I really want to try this Kosher Deli but I can see from the photos online they got Israeli flags displayed there and I'm not sure how I feel about it.

I'm learning towards no since I kind of feel like it'd be the equivalent of eating at a place that displays a Nazi flag.

What do y'all think?

CW: Bullying

This is a vent post and sorry if this doesn't belong here, I just have to get it off my chest.

They (and the entire school system really) made my life a living hell every single day for years. They inflicted all sorts of violence (including sexual) on me, humiliated me every single day and the whole school outcasted me, while their parents supported them and the teachers did nothing but blame it on me for "maladjustment". I was treated like less than dirt. They led me to multiple suicide attempts and left a lasting trauma that affects me to this day.

Recently I checked some of their social media accounts to see what they're up to, and what a surprise - they're doing their reservist service in Gaza, committing genocide. They upload their gleeful photos near ruins in Gaza and make fun of the Palestinians they murder and torture, while the teachers who stood and watched me get tormented praise them while posting their yellow ribbons and whining about "hostages" and October 7th. I cannot even begin to imagine the horrors these demons are now inflicting on Palestinians.

My cousin is a Zionist. He made Aliyah and has served in the IDF in Gaza and Lebanon. He was in the brigade that responded to Oct 7 and lost one of his best friends to a Hamas bullet that day. I've spoken with him and he's open to learning more. I'm looking for a book to give him which is a very GENTLE introduction to an alternative viewpoint from Zionism, something that won't scare him. Can anyone recommend something.

Now, I don't think the Jewish organization that got the Keffiyeh Jesus removed was doing it for justified reasons, but it was very disheartening to scroll through a post where almost every top commentor's flair was "Non-Jewish Ally" and see them not recognizing how the Catholic Church has been the institution most responsible in the last thousand years for spreading, developing, and theorizing antisemitism across Europe, primarily through the deicide charge, and why presenting Jesus as a Palestinian baby can easily be picked up on as a reframing of that.

"Jesus was a Palestinian" is mostly a meaningless phrase to me, cuz it's like saying "Charlemagne was French" or "Hammurabi was Iraqi," but I'm shocked that plenty of you can't recognize how this is the institution that has blamed us for killing Jesus for thousands of years up until Vatican II, the primary reason Jews have been oppressed throughout the Christian world, and then going so far as to attack Vatican II and the adoption of revisions to antisemitic Catholic doctrines.

Hi all, I’m sorry if this isn’t the right place to ask - but is it possible to convert to Judaism if you don’t support Israel? I was in the process of converting in October 2023, but I stopped attending the temple I originally went to when they said that Israeli lives were worth more than Palestinian lives. Since then, I haven’t actually been able to find a temple or shul in my area that works with converts and isn’t pro-Israel (I live in Portland, OR)

I asked this question on another Jewish subreddit and was called a Hamas supporter and the overwhelming majority of responses said that I can’t convert if I don’t support Israel, but I figured I’d ask here as well.

I just want to give a heart felt thanks to everyone on this sub for all your support for Palestine, I appreciate everything you do and wanted to give you a special thanks🌷♥️

How do fellow, non-religious, anti Zionist Jews in this sub reconcile their anti Zionist views with their Jewish identity when 80/90% of contemporary Jews across the world are staunch Zionists.

I feel at a complete loss in terms of my identity. Extended family and relatives are 90% Zionists, they take literal pleasure in any and all harm to Palestinians. They are gleeful and boastful of the current genocide (and they proudly label it as such). They marginalise, shut down, bad mouth any relative who believes in Palestinian dignity, self determination and sovereignty. They call us self hating Jews and turncoats.

My values and some close family are completely, polar, opposite. We are more in harmony with the views of some prominent Jewish scholars and identities such as Norman Finkelstein, Gabor Mate, Miko Peled, Noam Chomsky, Avi Shlaim, Gideon Levy etc

I'm proud to be a Jew with faith in universal values of humanity. Although I am not an observant Jew, and am pretty much secular and atheist, I find myself increasingly aligning with some teachings of Torah Jews, specially their teachings about diaspora being essential to Judaism and spiritual Israel only being reinstated by the mashiach and not a group of atheists.

I know this is a bit of a rant, but I feel so out of place amidst contemporary Jews.

Would love to hear any experiences navigating this identity crisis.

