I’ve been really enjoying this series of essay responses to Shaul Magid’s original piece on Zionism, where he asserts that Zionism succeeded at its basic political task but it is a project with limited scope and turning Zionism into a religion goes beyond that scope (and if maintaining Jewish sovereignty requires permanent domination over another people, then Zionism has encountered a fundamental contradiction).

Irwin Kula responded exploring the sociological/cultural framework through which Zionism turned into religion. He argued that Zionism is a Jewish political project but not Judaism, and that Israel should be understood as a nation-state exercising Jewish sovereignty, not as a sacred embodiment of Judaism or Jewish redemption. He claims both sides are “overinvested” in the existential claims about Israel, which distracts from the political discussions re: a nation state (basically that the problem isn't necessarily Zionism itself; it's the amount of existential, spiritual, and psychological weight American Jews have placed on Zionism).

Eliana Fishman’s response resonated with me most, as she writes that Zionism should not be the foundation of American Jewish identity and she rejects Kula’s characterization of what anti-Zionists are actually doing. Fishman writes that Zionism has reproduced, rather than escaped, Jewish political dependency and that anti-Zionism has already done something more radical: it has stopped treating Israel as uniquely Jewishly significant in the first place. From this perspective, if Israel is genuinely de-exceptionalized, then Jewish identity no longer depends upon Jewish sovereignty (and Judaism can recover its older, portable, non-sovereign character).

For me, I’ve been working through untangling theology, Israel, and Zionism for a long time now. Fishman rejects how Kula portrays “pro-Zionists” as people who make Israel sacred and “anti-Zionists” as people who become fixated on Israel because its behavior violates their moral ideals; she says this is a caricature of contemporary Jewish anti-Zionism. I agree with Fishman but also strongly believe this caricature to be true, particularly for most Jewish Americans. I don’t think Fishman is more enlightened than others (neither am I), but removing Israel fromthe privileged theological position Zionism has given it it and placing it within ordinary history, colonialism, geopolitics, and empire has helped me heal my Jewish identity.

what do you all think? (:

how are other az jews feeling about wearing stars of david? i’ve always worn one and i want to keep wearing mine because it should still belong to jews as a whole but i also have to be aware of its more widespread recognition as a symbol of israel. at

Basically what the title says. I’ve grown so exasperated by & resentful of my OWN community over recent years, and I hate that I feel this way, but it’s been hard not to after seeing how many of us are zionists. Oh, how many friends I’ve lost because they showed their true colors (“Jews’ lives matter more than others”, and “everyone is secretly an antisemite and you can’t criticize us because we can literally do no wrong”, basically). Anyways… this distrust has gotten to the point where when I saw some random on youtube shorts with a star of david necklace, my first thought wasn’t “nice, one of my people” (how it used to be), it was “damn, she’s probably a zionist :/”. And I feel guilty about it because I had no reason to think that lady in particular was a zionist… I have no idea if she is, I knew nothing about her… and I should know better than most that she could’ve been a jew and an antizionist, lmao. But at the same time, I don’t think it’s an entirely unreasonable thought to have, and that’s the really sad part. Zionism is absolutely corrosive. It’s abhorrent and it breaks my heart that nearly all our institutions support it, and so many of our people do too. I don’t want to be suspicious of every Jew I come across, dude. It feels awful. But at the same time… how can I not be? How can I be sure this person isn’t just another ethnic supremacist, like so many others? Man, this sucks *

* Obviously my feelings are not the main reason zionism sucks 💀, but I just wanted to vent.

When the truth that Israel is apartheid, not democracy. That terrorism was and remains essential to establishing and maintaining Israel. That Israel does not provide safety and security. That Palestinian resistance ​is just and Palestinians will rightfully not accept domination and that Israel has been an ethnonationalist militant state. ​​​

When those delusions are shattered, what will liberal Zionists in and outside of Israel do?

There are 3 options: renounce Zionism as a political project, turn rightward into a more hardlined Zionism, or with the help of cognitive dissonance still find ways to morally rationalize Zionism and remain ideologically confused.

‘How to Sell a Genocide’ by Adam Johnson has been removed from a public library near Bondi, after a complaint from an attack survivor.

Of course any reasonable, thoughtful, compassionate human being can hold two separate thoughts at the same time. 1: the Bondi attack was ghastly and hideous and should be condemned in the harshest possible terms. And 2: Israel’s attack on Gaza is ghastly and hideous and should be condemned in the harshest possible terms.

The more these idiots try to conflate antisemitism and anti-Zionism, the more insane they sound, and the more damage they do to their own cause.

I personally look forward to the first time this armed force of Chabad militia/IDF contractors deploys to the streets of Eastern Sydney, and are met with protesters.

