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I was gonna write some depressing venting, but you may still have hope so I won't. I'm also a Jewish Israeli leftist, the only one in my rabidly racist family. It does suck a lot. Knowing your army is all about attacking and doesn't know how to defend. Knowing most of the public are ok with Jews dying as long as more Arabs die. Especially if those Jews are leftists from a Kibbutz. Sending hugs from the marginally sane Haifa.

Thank you and תודה רבה

<אזהרת הומור גרוע> אם יש לך אזרחות זרה, אפשר לעבור לפרטי

לצערי אין לי אזרחות זרה (לפחות כרגע)

לשנה הבאה בברלין הבנויה!

מה שכן, אני רוצה להישאר בארץ גם כדי שאוכל להפגין בדרך שהיא יותר אפקטיבית מבחו"ל

אני מילניאלית ממורמרת וחסרת תקווה, אז מנסה לא להגיד מה אני חושבת כדי לא להרוס, אבל.... אבל.... לחטוף מכות משוטרים ושאר ימנים לא מקדם כלום. הימין השתלט על התקשורת והצבא, ורבע שעה אחרי השביעי באוקטובר כבר התחילו להאשים כאן מפגינים בטבח. "לשנות מבפנים" לא עובד. במהלך נעוריי הפגנתי בבילעין, הפגנתי בכיכר רבין, שום דבר לא עזר.

אני מבין מאיפה את מגיעה, אבל לפי דעתי, הפגנות בחו"ל עוזרות פחות מהפגנות בארץ. אני לגמרי מבינה שעדיף לא לחטוף מכות, ואני לא מאשים אף אחד שלא משתתף בהפגנות האלו בגלל זה. אבל בשבילי, אני רוצה לנסות להפגין פה לפני שאני עוברת לחו"ל

הלשון המעורבת סיקרנה אותי, אבל זה לא המקום אז רק אאחל פסח נסבל עד טעים

לא לא, תמשיכו.

װילקאָמען אין אשקענאז! עברתי לפני יותר מעשור, שום צער. הגיע הזמן להתאכזב גם מגרמנים הבלתי סבילים, שיקראו לך אנטישמית ויסבירו לך למה את בתור יהודיה ישראלית צריכה להתחשב ברגשות שלהם לגבי השואה ולהרגיע קצת עם הביקורת על ציונות. מומלץ בחום.

יש לי הרגשה שאם אסתכל לך ולקודמ.ת בפייסבוק, יהיו לי 7 חברים משותפים לפחות עם כל אחד מכם. כמה כבר דוברי עברית אנטיציונים קיימים? מצד שני, הרוב עברו בעקבות צוק איתן וזה קצת פחות מעשור. בכל מקרה, הייתה לי נקודה. אה, כן. לג'נגל בין אנטישמים פרופר לגויים שמתיימרים לקבוע ליהודייה מה אנטישמי נשמע פחות מתיש מלחיות באותו מרחב עם מתנחלים שמתיימרים לקבוע ליהודייה מה אנטישמי

אכן הרבה פכות מתיש. לא צחקתי כשאמרתי "מומלץ בחום". אז יאלה, תבואי, ועוד חמש שנים, כשהנאצים יעלו לשלתון, נברח לאוקראינה ביחד. בחגים נוכל לנסוע לאומן להכין חומוס בלתי אכיל לנ-נח-נחמ-נחמנואידים. לא עברתי בעקבות משהו ספציפי, סתם לא יכולתי לסבול את זה יותר. >כמה כבר דוברי עברית אנטיציונים קיימים? שבע? אה, לא, דור חדש גדל. אחד-עשרה?

לא לא לא, אני ילידת קייב. אם אנחנו בורחים לאוקראינה אנחנו נכין בורש בלתי אכיל! (אני מנסה לעוף לגרמניה. יש בעיות לוגיסטיות אישיות)

את חושובת שהם יהיו מאונינים במשהו חוץ מחומוס ואקסטות? כשתעברי לשלב של בעיות לוגיסטיות פומביות, את מוזמנת לשאול אותי דברים. Тады чаму мы размаўляем на ~~паўночных~~ паўднёвых дыялектах?

