Jewish Group
Related: About this forumThanks to the far-left and far-right, U.S. Jews are trapped in a political no man's land
I think my beliefs are pretty moderate, pretty reasonable. But in leftist social justice spaces, to be accepted as a good Jew and to have your experiences of antisemitism taken seriously, you must be flat-out against Israel. Theres no room for nuance here, which I found out the hard way after Students for Justice in Palestine defaced the article I wrote for my school paper about the experience of being gay and Jewish. An article I was really proud of, focusing mainly on American rabbis and queer American Jews, was scrawled with STOP PINKWASHING APARTHEID. As one of the papers editors, I invited the SJP branch to submit their own op-ed. They declined. That was the first and last time I ever spoke of my Jewishness on campus.
In another instance, I attended the Decolonize This Place tour of the Natural History Museum on Columbus Day in 2016. I enjoyed learning about the history of the museum from an alternative perspective and agreed with a lot of what was being said about the exploitation of certain cultures and theft of artifacts on display. The majority of the tour focused on the plight of Native Americans in the United States, and how Columbus Day should be Indigenous Peoples Day instead (a sentiment I completely agree with). But after the tour, when we all gathered outside as the leaders put a giant plastic bag over the monument of Teddy Roosevelt, a chant of Free, Free, Free Palestine! broke out. Not relevant to the immediate topic at hand, I instantly felt unwelcome and like I didnt belong. I was confused as to why a movement about indigenous rights and decolonization would have such a narrow understanding of the history of the land that is now Israel.
While many leftists in the West view the world in a very simplistic fashion of oppressed vs. oppressor (with white skinned people being the oppressor), this way of thinking doesnt apply to all the nuances and complexities of the Middle East. This is why I cringe when I hear anyone refer to Israel as settler-colonial. Theyre under the impression that all Jews are white European settlers displacing the Palestinians. This is inaccurate on multiple levels.
For one, Jewish people all Jewish people are indigenous to the Levant (the region that is now Israel). We do not have any real ties to Europe, and in fact, about 90% of European Jews dont feel safe or welcome in their respective countries anymore.
While right-wing antisemitism is definitely more directly frightening, left-wing antisemitism is more existentially terrifying
these are people who are meant to be my allies, so why am I being held to a different standard because Im ethnically and culturally Jewish?
https://deadstate.org/opinion-thanks-to-the-far-left-and-far-right-u-s-jews-are-trapped-in-a-political-no-mans-land/
A long read but very much worth it in my opinion. I've snipped the portions posted here.
question everything
(47,534 posts)MosheFeingold
(3,051 posts)Basically, the mainstream left view is:
"Jews showed up in peaceful Palestine post-WWII. Palestine was a lovely place, and we were welcomed with open arms by the indigenous Palestinian people, although we had no claim to the land, but thru a fairy tale. But us Jews are money-grubbing, evil, people. And learned the wrong lessons from the Nazis. So we killed and expelled the peaceful brown Palestinians from their native land, just like evil European white people are genetically programmed to do."
The End.
It's about as far from the truth as exist, but ask a regular college kid what the story of Israel is, and some version of the above will be what they tell you.
Actually, just post anywhere on DU but this specific sub-forum, and someone will tell you this.
Behind the Aegis
(53,986 posts)The fact that "pinkwashing" was created by a self-loathing queer Jew makes it even worse. Israel has one of the best LGBT rights in the world, and is head's above the Middle East, but they still have problems and queer people from Israel should not be left behind because some "activists" are raging bigots.
question everything
(47,534 posts)Haifa, Israel, City Hall from last month
Hope it can be opened even if one does not have a Facebook account
https://www.facebook.com/haifamuni/posts/10157269428210699
EllieBC
(3,041 posts)The Green Party and the NDP have had their share of antisemites.