"Ask A Jew" Wednesday

[u/AutoModerator]

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/Sad-Anybody3011]

This is probably a dumb question, but here goes. Among the common symbols of solidarity with the Palestinian people (keffieh, Palestinian flag, watermelon, olive tree etc) are some less likely to be misread as antisemitic? I’m well aware that some people will read any sign of sympathy for the Palestinian people as inherently antisemitic; still, in this time of rising antisemitism, I wouldn’t want to unwittingly use something that is more frequently used as or associated with antisemitic dog whistles. Asking as a non-Jewish person.

[u/loselyconscious → u/Sad-Anybody3011]

I don't think any common ones could, in good faith, be read as antisemitic.

Associating nazi imagery with Israel is emotionally jarring for a lot of people, even those who don't have problems with the other symbols (but there are also good arguments that they might be appropriate, so I am not going to make a judgment on that)

Whenever using the imagery of a Star of David if it's not clearly part of the Israeli flag, I would be very careful. A crossed out star of David, or Star of David in the trash bin, is probably crossing a line (I would give the benefit of the doubt, but not everyone would)

[u/[deleted] → u/loselyconscious]

I remember right after 10.7, there was a pro-Palestinian protest in Poland (I think Warsaw), and there was a young Norwegian woman holding up a sign with a Star of David in a trash can. At the moment, it’s not really a point of focus, because it’s the existence of the Palestinians that is at risk. And this is still true. However, it is still a horrendous display that needs to be called out….

…Those of you who are non-Jewish native Europeans need to understand that your Christian ancestors and your European Christian society is ultimately responsible for the situation in Palestine. You slaughtered and oppressed the Jews of Europe for over 1,000 years and genocided them on multiple occasions. You ethnically cleansed them on countless occasions, you banned them from your lands all the way from Britain to Scandinavia to Germany to Italy to Hungary to Poland to Russia.

Zionism is the result of all this hate and bigotry. What a surprise, hatred and ethno-religious nationalism created an ideology based on bigotry and ethno-religious nationalism… And you need to consider that the Palestinians have suffered for the crimes your ancestors committed. If you actually care about liberating Palestine, you need to think about the reparations and property in your own country you will be giving to the descendants of European Jews. Everything taken from the Palestinians is ultimately what you owed the Ashkenazi Jews in the first place.

And I’m sorry if this makes you feel like you’re being attacked for something you didn’t do. But this is the reality of the situation. Your ancestors are responsible for some of the greatest crimes and horrors ever inflicted upon another group of humans. And your societies got away with never having to suffer for any of this. And no, the fact that you all spend a lot of time in school learning about the Holocaust doesn’t count. You never had to sacrifice anything material