In my lifetime, Jewish voices have always been at the forefront of anti-genocide, anti-apartheid, and anti-ethnic cleansing campaigns throughout the world and continue to be. Assuming that all Jewish people support and are involved with an ethnic cleansing is horrendously anti-semetic and must be opposed. Where the article points out this behavior from leftists who don’t understand their own side, it has to be opposed.
This article also airdrops this in there as an example:
“Israel is not a ‘colonial’ state and Israelis aren’t ‘settlers.’ You cannot colonize the land your ancestors are from,” Blotner wrote.
Unlike what the secular state of Israel proclaims at every opportunity, Israel does not represent all Jewish people or Judaism. Indegeneity is not relevant to colonialism. The process of colonization is relevant to colonialism. Importantly, all Jewish people throughout the world including in the state of Israel do not support the behavior of Netanyahu’s government. It is not a necessary tenent of the religion or the identity to settle the the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and the Golan Heights regardless of what opportunistic politicians say. Conflating critisizing a far-right state abusing religious rhetoric that is even considered heretical by many Jewish tradtions is not the same as assuming all Jewish people by religion or ethnicity are “the other” in every nefarious form that can take.
On the colonial state part. My interpretation of the statement was support for their right to exist, not the support for taking more Palestinian land or the method they used to do so by emigrating residents into their population.
But honestly either way, I think there are so many shit opinions, and so many biases from so many different sources, and so much misinformation, it’s justified to give people a bit of slack on the subject regardless. Kicking someone out of a support group for a post like that is cruel.
It’s disheartening to hear. Typically the Anti Defamation League draws attention to rising antisemitic behavior whenever there is a tension abroad but often does so to divert attention from the issue abroad.
To be clear, any kind of hostility/prejudice/discrimination to any group is wrong. Supporting one group shouldn’t negate from the other. As someone who identifies with neither group I can see why one or another would resort to name calling — it gets us nowhere. But to shut down discussions because people are frustrated is also wrong.
And then there are people to use these events as an excuse to get away with bad behavior.
The ADL was barely covered in the article. It was mostly anecdotes of jewish college students being or feeling attacked for outwardly expressing identity. I don’t think you meant it this way, but leading by questioning the ADL’s behavior seems to miss the point.
Before reading the article, their comment definitely made it sound like ADL was making these claims. Though I definitely understand criticizing the reference to ADL.
