I try my best to be considerate and sensitive about criticizing Israel so as to not paint Jews in a negative light, but my patience is wearing so, so thin. I am extremely tired of having our sentiments and language policed by bad faith actors. The Zionists who won’t shut up about how and when we’re allowed to criticize and oppose apartheid, what words we’re allowed to use and what arguments we’re allowed to make, are not even remotely interested in protecting Jews from bigotry. They are just trying to deflect righteous anger away from Israel and onto the people who won’t fall in line and support the colonial project, as evidenced by their itchy trigger fingers for calling everyone and anyone, including Jews themselves, rabid antisemites for opposing the indiscriminate slaughter in Gaza.
Do you describe Israeli settlers as violent? That’s blood libel. Please ignore the definition of blood libel and please ignore the violent bigotry of Israeli settlers. Just shut up and listen to what I tell you to say and think.
Do you want to decolonize Palestine “from the river to the sea”? You’re literally calling for another Shoah. How dare you. Shut up and allow the settler regime to complete its genocide and don’t ever try to make me feel guilty for supporting it.
Do you liken the genocidal policies of Israel to the genocidal policies of Nazi Germany? That’s so offensive. How dare you. Please ignore all the ways I am behaving like a fascist, genocidal lunatic. You’re hurting my feelings. By the way, you’re a Nazi for opposing Israel.
Oh, you called me a Zionist just because I’m a self-described Zionist? You’re such a bigot. That’s an antisemitic dogwhistle. You are never allowed to use the word Zionist. Please don’t ask me what I call Israeli nationalism.
Oh, you’re NOT a Zionist? How dare you. Half of all Jews live in Israel. Are you saying you don’t support all Jews unconditionally regardless of their actions? You’re halfway to hating every Jew, and that makes you fifty percent Hitler. If there’s two of you, that’s one whole Hitler! Unacceptable.
And around and around we go. There is no end to it. I am thoroughly unimpressed by what they consider bigotry and what they fail to consider bigotry. I do not care anymore if they hiss and spit and curse when I refuse to cater to their settler-colonial sensibilities. I have seem what makes them cheer. I have seen the horrors which bring smiles to their faces. I know I don’t hate Jews, and that’s good enough for me.
I’ve talked about this before. It’s the clearest confirmation that Zionists don’t want a dialogue and are incapable of handling serious issues delicately. Jewish anti‐Zionists in particular really complicate Zionist axioms, so Zionists are especially eager to dismiss them as unimportant, antisemitic, or even nonexistent; they can’t handle them any better way.
Me? I can easily content myself with the fact that I’ve done more to educate people on Jewish history than most, maybe even all Zionists have in their lifetimes. Just a couple of months ago I had a telephone conversation with somebody from Never Again Action, and during then I told her that the U.S. had more Axis POWs (425,000) than Jewish refugees (110,000). She almost sounded shocked when she heard that, but she seemed to appreciate me telling her and sometimes it pleasantly surprises me when others don’t already know everything that there is to know about their folk’s history.
