Peter Beinart notes that Zohran Mamdani is under attack by "establishment Jewish organizations. And these attacks are really predictable and, honestly, they’re really brain-dead." These organizations are accusing Mamdani of antisemitism. In Beinart's view,
"It’s just nonsensical to equate Jewish New Yorkers as a group of people with the state of Israel."
Ep. 123. Israel Is Collapsing From Within - Ilan Pappé Explains Why | The voices of war
Is Israel beginning to collapse from within? In this in depth conversation, renowned Israeli historian Ilan Pappé explains why he believes Zionism has entered its final phase, how Israeli society is disintegrating internally, and what a just future for Palestinians and Israelis could look like. Pappé, director of the European Centre for Palestine Studies and author of The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine, Lobbying for Zionism on Both Sides of the Atlantic and Israel on the Brink, , draws on decades of archival research to argue that Israel is a classic settler colonial project built on ethnic cleansing, apartheid and permanent military rule over Palestinians. He details the social implosion inside Israel, the growing split between secular and religious Jews, the role of the U.S. and European powers, and why he thinks decolonization is inevitable. We discuss 1948 and the Nakba, the Gaza war, accusations of genocide, the collapse of the two state solution, one democratic state between the river and the sea, Jewish-Palestinian coexistence, and what real decolonization might require in practice. For anyone trying to understand the future of Israel-Palestine, this is an unfiltered, long form analysis from one of the conflict’s most important dissident historians.
So #Starmer’s benighted #British government is quick to sanction “heinous” genocidal brown-skinned Muslims but bends every sinew to enable#Israel’s (mostly) white-skinned genocidal #Zionist#Jews!
“UK imposes sanctions on four RSF officers for ‘heinous’ mass killings in Sudan:
Senior commanders accused of atrocities against civilians face asset freezes – but no action against key backer UAE”
"A new #academic study is challenging how #Holocaust#historians write about people the #Nazis classified as “half-#Jews” and “quarter-Jews,” arguing that current language unintentionally keeps #Nazi racial thinking in place.
In an article in the Journal of #Genocide#Research titled “The Nazis and the ‘Racial Jew’: A Blindspot in #HolocaustStudies,” #historian Harry Legg of the University of #Edinburgh says that #scholars, #museums, and #educators still treat the Nazi racial category “#Jew” as if it were a normal, self-chosen identity, even when writing about people of partial #Jewish descent who did not see themselves as Jewish."
"In 1850, the #German#composer Richard #Wagner wrote an article titled “#Judaism in Music.” Thirty years after its publication Wagner’s article was followed by the publication of books representing a new anti-#Jewish direction – racial. The term “#antisemitism” itself was introduced by German journalist and politician #WilhelmMarr, the founder of the “German League of Antisemitism,” in his book The Victory of #Judaism over Germanness, Viewed from a Non-Religious Perspective (1879).
Wagner became a pioneer of racial antisemitism. He wrote: “No matter how many good words are spoken about the just necessity of Jewish equality, in the real encounter with #Jews, we have never ceased to feel the most sincere antipathy toward them; […] we have been perplexed by the inevitable necessity of freeing art from Jewish oppressive influence; […] the Jews’ capacity for meaningful contemplation has never been great enough for great artists to emerge from their midst.”
"#Antisemitic incidents have surged nationwide since #Hamas launched its attack against #Israel on #October7, 2023. #ADL recorded more than 9,000 incidents of harassment, vandalism and assault in 2024, the highest number since it began tracking such data in 1979.
The report found that #American#Jews have significant safety concerns and are experiencing psychological fallout. Some 79% of Jews are concerned about #antisemitism, and 48% have taken actions to increase their personal security and sense of safety, including developing worst-case scenario plans (33%), plans to flee the country (14%), and purchasing guns (9%).
About 20% of those who, before October 7, wore visible #Jewish symbols such as a #StarofDavid or #kippa, said they no longer do so."
The distinction betweem #Jews and #Zionists is only ever honored in rhetoric, not reality. It’s a cheap word-game.
Besides, when Zionism is defined as the right of #Israel to exist then anti-Zionism is opposed to this existence. No other nation faces such a sentiment. China opresses Uyghurs endlessly, nobody calls for their destruction. Same with Russia/Ukraine.
Even if people truly discriminated against Zionists only and never Jews, that’s still over 90% of world Jews. How noble?
Speaking as someone who is Jewish, Paul Krugman addresses attacks on Zohran Mamdani as an antisemite:
"I’m Jewish, and anyone who knows their history realizes that whenever right-wing bigotry is on the ascendant, we’re always next in line. Are there really people out there naïve enough to believe MAGA’s claims to be against antisemitism, who can’t see the transparent cynicism and dishonesty?"
I’ll say it yet again: The current White House occupant is no friend to the #Jews. Only about 1 in 4 #Jewish voters hadn’t figured that out by Election Day; I certainly hope they’ve gotten the message since.