Following October 7, Hamas stated on several occasions that it does not target civilians in general and that it did not target civilians on October 7 in particular. For example, the "Our Narrative" document in particular states:

"Operation Al-Aqsa Flood on Oct. 7 targeted the Israeli military sites, and sought to arrest the enemy’s soldiers to pressure on the Israeli authorities to release the thousands of Palestinians held in Israeli jails through a prisoners exchange deal. Therefore, the operation focused on destroying the Israeli army’s Gaza Division, the Israeli military sites stationed near the Israeli settlements around Gaza.

Avoiding harm to civilians, especially children, women and elderly people is a religious and moral commitment by all the Al-Qassam Brigades’ fighters. We reiterate that the Palestinian resistance was fully disciplined and committed to the Islamic values during the operation and that the Palestinian fighters only targeted the occupation soldiers and those who carried weapons against our people. In the meantime, the Palestinian fighters were keen to avoid harming civilians despite the fact that the resistance does not possess precise weapons. In addition, if there was any case of targeting civilians; it happened accidently and in the course of the confrontation with the occupation forces."

My question to Jewish allies is: Did you hear such statements? And either way, do you tend to believe them? I would also love to hear what you think of it in more details in the comments.

(Ops: This is more of a "discussion" but since the tag is for flaired users only, I didn't use it).

What do you all think of the liberal centrist part Yesh Atid and the leftist Hadash party, which allies itself with the Arab Ta'al party? Shouldn't the pro-palestinian groups form strategic relationships with these parties, and generally, the people who want peace from the inside of Israel? I feel like a lot of pro-palestinian groups can be quite reductionist. I understand that many are staunchly and uncompromisingly against the existence of Israel entirely. I just feel like things would be vastly improved at least if these groups worked together.

I don't know much about these political parties and would really love to hear about how they are perceived and any facts or opinions people have on them.

I find their type of Hasbara to be particularly dangerous because they weaponize their identities as Jews of Color and dress up their propaganda in the language of social justice, portraying Zionism as “decolonization” movement to appeal to young progressive Jews (and others) to prevent them from defecting to anti-Zionism. Also Debbie does a lot of historical revisionism about Jewish diaspora history and denigrates diaspora Jews which pisses me off to no end, and Jews deserve to learn diaspora history from a leftist and anti-Zionist lens. Would anyone be interested in starting this?

Hi all, new member here. AJE is funded by the Qataris. What other arguments do Zionists use against AJE? I've heard people pejoratively use "AlJazeera watchers" as people who are biased, brainwashed, or ofc, antisemites.

This is a bit of a random question, but what are some good content creators that educate about or gives updates on the current Israel-Palestine war? In particular, content creators on YouTube. Videos about the history behind this war will be appreciated as well. I would like to educate myself on this war more. I have learned about some things through social media and friend's of mine, but not a lot.

I know this isn't the usual kind of question that this subreddit specializes in answering, but I figure I'd get a better perspective here than anywhere else.

I'm an actor, and I love musical theater. However, there are very few musical theater roles that I actively dream about playing. One of these few roles is Sir Robin in Spamalot, a stage musical adaptation of Monty Python and the Holy Grail. (Edit: I have not actually been offered this role. It's just a bucket list item I've had for years.)

Spamalot has several jokes and songs that pay homage to other musicals. In the second act, Sir Robin sings a song called "You Won't Succeed on Broadway", which is about how the majority of successful Broadway shows have had Jewish people in the cast and/or creative team. In the song, there are homages to Fiddler on the Roof and Ashkenazi Jewish culture in general. Near the end of the song, a giant Star of David appears on the stage.

The song has nothing to do with Israel, but the fact that the majority of synagogues and Jewish organizations in the U.S. are pro-Israel has led me to avoid discussing anything even tangentially related to Judaism, with the exception of activist organizations like Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow. Even so, the fact that the song is so clearly about Ashkenazi Jewish culture could implicitly associate it with several of these pro-Israel organizations.

The Star of David is the thing I'm the most concerned about. Israel has hijacked the Star of David and used it as a symbol of intimidation, conquest, and torture. Israeli military officers have drawn the Star of David into the ground below Palestinian homes that they have destroyed, and even carved the shape into the cheeks of Palestinian prisoners who are being held without trial.

In the song, the Star of David really serves no purpose other than to reinforce that the song is about Jewish people, but that doesn't change the fact that Israel has hijacked the symbol in a way that may last forever.