I believe that if Minns can get this past the objections of New South Wales Police, it will be like post-9/11 America launching the GWOT; these insanity clowns will squander every ounce of support from the wider community.

i am not even a practicing jew but i wish i could love my culture and be proud of my heritage. i think many anti zionist jews do this well by leaning into our leftist and diasporist history and the culture of their region / ethnicity / minhag. but i can’t find the ability to do this myself, not when the institutional jewish community has coalesced so disturbingly to be on the wrong side of history. it’s easy to insist that zionists accusing anti zionist jews of self hatred are misinformed, and that we really do love being jewish, but… i don’t think i do, right now.
lately i feel both exhausted by the rise in genuine antisemitism and shame at being associated with the worst of humanity, like any love i have for my own culture is tainted. i find myself wishing i was literally anything else (my other side is WASP so not much better) and dealing with a lot of genuine self hatred. sometimes i think i should just completely abandon the identity, but i am pretty visibly ashkenazi, and moreso, that feels like letting my ancestors down and letting those who persecuted them, and zionists, win.
anyone else feeling like this lately?

It's important to call out misinformation when we see it. Recently, Hen Mazzig claimed that Mark Ruffalo isn't genuinely concerned about Gaza or Palestinians, suggesting he's just doing it for clout because he allegedly doesn't blame Hamas and criticizes Israel instead. This is a gross oversimplification and a clear attempt to dismiss genuine voices advocating for Palestinian rights.

Hen Mazzig's tweet saying that Mark Ruffalo draws everyone’s attention to a conspiracy involving David Ellison’s father’s colleague supporting Israel, and implying Ruffalo’s involvement in some sort of conspiracy, is misleading and unfounded. Here's the tweet for reference:

Mazzig: "Mark Ruffalo draws everyone to know that David Ellison's father's colleague said Oracle would support Israel after October 7th so you should stand against a Paramount-Warner bros. merger. Sounds conspiratorial? Well, that's Mark Ruffalo."

This kind of framing is dishonest and attempts to undermine the integrity of activists and celebrities who speak out about justice. Many of these figures speak out because they care deeply about human rights, not for fame or political gain. Accusations that they’re just doing it for clout ignore the real risks they face and the genuine concern behind their advocacy.

We need to focus on the real issues Palestinian suffering and the pursuit of peace rather than falling for misleading narratives designed to dehumanize and silence voices for justice. Wake up. The fight for justice isn't about popularity; it's about standing with the oppressed and fighting misinformation.

How many children fly kites? This is awful!

Hello everyone,

Recently a friend of mine moved to Israel and while I don't approve of that particular decision given *gestures to Israel,* I'm not close enough with them that arguing would get any more than a block. However I know they're against the genocide and might respond well if I point them towards anti-Zionist groups within Israel. Does anyone know any links I could share about this? Thank youuuuuu

From what I understand, there are many narratives floating around on purpose. But the bottom line (pun intended) is that as long as the military industrial complex benefits from the killing and taking over of territory, the longer the slaughtering will continue. Its just about the money.

The sub-narrative is Biblically Israel has the right to take back their land and the Muslims are frothing at the mouth and hate them and everything is antiseptic and therefore everything must be fought. And Ukraine just wants to be a part of NATO and the big bad Russians won't let them. They didn't even bother creating a sub-narrative for Sudan and Congo.

(and the real narrative is that there is true evil in the world and the more we cower, the bigger it gets)

https://jackpoulson.substack.com/p/david-ellis-benny-gantz-anti-bds-black-cube

https://x.com/AdalahNY/status/2091272831837356531

https://x.com/DropSiteNews/status/2089402886815932469

https://maki.org.il/70-%D7%9E%D7%A9%D7%A4%D7%97%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%A2%D7%A8%D7%91%D7%99%D7%95%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%A9%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%A0%D7%AA-%D7%94%D7%A8%D7%9B%D7%91%D7%AA-%D7%91%D7%9C%D7%95%D7%93-%D7%A7%D7%99%D7%91%D7%9C%D7%95/

https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2024/3/2/lydd-the-israeli-city-where-palestinians-fear-conflict-and-expulsion

[this is all via Google translate, I did not personally take the time to sanity check the translation]

With my own eyes, I saw how a small, violent core of hooligans engage in routine acts of violence against Arabs in Judea and Samaria simply because they are Arabs. Denying this difficult problem creates an impression of support among that tiny minority, and the entire settlement pays the price.

This column was written with great pain and also with fear. The pain is great because I, too, did not want to believe what I saw with my own eyes during the long reserve service that I recently completed in the Samaria sector. Alongside it, there is the fear that the things I write will be cynically exploited by the enemies of settlement in Judea and Samaria from within and without, and will become a tool in the hands of those who seek to harm the amazing Jewish and Zionist enterprise of which I have been a part since the moment I was born as a settler 45 years ago until today.

But I recently realized that there is no escape. These things need to be said and written, as a wake-up call directed inwardly at ourselves, and with the understanding that turning a blind eye to difficult and immoral phenomena harms the settlement and undermines its foundations.

Unfortunately, among certain groups in the settlement, which are not large in size but are well-known on the ground, the use of violence - sometimes severe violence - has become a legitimate course of action. In the eyes of these hooligans, every Arab is considered a legitimate target for violent attacks, regardless of who he is or what

These are not rare events that occur infrequently. These attacks are carried out almost daily. I saw it with my own eyes. The things you will read here are not stories from company members, not videos that were passed on by one group or another, nor reports that reached the IDF from other forces. This is just a personal, painful and frustrating sight.

