare to embrace our Semitic roots, you tell us we’re just white? No. Sit your privileged, antisemitic ass down, kiddo.

Finally, while I’ve got your attention, you also need to stop erasing the existence of Mizrahi Jews (not “Arab Jews,” as I saw you claim in another post), both those who have lived in Israel itself for millennia and those who were treated like shit in—and ultimately booted from—Arab countries for not being “Middle Eastern” enough. Their experiences are not just a talking point for you to White Savior over when it suits you and for you to ignore as inconvenient whenever Jewish roots and rights in the Middle East come up for discussion. They can speak for themselves—and if you really care about them, you’ll shut up for two seconds and listen.

You are neither Arab nor Jewish, let alone Palestinian or Israeli. You are a white Christian. You have privilege over every single person with actual skin in this game. It’s high time you owned that and stopped talking over us, regardless of which side we are on (no, I haven’t forgotten that back when you were busy appropriating Zionism, you spoke over Arabs, too). White Gentiles got Israel and Palestine into this mess to begin with—the last thing anyone in those countries need is another White Savior.

I award your latest round of casual antisemitism and privilege one star:

(via readyokaygo-deactivated20130325)

docloudscomeinpurple:

thearcanetheory:

antisemites-of:

n-morgan:

With BDS, it’s never boring. Although formed initially to mount pressure on Israel, increasingly BDS campaigns are now, bit by bit, focusing on silencing any pro-Palestinian voice with an IQ over 90.

For the BDS leadership, intellect is a threat - and they may be right.

…

It’s amazing how antisemites will literally turn anything into a Jewish conspiracy if they’re allowed to think on it long enough. This is so outlandish that I’m surprised anyone with a heartbeat manages to believe it.

From the #zionism tag.

HAHAHA

AAHAHAHAHAHAA

oh wow *wipes tear*

That’s right: if it’s not out to destroy Israel, then it’s a Zionist conspiracy. You know, not like there can be any sort of middle ground that champions the rights of Palestinians without wanting to destroy a fucking country. Nope. 

The kicker:

Do you really want to form a totalitarian movement dominated by an intellectually lame ‘big brother’ that will tell us exactly what we may talk about and how we may express ourselves? Do you really want to turn Palestine into a synagogue and the solidarity movement into a yeshiva?

(Emphasis mine.)

Yes, dude, tell me more about how you’re anti-Zionist, not antisemitic.

(Source: newstome1)

Loolwa Khazzoom, “A Big Piece is Missing in This ‘Peace’”

This is a must-read for Ashkenazim and for anyone of any background who wants to discuss Israel/Palestine.

thearcanetheory:

Alright, I’ve gotten this before, and I want a show of hands from other Jews here who’s gotten something like this too or had these experiences

Throughout college, I was part of Hillel, which basically functioned like a “safe space” for me. I could eat kosher food there, daven, talk about Jewish issues, speak in Hebrew and use Yiddishisms freely, and basically hide out in the that little club room whenever anti-Semitic shit got really heavy on campus. I would bring my friends, gentile ones too, and it was just a nice damn place to chill.

Sometimes we “tabled” which was slang for setting up a table so new freshies would know we existed and they’d come find us if they needed or wanted to. Sometimes though, people would give us shit, esp during Israel Apartheid Week.

Note: Hillel is a JEWISH club, not an “Israel Advocacy” club. Got that? Good.

Now, sometimes, I had conversations with these people. Sometimes I had conversations with MSA folks or SJP folks, and sometimes I got asked

“Why aren’t you working on the other side?” ie, for a Palestine group.

And I would look at them straight in the eye, and said ” there’s no room for me there.”

One year, I tried it. I tried getting more involved in Palestine events, going to speeches, etc. This one white girl…I think she converted to Islam? Maybe? She didn’t cover her hair, she was just a white Russian girl who took delight in giving shit to all the Jews she knew. And she was the worst, but she wasn’t the only one. I was literally driven away from bridge building because I am a Jew.

I want that to sink in for a bit.

It didn’t matter how pro-peace I was, or even how so many had urged me, URGED ME, to “join them” because the moment I tried, I wasn’t fucking safe.

So maybe, just maybe, you should think about why more Jews aren’t openly involved in whatever Palestine group you’re running. Maybe you should think about why there are huge outcries by Jews of all stripes against groups like BDS, or why your classmate with the kippah looks super stressed during your not-at-all anti-Semitic “Israel Apartheid Week.”

Maybe you should think about just how fucking often anti-Zionism is allowed to mask anti-Semitism, and how fucking unsafe that makes us. And maybe you should LISTEN when we talk about it.

And maybe you should realize that we don’t owe you anything. We don’t owe it to you to join unsafe movements in unsafe spaces that put us in danger to appease YOUR Western, white sensibilities. We don’t owe you because we share the same ethnicity or religion as a state you deride. WE DON’T OWE YOU SHIT.

And we certainly don’t owe you our safety.

PS, 2 state solution 5ever. Bitches.

Excuse me, I need this on my blog. Bolded for truth.

thearcanetheory:

yourcanadianfaggot:

Truth is I have nothing against Jewish people and if  I joke around saying stuff about them ,don’t take it to heart.Though I am against what’s going in Gaza and I have every right to speak my opinion,what gives Israel the right to take their land?Because they lived there like thousand of years ago?They left and that’s all .Then Holocaust happened does that give them the right to come back and do what Hitler did to them to the Palestinians ?No they should be understanding and that it is Palestine’s land,I don’t agree on the way that they are fighting to get it innocent Jewish and Muslim lives are being taken.

