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.

    • JohnBrownNote [comrade/them, des/pair]
      ·
      11 months ago

      Isreal citizens have compulsory military service so there aren't any innocent civilians.

      that taylor swift fan who was imprisoned for draft dodging might be OK, not that it's on any resistance fighter to try to tell the difference.

      • pillow
        ·
        edit-2
        9 months ago

        deleted by creator

    • ilyenkov [she/her, they/them]
      ·
      11 months ago

      Idk at this point my position is pretty much death to Isreal and hamas didn't go far enough is that anti Semitic?

      I can't understand how anyone can even have a position that isn't this one.

    • RollaD20 [comrade/them, any]
      ·
      11 months ago

      If nothing else there are children who are innocent (no this is not israeli apologia). I don't think that wanting Israel to stop existing and recognizing the violence innate in that process, especially at this point in history where any potential pseudo-peaceful off-ramp has been bombed by Israel, is antisemitic. But there's a way to communicate that in a way that doesn't freak out jewish people. It's paranoia in some contexts, but Jews have good reason to be wary of antisemetic rhetoric and anti-zionists have good reason to avoid it.

      • Adkml [he/him]
        ·
        11 months ago

        Seems like Palestinians have a good reason to be wary of anything Isreal or America say about them but neither of them are held to the standard of "don't openly advocate for genocide"

        • RollaD20 [comrade/them, any]
          ·
          edit-2
          11 months ago

          This is a gross mischaracterization of my response. Where did I defend the horrific genocide of Palestinians? Yes, the reality of having a principled leftist/anti-imperialist position does take more effort.

          I understand why Palestinians living under siege might develop a perspective that is antisemitic and justified considering the context, but even then I have seen calls from Palestinians in the west not to engage in antisemitism as it is not useful. I'm not asking for people to not make inflammatory comments about Israel. I'm asking for people to not be fucking antisemitic if nothing else for tactical/strategic reasons the libs already call us antisemitic for just attacking Israel why give them ammunition. It's not as if it isn't easy as hell to criticize israel. And this is the last I'll say on the matter. I don't want to get dragged into a huge argument about this.