Here are some of the thoughts I've been having about the situation in Israel
and below that are some (mostly rhetorical) questions I have for people who are anti-Israel.
1. I have a hunch that there is a Venn Diagram overlap thing between the people who say calling someone a narcissist is ableism and the people who hate Zionists
I think the same people who hated my post about that will also hate this post.
2. I very much do not want to get to the point where when anyone shows concern or compassion for people in Gaza that I automatically see them as antisemitic and shove them out of my social media life.
SO...if I have the time and energy, I try to look back to see what if anything they posted about October 7.
3. I have come to realize it's not a good idea to name and shame or to publicize boycotts, because all you're doing then is leading the opposing folks to things they can love.
I came to this realization due to a person in our lives who has become anti-Israel on Instagram.
Along these lines....
When it comes to cancel culture, I'm all about canceling people on a personal level. Such as unfollowing someone that has a viewpoint I dislike.
But I don't believe in campaigning for other people to cancel the same things I'm canceling.
First of all, there's what I mentioned above. I could end up inspiring someone to do the opposite of canceling. Second, pushing other people to cancel someone leads to too much groupthink.
On a micro-basis, it might be okay. If I know someone is on the same page as me about an issue, I might mention something to them about someone.
4. I think I have been pushed to the center politically.
That's fine. But there's a part of me that worries by the end of 2024, I'm going to be wearing a MAGA hat.
I'm joking.
Sort of.
I am actually scared.
I still hate Trump, though.
And Greg Abbott.
I still plan to vote for Biden.
Hopefully if I become MAGA, it shall be after next November.
5. Sometimes when I planned to consume some sort of content from an artist...such as music, TV show, a book, etc I would Google to make sure they're not a Trump supporter. NOW I'm having to make sure people aren't Trump supporters or antisemitic.
The list of people I have to avoid is widening.
6. I had been comforted by the fact that one of the cool anti-Trump celebrities was also very pro-Israel. And then they recently posted about how they might vote for Trump.
I unfollowed them.
7. There are still many wonderful progressive Zionists to make me feel not-alone. I just worry our numbers are going to shrink.
8. I wonder how many progressive Jews are Zionists vs anti-Zionist.
I've heard that anti-Zionist Jews make up a very small percentage of Jews. But do they also make up a small percentage of progressive Jews?
9. I hope that as some progressive Zionists slide towards the right, there will be some right-wing Zionists who slide towards the left.
I hope more Jews will come into the center.
I think right now it's more comfortable to be a right-wing Zionist. Even though they're hated, they're not hated by the people they imagined were on the same team as themselves.
So I don't think right-wing Zionists are feeling as lost and needy as left-wing Zionists. But I hope some of them are reaching out with kindness towards left-wing Zionists rather than with just resentment and messages of I-told-you-so! And with this reaching out and the conversations that come about, I hope maybe they will be inspired to rethink some of their hard-right viewpoints.
10. I think that as there is a Wokeness associated with Black people there is also a sort of Jewish-related Wokeness.
A large aspect of Black-related Wokeness is understanding that the criminal justice system is fucked. And what white people have seen as fair, benevolent, and heroic can be very harmful to Black people.
Jewish Wokeness is seeing the unfairness and general antisemitic shittyness of the UN...and possibly other save-the-world organizations.
11. I think it's kind of hypocritical that the Zionist community complains about people tokenizing the anti-Zionist Jews while we sit there adoring and reposting content from Zionist Arabs and/or Zionist Muslims.
I think there's a way to give and receive support from outliers without being exploitive or manipulative.
I struggle with it, though. I do have this underlying feeling that antisemitic or on-the-fence people will be persuaded more if I post Zionist things from Arabs and/or Muslims.
12. Though October 7 has changed me, I don't think it changed me as much as I imagine.
When I think about my past thoughts and the stuff I've written on my blog, I remember that I've always had a sort of resistance to far-left, anti-Zionist, narcissistic-apologist, etc. mindsets.
What's changed, though...I guess....is that I'm leaning more into that part of myself.
13. BUT I don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater.
I want to be at and stay at the mindset where I understand that sometimes some people DO take Wokeness too far. Or their Wokeness has a huge, harmful blindspot.
I don't want to go so far, though, that I see all Wokeness as bad.
14. Let's take book-banning as an example.
Could it be that there are some books that are NOT appropriate for the children or teen section of a library? Might there be books that actually do have too much sexual content?
I need to remember, though, that for most of these awful book-banning folks, too-much sex equals mentioning a person has two moms or having a transgender character.