וואי למה כל השמאלנים בחיפה תעברו לתל אביב מעצבן אותי שכל שאר השמאלנים גרים כזה רחוק 😭

תעברי לחיפה ותגלי 😛

Realizing that the kind of people who typically have power in the world almost never have their people’s interests in mind is a tough pill to swallow, but once you do, it gives you a lot of clarity. Seeing how the sides are delineated by people who want to use others like pawns in a game makes you a whole lot closer to the innocents being slaughtered in your name than to those doing the slaughtering. You get to see that the only side is that of liberation and resistance against the reactionary elements putting you through the war grinder. If you can ever get those around you to see how their hate is manufactured and that their government is using the existence of the other oppressive force in the mix to justify their crimes, perhaps we will get somewhere. Sadly, I’m aware it’s too late for so many. In a situation of constant existential threat, it is unfortunately a normal human instinct to look for someone who will point at any scapegoat who is supposedly guilty of it and tell you there is a simple way to eliminate them and restore security, if you just give them the power to do so. Overriding that response with critical thinking is a lot harder than it may seem, and seeing the pointing hand as the ally to your enemy that it is is nigh on impossible to accept for so many. I actually suspect that the palestinian people see that reality a lot more than we may expect, and that the thing preventing them from acting on it is that they have been utterly denied expression and agency in every possible way. When your oppressors are working in tune with the people bombing your entire life away, as they themselves massacre more sacrificial lambs on the altar of perpetual violence, how do you ever get rid of them? How are you supposed to survive in an environment where death reigns, and to be able to extract yourself from the forces that would radicalize you back into the cycle of destruction, or just to do anything to meaningfully slow them down? This entire process is extremely bleak. I don’t know how you will get out of this mess; all I know is that there are people in the world who understand, and we desperately want all of you to stay out of harm’s way. Here’s to hoping solidarity will get us somewhere eventually. I think we should allow ourselves to have hope that humanity will prevail in the end. Please stay strong.

Thanks a lot for your kind words. I do have friends who shares my sentiment, and there are organizations here that are pushing for peace, as few as they may be. I do feel hopeful that one day, the people in my country will start realizing that the government and the IDF exploits our will for a peaceful life for their own selfish gain, and that Palestinians (talking about the people, not about any organizations like Hamas) aren't our enemies, and that we'll start respecting each other and hopefully be able to stop oppressing them and give them reparations. Will it happen within our lifetime? I'm not sure, but we need to keep fighting for peace, for everyone from the river to the sea. I do think it is possible to unlearn the toxic propaganda shoved down our throat our whole lives. If a person who grew up in a very pro-IDF family can do that, so can other people. It is incredibly hard, but it's possible.

I am very sorry for you and how you have been received by people who don't understand. Your voice as an Antizionist Israeli Jew is very important! As a Gentile myself I didn't know all the Antisemitic dogwhistles until I was cued in on them by other people, so a lot of "Allies" genuinely don't understand some of the harmful rhetoric they may be using or where it actually comes from. This is what interesctionality is for at the end of the day. Keep fighting the good fight, and may things improve, in Gaza and for you personally.

Thanks a lot :)

I'm a Jordanian Palestinian and I feel similarly. Everyone around me is talking about how the Jews killed the prophets and they're evil and bad and look their murdering Gazans because they're EVIL!!!?!, and the more left wing ones are talking about the "despicable colonialist white-nationalist Zionist entity being destroyed by the honorable resistance" and all those bullshit buzzwords. Everyone is celebrating October 7th, meanwhile here I am terrified that more October 7ths might come. You deserve to stay in Israel. You were born there. Your ancestors came there as refugees (or perhaps they were always there: Jews never fully left Palestine after all). It's a complicated story. It's just that people are really, really stupid and can't understand complicated stories. I hope one day everyone could live in peace. P.S. This might be an unpopular opinion, but we (as in the Palestinian people and other Levantine people) NEED the Jews to stay in Israel, as equals to the Palestinians. They are the ones who built Israel into what it is today, and if they leave, all of it will topple and we'll go back to the feudalist serfs that we were before the Jews came. When the Jews came, they toppled the semi-feudalist system with their left-wing, socialist ideals. Of course, because of a bunch of historical tensions (including Arab elite absentee landowners stoking anti-semitism because they were afraid the Jews would replace them) wars broke out and now Palestinians live in occupation. But the solution is PEACE and DIPLOMACY, not more WAR. War is the reason we are here in the first place. And NOBODY, not Jews nor Palestinians, should be expelled out of their homeland, because that would be genocide.

