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One of the major groups supporting the Palestinian people and their right to self-determination is 'Jewish lefties'. Alongside Palestinian voices, those who fee
by kackerd 5y ago
One of the major groups supporting the Palestinian people and their right to self-determination is 'Jewish lefties'. Alongside Palestinian voices, those who feel
solidarity because of Arab or Muslim identities, and those who work in general against colonialism, Jewish lefties who make a specific point of rejecting the 'community mainstream' of generally supporting Israel are and have always been involved in opposing the excesses of Zionism.
I know some of them and they are very brave people. They are constantly accused of being 'self-hating' and even Nazi sympathizers by more right-wing Jews. It's a pretty big deal if you are Jewish and get accused of being a 'Kapo' by other Jews. And they are often treated with suspicion or worse by other pro-Palestinian activists. Many people expect them to constantly condemn, apologize for or disassociate themselves from Israel's actions, simply because they are Jewish. They also have to contend with the fact that a proportion of their 'allies' are either actual antisemites using Palestine as a pretext, or well-meaning idiots who get caught up in conspiracy theories and racist tropes without understanding how they are connected to antisemitism.
I would say that being leftwing and opposed to the status quo in Israel is one of the major reasons that Jewish people become disillusioned with their community and end up completely rejecting the religious identity. And having to deal with accusations like yours is one of the main things stopping Jewish people who oppose the Israeli occupation from being more involved in activism.
- ultrastable 5y agothe "caught up in racist tropes" thing reminds me of an incident that occurred at my university. there was a speech by someone involved w/ the Israeli govt & during the Q&A a Palestine activist asked them a question about organ harvesting by Israeli doctors. immediately she was accused of perpetuating the blood libel & a lot of Jewish students got understandably pissed off. but it turned out that her question was in reference to a specific incident where Israeli doctors actually did harvest organs w/o permission from relatives from dead Palestinians as well as Israelis: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/dec/21/israeli-pathologists-harvested-organs https://www.theguardian.com/world/2009/dec/21/israeli-pathol.... I spoke to her afterwards & she hadn't even heard of the blood libel. so there's definitely a need to both educate activists & recognize that innocent misunderstandings occur