Spamalot was revived on Broadway in November 2023. In January 2024, the theater was rented out for one night for "Shabbat on Broadway", a Jewish-themed concert that claimed to be a "free inclusive service that blended Jewish prayer, favorite showtunes, and more", but several of the performers had publicly shown support for Israel. That specific theater was rented out so the giant Star of David could be used as a backdrop.

"You Won't Succeed on Broadway" was a big part of why I wanted to play Robin so much. It's a fun song that celebrates the culture that I grew up with, and it's the only song in the show that puts Robin in the spotlight. But I'm worried that if I ever play this role, I will be indirectly endorsing some aspects of Zionism.

Of course, my dilemma is absolutely nothing compared to the Israeli government's continuous displacement, mass murder, and torture of the Palestinian people. I have been regularly writing emails to my elected officials and donating to evacuation GoFundMes. I feel a little silly even bringing up such a minor dilemma, but I have no one else to ask for advice.

Here's a link to the song: https://youtube.com/watch?v=R6VKf6bXCCo

are there any other Jewish Anti Zionist subs left other than this one? a week ago or so I noticed from posts that yet another Jewish anti-zionist sub had been overtaken.

And after stumbling over a pretty gross post from r/Jewish badmouthing several Jewish anti-zionist such as the Mate family, k.w. Bogen and several Cohens such as Dan and Hadar and even going as far to exclude their jewishness (wild) and peddling historical revisionism I've started wondering. Is there any other space than this sub or has everything been taken over by Zionists?

i was not raised as a jew. my great-grandmother was jewish, but she was forced to convert to catholicism in order to marry my great-grandfather. after discovering this, i began to study judaism and felt extremely comfortable and happy with the religion, and began to contact my local synagogue for conversion. problem is: i didn't like the people that ran the local synagogue. i didn't felt welcomed for who i am and what i belive, they are staunch zionists.

there is no other synagogue in the city (i live in a small state capital in brazil).

i don't know what to do. I wasn't raised jewish, but fell in love with the religion and began to study the Halakah and observe the mitzvot.

i don't like to call myself a jew because i never did my formal conversion, but i don't feel like anything else.

what am i?

In my area of the U.S. (I live in Jamaal Bowman's Congressional District . . . .), local Zionist advocates (who supported Latimer) will make comments such as that they strongly oppose Netanyahu and see him as an objectionable, right-wing figure, but at the same time will make much of their own nominal support for a "two-state solution," as if their moderation in this regard vindicates their pro-Israel stances.

In my view, some years ago, a peaceful settlement was much more possible, and a two-state solution (whether I agreed with it in principle or not) was viable.

But Netanyahu has worked systematically to make moderate solutions less and less possible, including by constant settlement expansion in violation of both international law and U.S. policy (the national platform of the Democratic Party in the U.S. says "we oppose settlement expansion").

The settlement expansion among other issues simply makes it much much harder to draw any kind of territorial map that will effectuate a two-state solution. The way in which Netanyahu has systematically worked to increase tensions has made it less likely that a peace deal will be popularly accepted and successfully implemented.

Thomas Friedman: "From 30,000 feet, Prime Minister Netanyahu really had a very intentional policy of strengthening Hamas and weakening the Palestinian Authority. So strengthening the Palestinian group that would never recognize Israel while weakening the one that would."

In my view, with moderate solutions increasingly far-fetched, radical solutions become more appropriate. This situation flows directly from Israeli policies, as implemented by popularly elected Israeli officials over a period of years. Although the more radical solutions to the conflict (which is now not only a conflict but a severe crisis), such as a 'one democratic state' solution or even (as grows increasingly defensible) simply allowing an Arab or Arab-Islamist government to rule the territory, are not desired by mainstream American Zionists, the narrowing of options flows from democratic choices by Israeli society and it seems to me that the "elections have consequences" principle should apply.

I swear more than half the times I’ve mentioned being Sephardic & anti-zionist online there has been a zionist responding like “UMMM DO YOU KNOW WHAT THEYD DO TO YOU WHERE YOU CAME FROM THEYD BURN YOU ALIVE” like??

Looking back at this genocide this past year, it's just horrible how so many preventable measures against this massacre have been sidelined. Leaving aside the geopolitical agendas, the corporate interests, etc., do these people, who are preventing the ceasefires, suppressing free speech within campuses, and giving weapons to Israel, along many other bullshit, sincerely, honestly believe they're doing all of these to guarantee the safety of the Jews? Even at the expense of the actual Jews themselves, including Holocaust survivors, who are also facing repression by the Zionists?

