This is something I've thought about before, but after listening to a podcast with Jonah Platt and Van Jones, I was inspired to think about it to an extra degree.
It's that...
I do appreciate white, right-wing people who support Israel. But I can't give them a lot of admiration. Being pro-Israel is very popular in their groups, so it shouldn't take a lot of courage for them to express pro-Israel sentiments. An exception might be if they're in the artistic community. But if that's the case, they're probably already used to going against the tide. I'm guessing they've already built up some tough layers of skin.
I appreciate people who standing with Israel. But my admiration goes to the people who are part of communities where the more popular thing is hating Zionists;
Van Jones scoffed at Jews who whine that Black people should stand for Jews, because Jews protested for George Floyd. He talked about how it had been popular to stand with George Floyd. There was no threat of being ostracized. In fact, it was the cool thing to do. In contrast, Black people are taking a big social risk/sacrifice by standing up for Jews.
I think Van Jones made a very good point, and I hope it will stop some Jews from whining about that.
But, I think it only applied to those of us Jews on the left.
Being for BLM wasn't popular on the right. So if a right-wing Jew did speak up against the killing of George Floyd and/or other victims of police brutality, they would have likely faced a lot of backlash.
Thinking about this has made me feel a little bit more generous towards people who have not spoken up against antisemitism. For some people, depending on which communities they belong to, simply not speaking up AGAINST Israel and Zionism, is an act of courage.
And yes. I very, very, very grudgingly admire the people who are antisemitic if they belong to communities where that sentiment is seen as unacceptable. But, of course, I surely don’t appreciate their hate.
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