Damn, I used to be the person that would feel “unsafe” around a display like this. It was drilled into my mind that anything Palestinian was a threat against Israel, antisemitic, and of course full of lies and propaganda. It’s so crazy to think about that mindset now.
It was 100% childish and a failure to actually engage with the history I was taught as a kid.
Totally, i would say it took a dizzying few years of doing a lot of independent reading and having some really painful realizations before i was even remotely ready to engage with the activism scene.
I was also becoming more politically left at the time, but I had a total Israel-defending hang up thanks to years of one-sided history being drilled into my young head.
I often see advice here to refrain from arguing with family and friends about Israel, and let them go on their own journeys. Maybe ask some good-faith questions just to get the wheels turning, but don’t fight. I was absolutely taught to feel threatened by anyone who challenged my talking points. Wild stuff.
Definitely wild stuff, but sadly it isn't rare. Do you reckon that after everything Israel has done in the past year in Gaza, Netanyahu's failure to bring home all the hostages and the invasion of Lebanon and soon Syria, there are many/more Jewish people in the diaspora who are currently in a similar position that you were in when you first began questioning your beliefs surrounding Israel? (assuming you are diaspora by your tag, please correct me if i assumed wrong).
Unfortunately, if that is happening I’m not seeing it. You are correct that I’m a diaspora American. If people I know are looking deeper, they are doing it silently. I try to be a bridge builder but it isn’t easy, I have to be willing to get berated without reacting angrily (level impossible), and I have to intuit what someone is ready to hear and what is going to make them think I personally planned oct 7.
A few people from my past have already done the work, but keep their opinions mostly to themselves. Many retreated deeper into their Holocaust trauma response and feelings of being personally victimized by 10/7.
People like my mom recognize that this is the worst attack on Gaza she has ever seen, but basically thinks they are getting what they deserve. My family in Israel also seems to think this, although we don’t talk much. My mom’s side of the family has always been very racist towards Arabs.
It seems to me based on your response that it will take time and potentially generations for people (particularly Jewish and Israeli people) to unlearn the racist propaganda they were fed by governments and communities and separate themselves from Holocaust trauma passed onto them by family and society. Time is a healer and I truly hope that this healing will come steadfast rather than slow and that peace will come in our life times and theirs.
I really appreciate your attempts at bridge-building within the community and cannot begin to imagine how hard it is to face criticism for your beliefs/stances from people surrounding you. It may not provide much solace to you but if you ever need someone to vent to or a void to use at a outlet, my dms are always open to you and people like you if you ever need it. And if there is anything you would like to request as a way that i and people who think alike can support you, people who think alike you or even just Jewish people in general, i am all ears. ❤️
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u/tangerine138 Ashkenazi 17d ago
Damn, I used to be the person that would feel “unsafe” around a display like this. It was drilled into my mind that anything Palestinian was a threat against Israel, antisemitic, and of course full of lies and propaganda. It’s so crazy to think about that mindset now.
It was 100% childish and a failure to actually engage with the history I was taught as a kid.