Would these people really have the honesty, & the transparency, to tell a Jewish person in their face, who disagrees with this genocide, that all of these actions are for their own safety?

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/2024-12-19/ty-article/.premium/idf-not-updating-gaza-target-list-resulting-in-killing-innocent-civilians-seeking-shelter/00000193-dea5-d8a1-ad9b-ffff5c800000

This seems pretty damning 😩

My brother Ibrahim was a symbol of hope and resilience—a civil engineer who spent more than a decade rebuilding Gaza and striving to secure a better future for his family. In his beautiful home, he lived with his wife and their young son, Hamoud, a bright and curious 5-year-old. Ibrahim was eagerly awaiting the birth of his second child, Khaled. But everything changed when war struck.

Their beloved home was destroyed in an instant. Under the constant barrage of bombs, they fled with nothing but a few clothes and cherished memories. They found refuge in a fragile tent that offers no real protection against the harsh winter cold.

It was in this tent that Khaled was born. Instead of a warm bed, he was welcomed into the world wrapped in an old blanket, his tiny body trembling in the freezing night air. Hamoud, too young to understand the gravity of their situation, asks heartbreaking questions his parents cannot answer: “Why can’t we go home? When will we have warm food again? Where is my bed?”

Ibrahim, who once provided everything for his family, now finds himself unable to meet their basic needs. He cannot afford diapers for Khaled, warm clothes for Hamoud, or even enough food to keep his family nourished. They survive on rice and canned goods like beans, peas, and chickpeas, their bodies growing weaker from malnutrition. Bread has been unavailable for nine days due to the blockade, leaving the children hungry and frail.

The tent they call home is a constant reminder of what they’ve lost. It provides no warmth, safety, or dignity. The children suffer in the biting cold, their fragile bodies trembling as the wind pierces through the thin fabric. Ibrahim, burdened by the pain of his family’s suffering, can do little but watch and hope that tomorrow will bring relief.

This is not just a story of displacement; it is a story of survival against all odds. It is the story of a father who once built homes for others but now struggles to keep his own children warm. It is the story of a baby born into hardship and a little boy asking for a piece of the life they once knew. It is the story of a family that deserves so much more.

In a small tent amidst the narrow alleys of Gaza, my family lives with a fading hope that diminishes with each passing day. On a cold morning, my mother told me that we were running out of bread at home, and worry began to seep into her eyes filled with love and fear for our children's future. I tried to reassure her that I would go to the food distribution center two kilometers away, despite knowing that the journey would be filled with suffering and long waits.

When I arrived at the center, I found crowds piling up at the doors, each person desperately trying to get a piece of food to quell their growing hunger. The scene was painful; children's faces eagerly awaiting, and mothers' voices echoing as they called out to their sons and daughters. I did my best to obtain some bread for my mother and siblings, but the quantities were very limited, and I couldn't meet everyone's needs.

I returned to the tent feeling a heart full of disappointment, only to find the children waiting for me with eyes shining with hope and joy, but my face reflected nothing but sadness. I tried to explain what had happened to them, but they had exhausted their patience and were feeling intense hunger. Hope began to fade from their little eyes, and smiles turned into teary gazes searching for something to alleviate their suffering.

I left the tent trying to hold back my tears, seeing the broken faces of the children before me, and their silence reflecting the deep pain they endure. In Gaza, children suffer from hunger and despair, and there isn't even a loaf of bread to ease a part of their agony. Each day that passes makes patience heavier and hopes dimmer, yet they continue to cling to a flicker of hope despite everything.

This suffering that Gaza's children endure reminds us of the importance of solidarity and assistance. We must not forget these little ones who suffer daily and strive to do our utmost to alleviate their pain and grant them a chance for a better life filled with hope and dignity. https://gofund.me/d84fe805

Do you think they check Reddit posts?

i am part israeli, and i lose my mind at these people. i intentionally want to read opposition material, as it helps me think critically. but how in gods name do i not lose my mind over it? it makes me want to kms rip my hair out and say “am chai yisrael” or some shit just to make the voices stop. even right now, sitting in the library, i just want to scream and cry cus of this. idk man we’re fucked, trump is going to level palestine