I've seen a lot of posts on this site that are leaning into anti semetic tropes while criticizing Israel. I want to point it out so that folks can recognize it.
First, because I have to say it:
Israel is a colonial outpost of the United States. It was created by Britain and inherited by the US. The US gives Israel ~3,000,000,000 USD in aid every year. As a colony, it should be the goal of every socialist to destroy it, just as we seek the destruction of the US, Northern Ireland, South Korea, Canada, the Phillipine state, etc.
But! Israel is also a safe haven for Jews. This is seperable from the colonial nature of the state. Israel could have been created in Germany or Siberia or frankly Florida for that matter (in fact, annexing Florida to create a new state of Israel is what I mean when i refer to "the one state solution"). In many ways, the US with its civil rights act serves the same purpose, and in fact, most Jews live in the US.
Many of us had ancestors in Germany or Poland during the holocaust who did not stick around after the war. They saw Israel as their best shot at safety in the wake of the holocaust. Many Israelis are liberals, hoping to vote out Likud, stop supporting settlements, and negotiate palestinian statehood. These people are advocating half measures, sure, but they are not our enemies.
So I wanted to point out some anti-semetic tropes I've seen on this website and call them out so you can recognize them.
Conflating Jews in Israel with Zionists.
This can be done through omission. If you aren't clear whether you're talking about jews or a specific institution (for example, the I"D"F or the settlements or Likud), many people will read your statement as being about Jews. Be careful with the word "they"
erasing the ambivalent position of jews within colonialism / conflating jewishness with whiteness
The zionist entity is not a Jewish colonial project, but an Anglo colonial project. It was created by the British and now is funded by the US Americans. Jews are an oppressed minority whose oppression is leveraged against other oppressed peoples. Similarly to how the US uses Kurds to Balkanize Iraq or The Hmong to wage counterinsurgency in Laos, it's uses Jews to destabilize the Levant.
Outside of the US, jews are largely understood as a racial group and oppressed on that basis. Especially in the Arab world where the Islamic hyper nationalism has gained ground in response to colonialism and been funded further by colonialists to their own ends (google "the safari club" or "Israel funds Hamas")
Blood Libel
This one is the assertion that Jews are uniquely bloodthirsty / murder non Jewish children. The classic example of this myth that people are familiar with is Runplestiltskin.
It is true that the IDF under the direction of Likud and the US state is murdering many Gazans, the majority of whom are children. but! be careful to specify. When people talk about "jews" or "israelis" generally as perpetuating the murder of children, they are engaging in the blood libel trope. Again, be careful with the word "they" and specify which entities you're talking about.
calling for ethnic cleansing
Okay, wtf ya'll. It's not jews as an ethnicity that are oppressing Palestinians, it is US imperial power. Jews have always lived in Palestine and the occupation only began in the 40s as part of a British initiative.
Jews will always be part of a palestinian state, and frankly need protections as ethnic and religious minorities. We do not seek the expulsion of Jews from Palestine, but their integration into it as citizens.
Jews are safe in the US not because its a colonial state but because of civil rights protections and generational wealth. If we can create civil rights protections in Palestine and a social safety net (ideally communism but I'll settle for social democracy), then jews will be safe in Palestine.
Jewish control of America / protocols of the elders of zion
America controls Israel and not vice versa. APEC is not a cabal brainwashing otherwise Nobel Christian politicians. US politicians support Israel because they're colonial politicians and Israel is our colony. APEC exists because lobbying is how power is exercised in the US, but if we had patronage instead, APEC' functions would be carried our by a governor or an ambassador or whatever.
conclusion
Recognize the role of the US empire in Palestinian oppression. Recognize that jews are in an ambivalent racial category and are an oppressed people. Be specific when criticizing Israeli colonialism. Name who you're criticizing, is it the settlements? The IDF? Likud? The US military Industrial Complex? Stop calling for ethnic cleansing of jews if you've been doing that. Don't equate jewishness with whiteness / the Nazis. White people are white people, the US is the Nazis.
"Antisemite" is basically another word for "whataboutism". Also actual anti-semites get the
too
And since the Apartheid in South Africa ended 30 years ago, accusing anyone critical of apartheid rule of being a communist sympathizer grew out of fashion, so there was an "urgent" need to find a new label
say the line, bart
Semi-joking aside, I know where to not point the finger at. On the contrary also, it's the people who make this accusation who themselves let it slip. The irony isn't lost when the likes of Miko Peled and Ronnie Kasrils, along with groups such as SAJFP, JVP and B'tselem consistently get pelted with the "antisemite" accusations on the regular.
Do you think I'm acting in bad faith?
Instead of a callout to nothing in particular, report specific comments or give examples. Cause I've seen nothing of the sort here
We have the best mods don't we folks?
Yes. 100%.
Concern Trolling; False assumptions based on lack of foundation; Lib shit moral grandstanding; probably propaganda.
I think that through no fault of the left, this are a lot of hidden dangers to be aware of.
First, there are actual antisemites around. I expect there's not many on hexbear, but we can't let our guard down.
Next, fascists use so many tropes and dogwhistles and euphemisms that one can easily stumble into using one accidentally. And even when avoiding those, one can easily be misinterpreted by people who are understandably on alert. And we can also be intentionally misrepresented by zionists or imperialists or others acting in bad faith.
In this context, a post like yours could be read as an accusation or a slander or an attempt to start conflict. I don't think that's your intention and I think you were clear in your writing so it would be hard to read it that way. But most of us have experienced a lot of bad faith accusations this week (often from people with power over us) so we're on guard for that as well.
yes, maybe even unintentionally, but still bad faith
That’s not quite how bad faith works. They could be an idiot still, but if it was unintentional it would be good faith, because good faith is about intentions.
there are specific leaps you have to go to in order to ignore all of hexbears constant statements that 'Do not conflate zionism and jewishness, any anti semitism will be banned' which they follow through with in every instance, and being entirely ignorant of the situation anyway.
Eh, if you take every single poster individually it’s not a hard leap to make. Just because 90% of posters have no antisemitic intentions means next to nothing for that last 10% (the number is probably lower than this, just an example).
Thank God for our mods
.
Yes completely true, but it doesn't mean much if they are consistently banned off the platform. I have not seen this done by any user that hasn't been here more than 3 months or so.
amen
I think you're being a disgusting lib, even if you're being 100% sincere
Nah mate. It's pretty well-written in case someone doesn't know how to properly approach these points, so they don't make the mistakes listed (and unintentionally giving the "opponent" ammunition).
I think it's a good post honestly, main critique is that it feels accusatory like "I gotta teach you all to not be anti semitic because you currently are" ya know?
But I'm not sure how to get rid of such a tone so maybe it's unavoidable. I totally agree with you though that this shit is messy and you need to be hyperspecific in criticisms.