(Title is a reference to the Manga, Barefoot Gen, where an Imperial Japanese soldier insists two children stomp on Churchill/Truman’s effigy painted on the street sidewalk as way to help defeat the Allies )

I don’t feel comfortable having an Israeli flag on Hexbear with the star of David on its image burning.

On my part, though it does happen, this is not my conflation of Zionism with Judaism. I trust we believe that Zionism is using Judaism, the Star of David, and the history of the Jewish people to deface and tarnish the Torah and Jewish culture for its own settler colonial ideology and national chauvinism.

Zionism is using Judaism, Jewish culture, and identity as a weapon to fuel its own existence and legitimacy, and as shield to insulate itself from criticism and consequences.

And because of that people do link them together, whether we like it or not.

Creating an emoji with a burning Star of David is something that Hexbear has not done, but I don’t appreciate the occassional poster here Just Asking Questions in debatebro fashion on why we can not have a burning star of david.

I certainly don’t like having images of them spammed to me in my inbox with the message “just admit i’m right”. Whether people do it on other forums and in crowds on the street is neither here nor there; there’s a difference between ventilating frustration and cultivating an ecosystem of hate that is very fragile to navigate through in an issue so sensitive and urgent.

tl;dr - you don’t need a burning Israel flag with the Star of David to express contempt, horror, disgust, shame, anger, and the solidarity of opposition.

Also don’t harass people with your “argument”.