Just saw a friend post this and I was wondering if people have resources to counter some of these statements I can send their way.
Some highlights:
Do not claim that Jews are white: Portraying Jews as “white” is done to make them fit more easily fit into the narrative that Zionism is a “white colonialist” project. There are Jews of every skin color. Only 30% of Israelis are Ashkenazi (European) Jews. Almost 45% are indigenous Mizrahi Jews. There are many others, such as Maghrebi Jews and Ethiopian Jews. Almost half of Israeli Jews are ethnically mixed. Jews outside of Israel are diverse, too.
Avoid using the terms Zionist or Zionism to describe the Israeli Government or Jews: These terms have become pejorative and are too broad to be useful. A Zionist is one who believes Jews have a right to a homeland in Israel. That includes Jews of all political persuasions, most Evangelical Christians, and anyone who supports a two-state solution (such as the UAE, Saudi Arabia or China). Israel is a modern nation-state. Its people are simply Israelis, much as people in Australia are simply Australians. Rather than referring to “the Zionists”, refer to “the Israeli Government” or “the Netanyahu Government”.
Do not lie about Jews’ connection to Israel: This is a delegitimization tactic. Jews are the indigenous people of Israel. There have always been Jews in Israel, although they have rarely had sovereignty or been the majority. While some of Israel’s enemies accuse it of being colonialist, many Jews view Israel’s creation as decolonization (it was Jewish insurgents who drove the colonialist British out of Palestine). This historicity of Jews being from Israel does give them a claim to the land, but it does not mean Palestinians have no claim.
Do not call for Israel’s destruction: Racists have weaponized the Palestinian independence struggle, making anti-Zionism the new anti-Semitism. Claiming to be anti-Zionist but not anti-Jewish is like saying you are not anti-Japanese, but just want to destroy Japan. It is anti-Semitic to say that Jews are the only people in the world without the right to a homeland. Calling for Israel’s destruction with rabid chants such as “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free” or “By any means necessary” is to call for the death of millions. That is disgusting. Calling for serious solutions is welcome.
Wow! Should I look into Israel’s treatment of Ethiopian Jews? Oh. Well surely other non-European Jews are fine. Oh.
Such unserious nonsense when Israel itself uses the term to describe its government so frequently even today. Don’t they know they’re insulting themselves by using “pejoratives”?
This is so funny to me because throughout the history of Zionism, it was openly called colonialism by its leaders, where Palestinians were called the “natives”/”indigenous” who needed to be dispossessed. Just blatant rewriting of history to weasel into an imaginary “middle ground.”
No, it doesn’t count that Herzl (of Mt. Herzl) wrote to the prominent colonist Cecil Rhodes comparing Zionism to Western colonialism and calling it “something colonial.” No, it doesn’t matter that the Zionist projects were named such things as the “Palestine Jewish Colonization Association” and the “Jewish Agency Colonization Department.” No, it isn’t relevant that the Zionist project was demonstrably one for the cause of European Jewish opportunism and colonialism supported by the imperial powers (namely Britain), of which Palestine was selected merely because of the common myth of indigeneity which roused mass support (see The Class Origins of Zionist Ideology by Halbrook). In fact, by bringing this up you’re performing a “delegitimization tactic” and lying!
Isn’t a simple conversion to the religion of Judaism sufficient to be granted a birthright trip? Why aren’t genetic tests showing an ancestral connection to the land accepted as a valid cause for the law of return, but only the proof of Jewish family members? Because then Israel would be forced to allow displaced Palestinians to return to their land. Why are genetic tests forbidden without a court order? The whole “indigeneity” argument is something the Israeli state itself won’t take seriously.
Everyone has likely heard the last part of this repeated verbatim, but, of course, what this ignores is that this “homeland” was built on the displacement and massacre of Palestinians and sits atop the land of Palestinians, requiring brutal repression. Do all other people have a right to occupy other’s lands, uphold an apartheid regime, and commit obscene atrocities, such as the restriction of travel around Gaza and the mowing down of people, including children and healthcare workers, who refuse this? The call for the destruction of Israel is one for the liberation of Palestinians, the end to settler-colonial violence and to the regressionist apartheid theocracy that is Israel, and so too a call for the progress of the Jewish people.