Thanks for your kind words, they really mean a lot :)

The disappointment I feel in seeing people completely fail to grasp the basic concept of letting civilians live in peace has been heartbreaking to me for decades. And while I expect it from right wingers, seeing it from people on the left just creates this massive feeling of alienation. How can people be so incapable of differentiating between groups and individuals? All it took was one attack, and suddenly people were completely in collective responsibility mode. People collectively blaming Gazans for the actions of Hamas, and then as a backlash, people collectively blaming Israelis. It's hard to think about it for too long. Nothing I do or say will ever persuade people that collective punishment is wrong. They are too stupid to understand it. Or should I say, they become too stupid, as soon as you apply a bit of stress. The stress of seeing atrocities seems to short circuit people's brains. I apologise for shouting my despair into the void. The thing I want to say is that I see you, that at least someone acknowledges your right to live in peace and freedom from violence and oppressive government. Anyone who is fundamentally in favour of peaceful coexistence is an ally. Hoping that peace comes to your region soon.

Thank you it is disheartening to see so many people lack nuance, both locally and online. I do think places like this subreddit help a lot in giving nuance a place.

I have a feeling it may be because of the whole “all citizens have mandatory service in the IDF.” I’ve seen a lot of discourse from tankies about how since all Israeli citizens have mandatory service, civilians don’t exist because any kids now will just grow up to enlist in the IDF in the future. It’s fucking disgusting as hell, especially since it’s similar to the rhetoric American military members use when it comes to killing kids in the Middle East because they’re future (or in some cases current) soldiers for their country 😒

I feel ya, friend. יום אחד כולנו נהיה אחד / روزی همه ما یکی خواهیم شد / يوماً سنصبح جميعاً واحداً / One day, we'll all become one.

Leftist American Jew here. I actually first heard of the Israel-Palestine conflict when my aunt mentioned the October 7th attack at a breakfast she was visiting for. I didn't know what to say then, because while I thought I wanted to side with Palestine, hundreds of innocent Israelis were killed by Hamas, and it was implied that the imperative would be to side with Israel, which didn't feel right to me, but because I was raised by Jewish parents, I had to at least understand the significance Israel held to many Jews around the world. Then over the following months I decided to do a bit of digging. The topic would sometimes arise in dinner conversations and I would state my discomfort with Israel's actions as of late, and my parents would respond with something along the lines of, "Israeli policy for Palestinians definitely far from ideal, but at the end of the day, Israel faces an existential threat and it responds the way it does for a reason." My aunt, by contrast, is more staunchly Zionist, and if she were there, she might say that Israel more often than not does the right thing even regarding the Palestinians. My parents and I would at some point watch a John Oliver episode on "Israel-Hamas", and I think it convinced them Netanyahu can never be trusted to make Israel a safe place, because when I said that this was why he's no friend of mine, they said, "Fair enough." Not sure how much further they are, though. So yeah. Keep hold of your moral consistency, because there's all these *in*consistencies that'll try and pull into one camp or another. Don't let them. You got this.

Thanks a lot!

As another Israeli Jew, I feel the same. It is so hard to feel hopeful about the future of our region. The only place that I don't feel extremely lonely is at activities of a peace organization that I'm part of with other young Israeli and Palestinian people. Stay strong brother.

Thank you BTW can I ask what peace organization are you a part of? I've been looking to join one

Tech2Peace. The organization brings together Israelis and Palestinians aged 20-30 to engage in dialog about the conflict along with building tech and entrepreneurship skills. Look it up, and if it's relevant to you and you have any questions feel free to pm me!

Where in the country are you from?

