r/JewsOfConscience Aug 07 '24

AAJ "Ask A Jew" Wednesday

It's everyone's favorite day of the week, "Ask A (Anti-Zionist) Jew" Wednesday! Ask whatever you want to know, within the sub rules, notably that this is not a debate sub and do not import drama from other subreddits. That aside, have fun! We love to dialogue with our non-Jewish siblings.

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u/IWantFries21 Non-Jewish Ally Aug 07 '24
  1. I saw a video recently where an Israeli guy goes around interviewing other Israelis asking them about their heritage, and one guy says his family's from Jerusalem, and something about how far they can trace his lineage back so "they've always been here." That had me wondering though - wouldn't his family have technically been considered Palestinian then? Wouldn't his family have been Palestinian Jews? FTR I'm aware of some of the nuances and reasoning for why Arab Jews are often staunch Zionists, and I read somewhere that Palestinian Jews were automatically offered Israeli citizenship in 1948 but I never looked too much into that. I know a little about the Jewish settlements in the late 1800s but I don't think that's what the guy was referencing with regards to his family.

  2. Something I've noticed from watching local efforts for divestment and seeing online discussion is that a lot of Jewish Zionists have a very real fear that current events are going to turn into another Holocaust. They're genuinely afraid when they see keffiyehs, they believe From The River To The Sea is calling for genocide (rather than dismantling a colonial state). Considering how sensitive that fear is, how do you talk to them about Palestine, if at all?

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u/sudo_apt-get_intrnet LGBTQ Jew Aug 07 '24
  1. By modern non-Zionist standards yes, that person would likely be Palestinian Jewish ethnically speaking. In Zionist language though "Palestinian" is mutually exclusive with "Israeli/Jewish" (and those 2 are nearly overlapping in that vernacular) so that person would call themselves either a "Mizrahi" or "Old Yishuv" Jew, specifically to avoid the "Palestinian" (and Arab) label.

  2. To be frank if you aren't Jewish and have lived experience with the safety fears there's not much you can realistically do. Personally, what I end up doing is:

    • Acknowledge and agree that yes, some of the things being said/done are antisemitic (because sometimes they are) and that some of the people participating in the movements are indeed antisemitic (because they are), BUT
    • the vast majority of people aren't antisemitic, and even if they accidentally participate in a micro-aggression (which the 2 things you listed aren't, but at this point I'm talking in generalities) the majority are simply ignorant of the meaning of the action
    • From there depending on the response I'll steer the conversation 1 of 3 ways:
      • If they start talking more about the ignorance/morality of being anti-Zionist Ill start pushing more about my personal reasons for being anti-Zionist, which they can't dismiss as ignorance/antisemitism (especially when I already agreed that the people they are talking about are also ignorant)
      • If they start focusing more about antisemitism I agree with them that antisemitism is rising and that I'm afraid of it (which I am), but I also focus more on antisemitism from the right (which is also the more Zionist side on average). This helps slowly break down the connection between anti-Zionism and antisemitism in their minds by showing them that the antisemites are on the ZIonist side too.

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u/IWantFries21 Non-Jewish Ally Aug 08 '24

Thank you for the detailed response!!