#antizionism
PLEASE pay attention to what is happening at Al Aqsa today in Israel’s racist flag march.
Palestinians need your support today! Keep your eyes on Israel, make sure you’re watching their crimes.
Israeli settlers are entering the Old City in Jerusalem and marching on Al Aqsa mosque.
Occupation forces are forcing Palestinians to leave the area to protect the settlers. There are Palestinians in Al Aqsa mosque right now, and Israel is already trying to paint them as violent rioters and terrorists.
From Al-Jazeera:
Al Jazeera’s correspondent Najwan Simri said that Israeli forces have occupied the rooftop of the al-Qibli prayer hall in the compound on Sunday morning and besieged the worshippers inside it to enable the passage of settlers to go unhindered.
She added that the Israelis have prevented Palestinian journalists and photographers from entering Al-Aqsa Mosque and threatened them with arrest.
Israeli forces have fired rubber bullets at Palestinians protesters in the compound, in an effort to disperse them.
Some Jews entering the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound attempted to pray, incensing Palestinians.
Jewish worship is not permitted in the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound by Israeli law, and it is also forbidden by the Chief Rabbinate of Israel.
Ultra-nationalist Jews enter Al-Aqsa ahead of Israeli flag march
And I only expect things to get much more violent. Remember these far right Israelis are the very same who chanted “Death to Arabs” and called for a second Nakba. These are violent nationalists who want us dead.
Don’t tell me you’re “just anti-Israel” if you stand outside synagogues with your protest banners or attack Jews in synagogues and holy places..
Don’t tell me you’re “just anti-Israel” if you stop Jews wearing yarmulkes or Stars of David to question them about their political views.
Don’t tell me you’re “just anti-Israel” if you think of even the smallest of Jewish children as instruments of violence.
We’re fed up with your hatred and your violence and we see right through your excuses.
Dismantling antisemitism is necessary work for antioccupation movements. Zionist sentiment surges in the aftermath of violent antisemitism - genocide in Europe, expulsions in SWANA, et al. - and European support for the creation of Israel was rooted in their unwillingness to allow Jewish communities to exist within their borders without killing them. No, antisemitism does not provide a defense for the occupation nor does it recuse its supporters of accountability, but Israel did not happen in a vacuum; rather, it happened in the context of anti-Jewish hatred, a Jewish refugee crisis that Europe’s antisemitism was responsible for and ignored, and a white supremacist system that disregarded the lives of both Jews and Palestinians. Jewish and Palestinian liberation is inextricable.
According to many this week, it seems that I, as an American Jew, apparently have a personal role in controlling American, European, and Middle Eastern geopolitics. Yet, I still cannot convince cisgender-heterosexual men to use my pronouns (they/them) correctly. What gives?
From “the past didn’t go anywhere: making resistance to antisemitism part of all of our movements” (link: http://www.buildingequality.us/…/ant…/rosenblum/the-past.pdf)
Post link
I recognize that this has been a painful week for the queer community as a whole, but the queer Jewish community is walking away from Sunday in pain, exhausted, and without a home. I have remained quiet about the antisemitism we have been experiencing on the left, if only because I didn’t want to - don’t want to - play into the hands of the Islamophobic right who would use it to malign communities and the important work that we do in social justice spaces*, but I cannot remain quiet after this. Comrades on the left, especially queer comrades, we need you to step up, to be visible in your allyship, and to be willing to do the hard accountability work of examining how antisemitism has manifested in our movements. Before you react and respond, please step back and listen. The next time someone tells you that they are Jewish and your first impulse is to ask them if they are a zionist, pause. And when you would seek to take the symbols of our faith away from us, drawing the lines of acceptable practice and the conditions of our dignity, please don’t and ask yourself if you would impose such demands on any other community.
I have been with you as you have done Palestinian liberation work and heard you say that you recognize that Judaism is not Zionism, as you have declared that it is possible to be antizionist without being antisemitic, and I believed you. I still do. Please show me that you meant it.
(If you need resources to begin to work through this, “the past didn’t go anywhere” is an excellent voice that recognizes the need for intersectional liberation: http://www.buildingequality.us/…/ant…/rosenblum/the-past.pdf)
*And if you are a part of that group and would exploit this moment to push your agenda, no, not here, not in my name as a queer Jew. You do not get to use me to malign, scapegoat, harass, or harm the Muslim community. If you do, you will hear from me. To my Muslim friends who have been targeted this week, know that I am sending my love and care. Please feel free to reach out if you need someone to hold them accountable.
To those who would use their one Jewish friend who supported Dyke March Chicago’s actions to defend their position, keep in mind that (1) that is tokenizing and I know that you know that isn’t acceptable and (2) in all likelihood, you are leveraging a white-passing, Ashkenazi, secular Jewish friend to harass and silence a Persian Jew of color. If that’s your intersectionality, it is hollow.
