I Am A Zionist...And Damn Proud Of It.

This statement has been posted in a number of places, sometimes presented as a meme, other places as an unattributed quote. I cannot vouch for the statistics at the bottom, but they sound reasonable enough. 

I am not here to defend the actions of the government of Israel or the United States. I am here to tell you I am a staunch supporter of the right of Jews to live in our own homeland. 

That homeland called Israel may be a modern state, but the last time that strip of land had an autonomous government, not run by a foreign power of ANY kind, was the Hasmonean Kingdom of Judah that was absorbed into the Roman Empire around 37 B.C.E. when Herod (yes, that Herod) was installed as a puppet king by Rome. Even Christian history, the preferred version for a good chunk of the world, recognizes that Israel was a Jewish state even then. 

I've written these words before: we are the indigenous people of that area. 

We are not the only indigenous people. There are others with lots of other names. By comparison Palestine is a word invented by the Romans, has never actually been a country or an ethnic group. At least not until the establishment of the modern State of Israel. This is not fiction or opinion; this is historically accurate.

That said, the Palestinians identify as a group now; in a perfect world, the two state solution would have already have been accepted and the Palestinian people would have a working, functional, state of their own. But they don't. 

But that's not what I'm writing about tonight. Tonight, I want to simply point out that being a Jew living in the Diaspora does not mean we are group think, that you know what any of us think about Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, or even Jerusalem unless you have asked one of  us for a personal opinion. For as many Jews there are, there are that many opinions plus one or two or three or a hundred. 

If you don't like the policies of the Israeli government, that does not give you carte blanche to beat up random people on the street, burn synagogues or businesses, or threaten the rest of us with rape, death, mutilation, or anything else. That is ANTISEMITISM. 

Did you get that? 

Let me repeat it just in case you didn't quite understand what I mean:

If you don't like the policies of the Israeli government, that does not give you carte blanche to beat up random people on the street, burn synagogues and businesses,  or threaten the rest of us with rape, death, mutilation, or anything else. That is ANTISEMITISM. 

Increased violence against minority groups is not limited to Jews or the U.S. Hate crimes against Asian Americans have risen almost exponentially since the last administration blamed them for the pandemic. There is certainly a disconnect when it comes to the treatment of Black Americans by the justice system, including but not limited to cops. And the invisibility of the Native American population is beyond reprehensible. 

Jew hating is an ancient practice full of bullshit and lies that seem to cycle through every generation. Germany did an admirable job of attempting to rid the world of Jews, but alas, once again, we survived. One might think that after the oh, so public documentation of the Holocaust, some of this might stop, but no. Even Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdogan supported the ol' blood libel bullshit:

During a televised speech Monday, Erdogan criticized the ongoing conflict and said he had spoken to a “Jewish prime minister” during a past visit who told him it was the “greatest pleasure” to kill Palestinians when the unnamed official served as a general in the Israel Defense Forces. Erdogan said, “This is part of their nature" and “they are only satisfied by sucking blood."    (from AL-Monitor)

Great to know old habits die hard....or not at all. 

Which is precisely my point. There is a double standard for Us. And by Us, I mean Jews and Israel. It's open season to attack Us because Israel defends itself against thousands of rockets fired at towns and villages indiscriminately. As John Oliver pointed out so well on This Week Tonight last week:

And look, it is true that militants from Palestinian groups like Hamas fired over a thousand rockets toward Israel this week, and that is reprehensible. But — and I realize this is the most load-bearing conjunction in history, “but” — the majority of those rockets thankfully didn’t reach their target, for a very clear reason. The casualties and the damage would have been greater but for Israeli interceptor rockets, the so-called iron dome, which blew most of the incoming missiles to pieces. 

Yeah, Israel has a so-called iron dome. And I know “what if we blew up the rockets with more rockets?” Sounds like something someone drunkenly wrote down on a napkin once, but it is a real military defense system that works. And I also know not all the rockets were shot down. Israeli civilians were killed this week, which is terrible. But the point is, this isn’t “tit for tat.” There is a massive imbalance when it comes to the two sides’ weaponry and capabilities. While most of the rockets aimed toward Israeli citizens this week were intercepted, Israel’s air strikes were not.

 

So, if I'm getting this right, John Oliver would be happier without Iron Dome because then the rockets would've hit many of their targets, thereby killing lots of Israelis. But because they developed Iron Dome to protect their citizens, then there's an imbalance of power that should be negated.  Hmmmm. 

I think Tom Aharon did a great job of debunking John Oliver in his rebuttal piece. If you haven't seen it, it's worth watching:

The more I think about it, I understand that the surgical strikes in Gaza are painful for those people. But y'know what? I didn't see any Hamas warnings to the citizens of Ramat Gan warning those people missiles were being launched at them, whereas the people in Gaza were specifically told which building was being targeted and should be evacuated.

We can all agree what is happening in Gaza is not good. It's not good for Israel, it's not good for the citizens of Gaza under the thumb and above the rat warren of terror tunnels. And it's certainly not good for any of the children on both sides who are going to have long term PTSD from this never ending war. It has to stop. 

As does attacking Jews world-wide for being Jews. Or Asians for being Asians. Or Black American men for driving or walking while being Black American men. Or Indigenous women. Attacking random people for being something is, as Ziggy would say, the surest sign you have a tiny little dick and need to compensate by attempting to act like a bigger one. Guys, that is total bullshit, everyone sees it for what it is, and frankly, you look even stupider than you probably are. 

I am hoping to be back in Israel, pandemic and hostilities permitting, in the fall. When I'm there, I have a sense of belonging, a feeling of homey-ness I don't get anywhere else. Yeah, the Haredi attitude of we're right/you're wrong pisses me off no end. Still, I think about making aliyah a lot...but Little Miss and Young Sir keep me rooted here right now. 

I have been a Zionist since the day I learned what the word meant in first grade. I believe we are entitled to live in our own homeland. I believe ALL Jews should be welcome there. And I believe that we will eventually come to peaceable terms with our neighbors. 

That said, I guarantee that when that day comes, assholes are still gonna be beating up Jews and burning Jewish business and synagogues. Y'know why? 

Because it has NOTHING to do with Israel and the Palestinians. 

The Wifely Person's Tip o'the Week

Saturday, May 29th, is the 568th anniversary of the fall of Constantinople to the Turks.

Tradition requires an angel food cake with chocolate frosting. 

Just sayin'.