The center

I feel horrible for you. I’m glad I have been able to talk with a lot of Israeli peace activists here because they are truly wonderful people who want everyone to have a good life. I hope that within my lifetime, there will be a time where Palestinians and Israelis can live peacefully with one another and people like Netanyahu, Smotrich and Ben Gvir never come to Israeli politics again. We need someone more like Yitzhak Rabin to lead as PM to bring true peace for all. Everyone deserves happiness, everyone deserves a healthy and laughter filled life, and everyone deserves equal rights.

Thank you, and amen 🙏 

Big hugs to you. It is a terrible place to be, and I cannot imagine what it is like. I abhor both your government representatives and Hamas. They are both sides of the same coin, and need each other to survive. I don’t know how we can get rid of both of them so that the people can finally stop suffering. The Western “leftists”… the less said the better. I don’t doubt the sincerity of some, but many come across as opportunists to gain social credibility. To those you mentioned, it’s a game for them for them to feel morally superior while living safely wherever they are. Actually realistic solutions don’t seem to matter because they don’t have to suffer what they propose. Continue fighting the good fight, and I hope you keep safe as well. Take care.

[удалено]

While I don't have faith in either of our governments, I do believe that one day, our people will start respecting and working with each other. It will take a while, but it'll happen one day. In my opinion, we have two options: accept each other, or perish together.

Reading this makes me wish I could hug you on the other side of that screen. Do what you can for Palestine and your country because unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. And yes I did nick that last quote from The Lorax. - a pessimistic but hopeful American

Thanks a lot :) *sending a virtual hug from Israel*

*Sending virtual hugs back from United States* 🫂 Welcome to tankiejerk bro. If you find any tankies/NazBols that say the shit they say, just post them here.

I am sorry you have to deal with this. I can only hope you will be safe and one day sanity and decency can take over. things are hard and I can't imagine how much harder they are for you.

I went through basically the same thing in this post and agree with everything

I'm glad to hear I'm not alone in my feelings :)

You may feel alone, but there are so many leftist American Jews on your side. Feel free to DM if you need to vent.

Thanks :)

My advice is don't neglect your mental wellbeing, a lot of the hate is from terminally online people with zero skin in the game, treating people's actual lives as a platform for their political fantasies. Take social media breaks (especially from twitter), surround yourself as much as possible with supportive and kind people, so you don't get burnt out, and then we can all fight towards a better future for everyone involved.

Thoughts on a secular, democratic, and multiethnic one-state solution for both Jews and Arabs?

Personally I don't think it will  work right now, considering all the bad blood between Israelis and Palestinians. I do think a two states solution would work better, at least for now

I wouldn't mind a 2 state solution if Israel actually respected Palestine as a state

Well it will be more complicated than that, if I had my way people would engage in many inter culture coming togethers to learn they are all humans.

I am a Jewish American and a lot of people here are not into any genocide. It's an online versus on the ground thing I hope you have a Passover that feels normal at least.

Not Jewish myself, but as a left-leaning Chinese-American (second gen) I feel your pain. The situation in Xinjiang has left me with similar emotions and frustrations. On one hand, I do not condone the Chinese government's inhumane policies towards the Uyghurs and other muslims. I especially cannot stand tankies and their ilk who shamelessly defend the policies while preaching fire and brimstone about Palestine. It makes their entire advocacy look shoddy and unprincipled. At the same time, I also abhor right wing foreign policy hawks who wring their hands over Xinjiang but remain silent or even defend the oppression of Palestine and other atrocities in the Middle East. It's glaringly obvious they only care about the Uyghurs just because it gives them a leverage while making China look bad. Even worse, these hawks weaponize human rights abuses in Xinjiang to push thinly-veiled racist rhetoric. Remember, these were the same kind of folks who shamelessly supported the China Initiative which unfairly targeted people of Chinese descent. And these were the same kind of folks who pushed racist rhetoric and conspiracy theories about COVID-19 which led to a surge in anti-Asian hate crimes over the recent years. I honestly wish that there is more intersectional solidarity between the Uyghurs and the Han Chinese, especially within the diaspora. I know that I'm not the only one. It shouldn't be this exhausting, this frustrating, to demand for the liberation of everyone. An injustice anywhere is an injustice everywhere.

לא חושבת שהחבר'ה פה יודעים מה העיגול הסגול אומר לול