I'm Jewish, and I'm here to tell you that antisemitism exists on the left.

I get it. Israel has a lot of power and influence, and antisemitism was used against Corbyn as a smear. That doesn't mean that antisemitism on the left isn't also a real thing, and I'm tired of being regarded with suspicion as a Zionist stooge every time I bring it up.

I'm sick of being grilled by strangers about Palestine as soon as they find out I'm Jewish. You wouldn't get in a Sunni's face about the ongoing Saudi genocide in Yemen, so why do I have to answer for a whole country I'm not from? Why am I a "suspect" until I can prove my credentials?

I'm sick of being regarded as just a (((white person from Brooklyn))), as one poster on here put it. White people from Brooklyn don't get their places of worship shot up at random, or called k*kes everywhere online, or get assaulted if dressed traditionally.

I'm sick of making friends in left spaces IRL, to later hear them regurgitate Rothschild conspiracies or tell racist jokes about the Hasidic communities nearby. Big noses! Love of money! We have sex through a hole in a sheet! It never gets old! This shit people say about Jews would never get said about any other minority. I've even seen a "left" (ex)-friend from school say that "the only good jew is a dead jew" in messages (which apparently was "fine because she's Lebanese and it's a cultural thing and she doesn't really mean it").

There are many problems on the left, including racism and sexism, and it doesn't get better if we just pretend they don't exist. Jewish leftists are your allies, please treat us as such. We want the same goals as you. If we bring up that we feel uncomfortable, PLEASE do not just write us off. It's heartbreaking to raise the issue of the racism that you're experiencing in a supposedly inclusive space, just to be accused of being a shifty wrecker working for a foreign state.

This post was inspired by this one, where a random Jewish person (with "free palestine" on their page, no less) is implied to be a paid Israeli troll just for bringing up that anti-Semitism is a problem on our side too.

Edit: I’d just like to say thank you all for the overwhelmingly positive response to this post. It’s really great to know your comrades have got your back. I also appreciate how those with questions have (mostly) been open minded and engaged in good faith. It makes a difference.

  • fuckhaha [any,none/use name]
    ·
    4 years ago

    Not to be that guy but Finland has loads of antisemitism historic and current. I have met antisemitic leftwing Finns and seen Finnish nazis post online

    • doublepepperoni [none/use name]
      ·
      4 years ago

      Oh, I know, we have an active NSBM scene after all.

      Still, I would make a distinction between the sort of insular kneejerk xenophobia I witnessed growing up and arcane Nazi race science. Like the grandma who thinks the Somali lady that was in front of her in the line at Lidl was being rude isn't likely to quote the Protocols at you. You need to fall pretty deep into a Nazi rabbit hole to get into that stuff. Of course, the Internet makes falling into said holes terrifyingly easy.

      • doublepepperoni [none/use name]
        ·
        4 years ago

        If you're talking about the Finnish branch of the NRM, they were never an official party and were ordered to disband this year. (Not that it matters much, they just started operating under a different name)

          • doublepepperoni [none/use name]
            ·
            4 years ago

            What do you mean Nazi, it's not like the leadership belongs to some sort of secretive Völkisch organisation that defines Finnishness in exclusively genetic and ethnic terms- ohhhhhhhhhhh