@lynn I'm not sure what you mean by "convenient", but no: not "better than the Democrats". Democrats (including the #Jewish Senate Minority Leader) still overwhelmingly support Israel, because democracy is a liberal value. Meanwhile the administration and all of its enablers have supported, explicitly ("stand back and stand by") and implicitly, racism generally and #antisemitism in particular.
One example of the latter is the administration's persistent use of #Jews as human shields against criticism of its attack on #academia—as though defunding cancer research has something to do with how Jewish undergrads are treated by their boorish classmates. But there are many other examples, including the appointment of #Holocaust deniers and other #antisemites to high-profile government jobs.
The antisemitism of the far left is a disgrace, but at least it's out in the open. Republicans hide their antipathy within the sheep's clothing of philosemitism.
Pride Month is here. This year is especially difficult because I see Queer folk, especially trans folk, under enormous oppression and erasure, from not being allowed to be their authentic selves in schools, to passport misgendering, discrimination at work, and more.
I want to help as many of these people as I can.
I also also see my Jewish Queer friends pushed out of LGBTQ+ spaces and I can't entirely ignore the deeply upsetting trend of antisemitism within the LGBTQ+/ Queer community. Seeing the pain of ostracization and only being able to stand on the sidelines is very difficult.
I do and will always stand by Queer people's right to not only exist, but exist out, without shame or fear, to live their lives proudly.
This year, I'm not asking Queer non-Jews to be non-discriminatory. I will instead suggest to Queer Jews and non-Queer Jews that we need to work together to make space in our Jewish lives for our Queer peers. They must be safe with us.
Simone Zelitch has created an amazing alternate history in Judenstaat. On April 4th, 1948 the sovereign state of Judenstaat was created in the territory of Saxony, bordering Germany, Poland, and Czechoslovakia.
Forty years later, Jewish historian Judit Klemmer is making a documentary portraying Judenstaat's history from the time of its founding to the present.
She is haunted by the ghost of her dead husband, Hans, a Saxon, shot by a sniper as he conducted the National Symphony. With the grief always fresh, Judit lives a half-life, until confronted by a mysterious, flesh-and-blood ghost from her past who leaves her controversial footage on one of Judenstaat's founding fathers—and a note:
"They lied about the murder."
Judit's research into the footage, and what really happened to Hans, embroils her in controversy and conspiracy, collective memory and national amnesia, and answers far more horrific than she imagined.
Apparently no(t yet). Even survivors of the #Shoah (meaning #Jews who outlived the "Third Reich") have called the #GazaGenocide a #Holocaust, so it's not up to #EvilEugen to limit their and our freedom of speech.
Irish #Jews were ridiculed for not wanting Higgins to speak at the holocaust memorial event because they said he would turn it into a referendum on #Israel. Then he turned it into a referendum on Israel, and they kicked the Jews who objected out. Can't make this stuff up!
Also:
"[#Irish President Michael D. Higgins] says that world leaders should be made “acutely aware” of the “complicit actions of silence or the averted gaze of those who, by their indifference, allowed the #Holocaust to be planned, prepared and to occur.”
#Ireland notably maintained an official policy of neutrality throughout the Second World War." :fozzie_wocka_wocka: WOCKA WOCKA :fozzie_wocka_wocka:
If you're new to these definitional difficulties, there are many prominent and non-equivalent definitions of antisemitism, and the debates about them can be bitter.
I'm a Harvard employee of Jewish descent who lost family in the Holocaust, and I'm not happy with the recent decision.
Throughout the twentieth century, American Jewish communal leaders projected a unified position of unconditional support for Israel, cementing it as a cornerstone of American Jewish identity. This unwavering position served to marginalize and label dissenters as antisemitic, systematically limiting the threshold of acceptable criticism. In pursuit of this forced consensus, these leaders entered Cold War alliances, distanced themselves from progressive civil rights and anti-colonial movements, and turned a blind eye to human rights abuses in Israel. In The Threshold of Dissent, Marjorie N. Feld instead shows that today's vociferous arguments among American Jews over Israel and Zionism are but the newest chapter in a fraught history that stretches from the nineteenth century.
Drawing on rich archival research and examining wide-ranging intellectual currents—from the Reform movement...
"As #Jews, we reject this myth with every fiber of our beings. Together, with tens of thousands of American Jews who have spent the last year protesting for an end to the slaughter, we refuse to let our histories, identities and traditions be used as the justification to massacre #Palestinians"
If you're not Jewish, do you mind re-logging this to help a Jew out in reaching other Jews on Mastodon?
If you're a Jew - hi! I made lots of nature inspired Judaica jewelry for you. Some have not been uploaded yet but if you see something you like please don't hesitate to reach out!
And lots more are available here on my website: https://emmanuelleskaly.com/
At a time in which hate crimes against us are rising so extremely fast, it's never been more important to be proudly, unapologetically Jewish. Only wear those where you feel safe, but wear them proudly. We are here to stay. ❤️