r/JewsOfConscience • u/AutoModerator • Aug 28 '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.

24 Upvotes

89% Upvoted

88 comments sorted by

View all comments

6

u/Level-Class-8367 Anti-Zionist Aug 28 '24

If you were to guess, what percentage of American Jews (who know the situation) will support Israel unconditionally, versus how many are at least relatively pro-Palestine? I phrased that poorly, I know, but for lack of a better way to say it.

I ask because my own boyfriend is Jewish. He himself doesn’t know much about the ongoing conflict and history of how it came to be, but his mom is very pro-Israel. So considering those two factors, I try not to hold it against him too much when he says uneducated things about the issue.

3

u/TurkeyFisher Jewish Anti-Zionist Aug 28 '24

Well here's some polling on it: https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/04/02/how-us-jews-are-experiencing-the-israel-hamas-war/

Keep in mind it's four months old and more people are finding Israel's actions unacceptable the longer it goes on. But according to this poll it's a 62% / 33% split on approval/disapproval of Israel's actions. The key thing is that the younger someone is the less they support Israel's actions. 42% of Jews under 34 find Israel's actions unacceptable. And yes, often younger people will defer to their parents on issues they feel they don't know much about.

3

u/Level-Class-8367 Anti-Zionist Aug 28 '24

He has the intention of doing his research on the matter. I tell him to go out of his way to find unbiased sources. But it’s also not his top priority to become educated in the near future. I’d just like to wear my keffiyeh around him and I don’t think he’ll be comfortable because of his mom.

3

u/TurkeyFisher Jewish Anti-Zionist Aug 28 '24

One way to discuss it with him is to talk more about the long term strategy and how what they are doing is dangerous for the future of Israel. We are precipitously close to a war between Israel and Iran, which would lead to much more death and suffering in Israel than we saw on October 7th. And part of the reason that Netanyahu is trying to drag the US into a war with Iran is because he is personally afraid of going to prison. You may not be able to make him anti-Zionist but you can probably convince him that what Israel is doing does not benefit anyone in the region, including Israelis. Show him some of the reporting coming out of Israel about how Netenyahu is undermining peace talks by changing the offer at the last minute- he has no intention of actually getting the hostages back, his goal is to prolong the war as long as possible because he is going to prison on corruption charges as soon as it ends.

That said, personally I think wearing a keffiyeh is a bit performative if you aren't Muslim, especially if you are just wearing it day to day and not at a protest. If the tables were turned and people were wearing yarmulkes in support of some Jewish cause I would also think it was pretty silly. I can't really blame your boyfriend for feeling uncomfortable with it because it could create family drama, and ultimately what do you hope to achieve by wearing it everywhere?

4

u/bearoscuro Non-Jewish Ally Aug 28 '24

Just to jump in - it's completely ok to wear a kuffiyeh regardless of ethnicity or religion! People will see it as a gesture of solidarity, not as any sort of appropriation. It is currently too hot for me to wear it out, but I had one on as my daily winter scarf for several months.

My thought was that - especially right after those 3 students in the US got shot for wearing them, and there were a few smaller incidents near me - it's actually good for as many people as possible to wear them and normalize it, to deter targeted assaults like that. Either we all get herd immunity from hate crimes, or we all get jumped together as comrades, haha. I think other non Arab people felt similarly.

2

u/Level-Class-8367 Anti-Zionist Aug 28 '24 edited Aug 28 '24

Yeah I knew it’s seen as solidarity and not appropriation, so that’s exactly why I like wearing it when possible 😊

1

u/Level-Class-8367 Anti-Zionist Aug 28 '24

Oh I would never wear it in front of his family. But I sometimes have seen random people wearing it in solidarity with Palestinians. I don’t wear mine often, especially because it’s too damn hot, but every so often I wear it to show my support.

Either way, that’s a very good talking point you have there. Thanks!