“A rich man’s war but a poor man’s blood”

It isn’t right,it isn’t fair what going there.Though Palestine is now considered a nation,freedom isn’t theres yet.

Yeah this isn’t tagged to Jewish people directly but to Zionists

One, your personal politics don’t belong in the Jewish tags. Period.

We are an ethno-religious group, not tools for a certain specific political platform, least of all yours.

why didn’t you just leave it on the zionism tag, ffs

Two, your history is bad and you should feel bad. Stop pretending the Jewish people willingly left their ethnic homeland. Exile was forced. Genocides are common. Did you really think this all began and ended with the Holocaust? White girl, PLEASE.

Three, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, horrific as it is, is in no way comparable to the Holocaust. PERIOD. One was a genocide committed by white supremacists in the name of white supremacy. The other is an ongoing ethno-nationalist conflict to do with dueling narratives of self determination among two indigenous ethnic groups, one which has great power and privilege over the other. Apples and oranges, little girl.

In conclusion, get your ignorant shit the fuck off our tags.

Getting reeeeeeal tired of people who pull the “I have nothing against Jews, but [insert longwinded anti-Semitic screed here].” Here’s the thing: it doesn’t matter if you “have something against” us or not. If you behave and speak like the people who do, you’re doing just as much harm.

Read this, read an actual history book, and stop tagging your bullshit as if Jews and Zionists were interchangeable words, because that bullshit gets Jews with no vote or voice in Israeli policy beaten or killed.

(Source: sidr4)

So I’ve been on some lefty mailing list (the “Real Majority Project”) I signed up for at a discussion of the fighting in Gaza at my school a few months ago. Mostly it’s been OK stuff. But then today they sent a bunch of Xmas links including this:

http://www.alternet.org/belief/christmas-lets-remember-jesus-was-palestinian?paging=off

Denying Jewish connection to the land (why would genetic studies say 90% of Jews, regardless of whether they’re Ashkenazi, Sephardic, Mizrachi, etc. are related some far way back if there wasn’t a connection?), getting history confused (the modern day Palestinians trace their lineage back to Arabs who settled in the Levant around the 6th/7th century, so they’re not exactly “indigenous” and Jesus wouldn’t be one of them), accusations of genocide (the conflict’s a lot of things, all of them ugly, but it’s not a genocide). I’m disappointed.

This-Is-Not-Jewish: You didn’t even mention the part where he blamed “Zionists” (or “Zionist Imperialist One Percenters”) for the death tolls of American wars, the part where he not only repeated the discredited “Jews are Khazars” theory but praised the Judaism of that period for being “commendably universalist” in implied contrast to modern Judaism (sorry, Gentiles, you don’t get to shame Judaism for not living up to an imaginary past Judaism that never existed), or the part where he repeatedly emphasized that Jesus spoke Aramaic as evidence that he wasn’t Jewish (despite the fact that Jews of his day spoke a dialect of Aramaic in everyday life—why does this guy think Jews started using the Aramaic alphabet to write Hebrew if they didn’t use Aramaic?).

I love how this article is written to appear as if “Dr.” Gideon Polya were a historian or anthropologist. He isn’t—I looked him up. He’s a biochemist. He’s not only not in a relevant field, he’s not even lumped in the same college department as a relevant field. He has absolutely no expertise in the area he’s (wildly inaccurately) lecturing about.

abouttwentydonuts:

this-is-not-jewish:

the-dank-zone:

J00s

Fun Fact: depictions of Jews eating children are ALWAYS anti-Semitic as hell. They are an intentional visual reference to blood libel, the belief that Jews murder Gentile children to ritually consume their blood.

The history of blood libel goes all the way back to Apion in 38 C.E. (whose claim that Jews sacrificed Greek citizens in the Temple led to anti-Jewish pogroms in Alexandria), and continues to the present day. All in all, there have been more than 150 documented cases of Jews being falsely accused of murdering Gentile children for ritual purposes, and in nearly every one of those cases, Jews were fucking murdered.

This shit gets innocent people killed.

1. This shit gets innocent people killed.

This shit gets innocent people killed.

• This shit gets innocent people killed.

This shit gets innocent people killed.

This shit gets innocent people killed.

THIS SHIT GETS INNOCENT PEOPLE KILLED.

Take this piece of shit down. Read this. Then either fuck off, or come back only when you can defend one minority group without endangering another.

(Also, it’s spelled Jews, thanks.)

you get mad at that but not mad at the Palestinian boy being used as a human shield by the Israeli military?

When someone outs themself as a virulent anti-Semite by using blood libel propaganda in an image, I immediately distrust the factual accuracy of everything else in the propaganda image. If you can link me to a valid source, I’ll gladly be angry about that too, because I oppose anti-Semitism and racism both.

However, if you use a blood libel against my people, most of whom have no voice in Israeli politics, I’m going to call you out on that shit regardless of the “righteousness” of your outrage. Again, if you can’t defend one minority group without endangering another, you need to sit down, shut up, and let the grown-ups talk.