r/JewsOfConscience • u/AutoModerator • Sep 25 '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.

Please remember to pick an appropriate user-flair in order to participate! Thanks!

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u/valonianfool Anti-Zionist Sep 27 '24

When zionists ask people who are pro Palestine why they would support a future Palestinian state but oppose a Jewish state, implying that those who do are antisemitic for holding a double standard, would an acceptable answer be that a Palestinian could theoretically be any religion while being Jewish is a specific ethno-religion? 

Personally, Ive been educating myself for a while now on Israel's settlers colonialism, and come to question the narrative that having a state would be liberating for Jewish people and that states and national identities are eternal things that should exist forever as ethno-nationalist fiction. 

Ive also began to question the implications of maintaining a jewish state in a region that historically wasnt majority jewish for millennia if ever, and of deciding who is or isnt Jewish in the context of a nation-state. 

Basically, a state for Jews specifically would need to distinguish between who is or isnt Jewish and like all ethnonations create an "other" to define it against which inherently creates inequality. 

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u/Saul_al-Rakoun Conservadox & Marxist Sep 29 '24 edited Sep 29 '24

Well, the problem in looking at things religiously is that -- if you'll allow me the comparison, and it's deliberately intended to be insulting to them -- Zionists are Jewish Hebrew Israelites. They're not Jews, in exactly the same way the Black Hebrew Israelites are not Jews.

Judaism forbids establishing a state in Palestine until the Messiah comes.

Further, a Jew's relationship to Eretz Yisrael is mediated by the Torah and is conditional on good conduct. We don't "own" the land, it was never "given" to us by God, but entrusted to us as caretakers so long as we merit it. This isn't up for negotiation, but when you listen to a Zionist speak they'll never tell you that. They'll talk about how they're connected to the land, not because of God, but because of their ancestry.