And with classroom instruction. The somewhat-popular narrative that Israelis deserve to be raped, murdered, and kidnapped because they are white colonists who stole the sacred land belonging to the brown Palestinians makes me wonder if there IS some merit to the complaint that American school children are being taught that some groups of people are all evil and undeserving of any sympathy.
But I don't want to end up joining the group that wants to ignore most of the oppression that has happened throughout history.
15. I think there's a mental similarity between those who support Trump and those who support Hamas.
As Trump could go in the middle of Fifth Avenue; shoot someone; and still maintain most of his fan club....I think the same goes for Hamas.
16. I'm trying to decide if I want to disable comments on this post. I usually disable comments on any of my Israel posts on social media. Because I don't want to deal with all the antisemitism.
But now I'm thinking of exploiting the antisemitism.
Because if by chance this post does attract the antisemites, maybe their comments will help my algorithm?
So please...if you desire. Drop your watermelons and Palestinian flags below.
17. No. I don't support genocide. But if you want to imagine I do and complain about that...be my guest.
I probably won't respond. But I appreciate the attention. Thanks!
18. I feel Zionists need a fruit symbol too.
Maybe we already have one, and it just hasn't caught on yet?
19. Guidelines to anyone wanting to write comments that will not be perceived as antisemitic.
A) It's okay to complain about the Israeli government...especially if you remember that even a people's government can't be all painted with one brush.
(not all Texas politicians are like Greg Abbott or Ted Cruz. There are some that even oppose Abbott and Cruz)
B) It's not okay to state or infer that Israel shouldn't exist
C) If you think what happened on October 7 is okay, deserved, or exhilarating, you are very antisemitic. There's no way you can convince me otherwise.
D) Having an anti-Zionist Jewish friend doesn't absolve you of antisemitism...(even if that friend is the one you see in the mirror).
20. I will try hard to ignore all antisemitic comments, but I might also ignore comments that are too philo-semitic....especially ones that are very Bible-flavored. And I will not appreciate and will probably ignore posts that are Islamophobic.
21. Even though I'd love help with my algorithm, I'd much prefer people using their energy to Google themselves into a rabbit hole about Israel.
So before you drop a watermelon and type.words such as Apartheid, Open Prison, Genocide, Ethnic-Cleansing, Colonizer, etc....maybe instead go and read more about the history of Israel?
Wikipedia isn't perfect, but it's a good place to start.
I also recommend The Times of Israel....especially in terms of what's happening currently.
And now some questions for people who are anti-Israel. They're mostly rhetorical but if you want to (maybe?) help with my algorithm, knock yourself out.
1. During World War II, around half a million German civilians died from the bombing done by the United States and other members of the Allied Forces. Do you consider this bombing an act of genocide? If yes....if you were alive back then, what actions would have you have taken to pressure the United States to do a ceasefire? Would you have also pressured Hitler to agree to a ceasefire? Would you have asked Hitler to stop killing Jews and other "undesirables"?
2. If you are okay with Jews as long as they are anti-Zionist, how dedicated to anti-Zionism do your Jews have to be?
Are they allowed to be against Hamas?
Are they allowed to feel and express grief about October 7? Are they allowed to think October 7 was wrong?
3. Are your people the original inhabitants of the country you are living in? If so, were they the only original inhabitants or did other tribes/ethnic groups live there as well?
4. Are most people in your country from the same ethnic group or is there a strong mix?
5. In your country, are there differences in how people are treated based on their ethnic group? Are some people disadvantaged because of unconscious bias or systemic issues in policy?
If there are people who face disadvantage in your country, are these people treated better or worse than Arab citizens of Israel or other citizens of Israel who are not Jewish and/or not white?
6. If your people are not the original inhabitants of the country you reside, have you taken steps to help with decolonization?
Have you gone beyond gestures like reciting the original inhabitants of the land you occupy each time you record one of your podcast episodes?
6. Have you made plans to move you and your family back to your ancestral homeland?
7. Are you willing to offer yourself as a sacrifice to terrorists freedom fighters?
Will you let you or your children be kidnapped and held hostage? Maybe your grandpa?
Will you allow yourself to be raped? Murdered?
8. After you have sacrificed some of your family members to brutality and death… and trekked back to your ancestral homeland, I expect you will want all us Jews to do the same…
So… where would that be exactly?
If diasporas are no longer allowed in the world, where do the Jews go?
Edited to add 4/17/2024- I would love for there to be a rap battle between Mosab Hassan Youself and Miriam Margolyes.
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