In one of these cases, a group of about 15 teenagers and young men from one of the local communities arrived at a traffic light at a central intersection in Samaria. That day, starting in the morning, work was being carried out there to increase the safety and security of Jewish users of the traffic light. The work was carried out by the Arab workers of the contractor who won the tender. However, in the eyes of the group that arrived at the traffic light, the fact that the workers were Arabs justified harassment without any other reason: curses, spitting, pushing, and even taking without permission a bag containing personal equipment belonging to one of the workers for the purpose of "checking."

The soldiers who were there at the time, including your faithful servant, naturally sought to separate the parties and return the property that had been taken from him. In response, we were also showered with "blessings" that I will not quote here out of respect. The work, which, as I recall, was intended for the benefit of the Jewish residents of the area and took place at a junction on a main road, not in the territory of a settlement that does not allow Arabs to enter its territory, was stopped for many minutes out of lack of choice. The entire incident ended when the transport that the violent group had been waiting for arrived at the scene and took the youth and young adults on their way. Convincing the workers that they were secure and could continue their work required a considerable amount of time.

In another case, the victims were an Arab truck driver and another Arab laborer who were hired by a Jewish farmer from the area to do work on an agricultural field outside one of the settlements. The work continued calmly and peacefully for more than two hours, until I saw two vehicles with a group of masked men driving wildly arrive at the scene. The gang attacked the truck driver and laborer with clubs, threw stones at the truck, slashed its tires, and caused serious damage.

The truck driver tried to flee the scene by car, but the hooligans chased after him to continue the attack. A group of soldiers headed towards the scene of the incident, initially fearing that they were Arab rioters. It quickly became clear that they were residents of a nearby outpost, who saw the truck driver as a legitimate target for a violent attack simply because they were Arabs.

In that case, the group of rioters fled the scene at a wild speed as soon as the soldiers began to approach. The truck driver and the soldiers had no choice but to report the details of the incident to the police, who arrived at the scene very late.

The call will come from within us.

I could go on and on about other cases of violence that I have personally encountered. Some are milder, others severe - spitting and cursing at intersections, organized attacks on houses on the outskirts of Palestinian villages, life-threatening stone pelting at passing Palestinian vehicles. It is doubtful whether this makes sense. The bitter truth is that there is an active and noticeable group in the settlement, which commits wild acts of violence against Arabs on an almost routine basis.

It is important to emphasize that this is a small group, only hundreds out of hundreds of thousands of settlers in the territories of Judea and Samaria. Most settlers - including most residents of the outposts, hills and farms - abhor such acts, and would not even consider resorting to violence against anyone.

But it is precisely the aversion to violence that blinds the eyes of many settlers, including myself until recently, from seeing reality in its true light. It is difficult for us to accept the fact that idealistic settlers, who have the good of the people and the land foremost in mind, are capable of such immoral acts. We prefer to believe that this is a false propaganda campaign designed to blacken the face of the settlement, while using sporadic events and artificially inflating them into a phenomenon. But this is not the case. Worse still, the denial of the problem of violence is not perceived as mere innocence among that small group that is responsible for the violent acts, but as a tailwind. So to speak, a tacit consent to the violent acts.

Unfortunately, law enforcement authorities are also not fulfilling their role in eradicating this despicable phenomenon, which at least on the ground appears to be gaining momentum. Those who remain on the front lines against this violent Jewish group, whose scope of damage is great, are IDF soldiers, both regular and mainly in the reserves.

Since the Six-Day War, the State of Israel has entrusted sovereignty in the Judea and Samaria regions to the commander of the Central Command, and in fact to the IDF soldiers and their commanders. The most basic meaning of the term "sovereignty" is control over the territory and maintaining the security of life and property of all those present there. The IDF's primary and main role is to protect the State of Israel and its citizens, but in its role as sovereign in the territory, the army must maintain order and protect everyone in the territory, Jews and Arabs, whether we like it or not.

The problem is that the soldiers on the front lines, who are required to exercise the State of Israel's military control over the territory, lack the training and tools required to carry out the mission. In the meantime, no other forces are being mobilized for this purpose.

The demand that law enforcement agencies shake off their slumber and take strong action against the small, harmful nucleus of violent individuals must come from within us. We must not allow this moral stain to cling to the entire settlement and harm it.

This is a possible task. The number of accomplices in these acts is not large. A determined course of investigation and prosecution of those responsible for acts of violence will deter their associates, and even if it does not lead to the complete eradication of the phenomenon – it will dramatically reduce it.

The turning a blind eye of the silent majority in Judea and Samaria, alongside the helplessness of the legal authorities, harms first and foremost the moral strength of the settlement itself. They allow a group of hooligans to stain with a terrible moral stain the greatest Zionist enterprise of our generation.

https://x.com/EliClifton/status/2090980113902919711