When the Oppressed Become The Oppressors

I had a very different blog already written for this week, but you won't see it. Instead, I want to take a moment to remind my readers that Jews remain on the bottom of the shit heap in this country. It doesn't matter if the first daughter has signed on to the blue-and-white bandwagon, Jews are still Jews and they remain the most reviled subset in this nation. 

And here you thought it was the Muslims. Silly you.

And silly me. 

A couple of things happened this weekend, just as I was getting ready to go see Wonder Woman. On the surface they may not appear related, but in fact, they really are. 

While Jewish rainbow flags were carried without incident at the Gay Pride Parade in Chicago, that was not the case at the Dyke March held on Saturday in Little Village. There, Jewish marchers were told the rainbow flag with a Star of David in the middle made some other participants feel "unsafe."   

JTA: Chicago lesbian march bans ‘Jewish Pride’ flag as offensive:

Organizers of the 21st annual Chicago Dyke March told the women that the rainbow flags with a white Star of David in the center would be a “trigger,” or traumatic stimulus, for people who found them offensive.

A Dyke March collective member told the Windy City Times that the women were told to leave because the flags “made people feel unsafe,” and that the march was “anti-Zionist” and “pro-Palestinian."                                                                                               

The flag was a rainbow flag, not an Israeli flag. Can anyone tell me how a rainbow flag with a Jewish star makes anyone feel unsafe...except the Jews marching beneath the banner?

At around the same time I was reading about the Dyke March, a friend sent me a link to an opinion piece in ESSENCE magazine: OPINION: Why Supporting 'Wonder Woman' Is Dangerous For My Black Feminism And Liberation. I read the article several times, and I understand most of what she is saying, and can understand why she is saying it, except for the personal attack on Gal Gadot:

When I first saw these iconic Black women express their laudations of Gal Gadot, who is pro-Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and a former combat trainer with direct ties to the oppression of Palestinian people, I thought of the longstanding and tacit requisite of upward mobility that requires Black people to distance themselves or abandon those of us without social influence, political clout, or financial security. I think about how we are left to scurry for scraps as we survive in a White supremacist world that sees us as disposable while our faves engage in behaviors that are antithetical to our Liberation.

Which is scarier? Wonder Woman...

...or Jewish woman?

This wasn't about the color of her skin or her talents as an actor, this screed was about her being Israeli and doing her compulsory military service. This was about Gal Gadot, the Israeli, not the actor. I know there is much discussion these days about cultural appropriation, but this is not that. The writer's issue is with Ms Gadot's nationality. I am equally certain if Ms Gadot was serving in Pakistan's armed forces, or China's, or the United Arab Emirate's armed forces, all nations with human rights issues....she would not be making the same argument.

But all is not well in the State of Israel, either. We have our own class of Jew-haters with which to contend.

In his latest move to insure the destruction of the State of Israel, Netanyahu told the Jews of the Diaspora to basically drop dead. In a less-than-astounding move, the prime minister of Sinat Chinam caved in and surrendered conversion recognition to the haredi, instead of recognizing pluralism in Judaism as he had seemingly promised.

The Ministerial Committee for Legislation voted on Sunday to advance a bill that would bar government agencies from recognizing conversions to Judaism performed in Israel outside the Orthodox-sanctioned state system.                Ha'aretz - June25th, 2017

Now, if you're not Jewish, and have no Jewish converts in your family, this is meaningless to you. But, if you are a Jew-by-choice (as opposed to a Jew-by birth) this is a big frickin' deal. Just as Jessica Fishman, the incredibly strong woman who wrote CHUTZPA AND HIGH HEELS describes. No one tells the story better than Jessica, and for reasons I both understand and cannot fathom, she remains in Israel in spite of this never-ending stream of humiliation dished out by that hateful coalition behind Netanyahu. Of course, that coalition is made up of people who do not fight in the IDF, work, or contribute to the national economy. They are not so dissimilar to the mullahs who enforce Sharia in Muslim countries. In fact, they have more in common with them than they do with most of the world's Jewish population. 

And speaking of mullahs, the Iranians unveiled a little display in Teheran: a countdown clock beginning at 8,411 days.... the number of days before which they say Israel will be destroyed. Apparently, this is based on comments made by Ayatolla Aki Khamenei in 2015 when he predicted there would be nothing left of Israel by 2040. Y'know they may not have to wait that long. If Netanyahu continues the trajectory he is on, Israel will do itself in. 

As I write this, Jews are being increasingly singled out for hatred by other groups who consider themselves oppressed. When a LGBT function tells Jews to go home because they are identifying as Jews, I want to ask why is hatred of us okay? Where is their complaint about Muslims countries where LGBT people are tossed off rooftops, thrown into prisons, or decapitated because they are whatever. When I read the paragraph included in the Invest/Divest section of the Movement For Black LIves platform questioning Israel's right to exist in safety, I want to ask why aren't they going after Somalia or Central African Republic or any other country where militias are actively performing acts of genocide? I want to know if they noticed Israel has free speech, a free press, and a society where all religions (except Judaism) are practiced without impediment? 

Why us? What have we, this teeny-tiny fraction of world population, done to them?

It's much too easy to hate; Jew-hating is always in season. Yeah, we have moments when we can relax, but that time is rapidly disappearing again. We're getting it from all sides. Those who consider themselves oppressed find it easy to blame someone further down the rankings than they are. And we, my dear readers, are currently at the bottom.

Maybe it wouldn't feel so isolating if we had Israel as a place to go. Right now, however, I'm thinking that might not be the best place for a Diaspora Jew. 

Maybe now is the time to ask, What is Plan-B?

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

If you are part of We, the People,

you have a civic obligation to actively care about what happens here.