now rise up, lady, or we drown

palestinianliberator:

pax-arabica:

bellabracha:

*This is a post that is not intended to speak for every single American Jew.*

Thank you.

Biggest Question Made By Non-Jewish Pro-Palestinians: Why is it that the majority of the Jewish community in the USA and Israel and other parts of the world Pro-Israeli?

I am a Jewish anti Zionist Pro Palestinan and I live in the second largest Jewish community in the USA, and let me tell you something: If I never joined Tumblr, I would probably still be Pro-Israeli. 

Jews are not born as Pro-Israelis because that would be really ridiculous, actually. We are made into Pro Israelis. Why? Well, let me give you a few reasons why, and they all make sense. The whole process is a very long one that goes throughout your Jewish life and it’s really effective and it lets you not ask any questions whatsoever because you’re so confident that Israel is the best because everyone keeps telling you so. 

1. Propaganda is provided by our synagogues. Talk about how amazing Israel is is quite constant. You hear rabbis giving sermons about how Israel has given the Jewish people as a whole strength. You are offered trips to Israel with your rabbis or by others in the temple. You are shown beautiful photographs of Israel. You are told that without Israel, the Jewish people would all be gone. You are told to be proud of an army that is not even yours (ya know, the IDF). You are encouraged to make Aliyah. You are encouraged to study in Israel. You are encouraged to visit Israel after your bat/bar mitzvah. It’s all there, in your face. You really can’t escape it ever.
2. In many of our prayers, the word “Yisrael” is mentioned. Some people will lie to you and say that it means “The State of Israel” when it truly refers to that simple region of the world and/or the Israelites. The Jewish people are often referred to as Israelites, and we make up Israel. Simple? Yes? Okay. In prayers, we will refer to our ethnic group which is the Jewish people. People will actually lie to you and tell you that it is a true message from G-d that the state and the land is meant to be ours. As if it was destiny. 
3. We are encouraged to make the “birthright” trip. The “birthright” trip to Israel is usually spread around in synagogues and you make this trip when you are about 18. When you go on this trip, it’s a whole full week of brainwashing done by the IDF and by the Israeli government. It’s the perfect motive to make Jews from the USA feel like they’re actually Israelis and to make them feel powerful and patriotic towards a nation they aren’t even citizens of. On this trip, they are not shown or told about the Palestinians or the occupation that is going on. The young Jews who go on this trip are taken to places which make Israel look beyond perfect of perfect.
4. In synagogue, you will rarely ever hear someone acknowledge another religious group living in Israel. This also contributes to “Never talk about the Palestinians. They don’t even exist” thing that constantly goes around in the Jewish communities. People only mention the Jews in Israel, so you’re left thinking as a child, “There are only Jews? Well, I know that the entire world wants to kill me because I’m Jewish, so that sounds like a paradise! A Jew-Only paradise!”
5. They repeat that Israel is our “saviour-land” and that we were blessed by G-d because we have it. We are constantly kept in this fear that without Israel, we would all be dead by now. Without Israel, we would be nothing. 
6. In the Jewish communities, a large amount of racism against Arabs is widespread and dangerously serious. In the Jewish community, it’s a racism that has gone way beyond the barrier of “okay” (well, there isn’t even an “okay” barrier when it comes to racism). So, when we hear something about an Arab nation doing something, there’s an eruption in the community and the racism against Arabs increases. 

There are so many more ways that Pro Israeli lifestyles of the Jewish community comes about, but those are the simple ones. Those go on, still go on, and will continue to go on until a different kind of education takes place in the religious places. 

I was a Pro-Israeli until the end of the summer of 2012. I was in Israel for the first time of my life and I felt so amazing, it’s a bit difficult to explain. I felt the proudest when I stood at Kotel and made all of my prayers to G-d, thanking Him for providing me with a happy and healthy life. Israel made me feel safe. The solders walking around with their riffles sling on their shoulders made me feel safe, and those soldiers were all over the place.

It was night time in Tel Aviv and I was walking with my father and we were both eating ice cream. I asked him, out of simple curiosity, “So, what’s going on with the Palestinians? Why do they hate us? Well, actually… who even are Palestinians? What are they?” 

The propaganda had worked so well on me that I didn’t even know WHO Palestinians were until I had arrived to Israel, nor did I know why they were there. 

My father and I took a long walk in the small town square, and we took a little walk along the shore, then on the board walk. The time it took for him to explain the Israeli occupation of Palestine to me was about two hours and thirty minutes. I had already eaten my ice cream. I had already drank all my water. I had gotten tired, but I was still interested in this group of people I had never heard of before in my life.

My father explained everything to me. He explained the entire timeline to me, starting from 1914 all the way to the summer of 2012. He gave me information on both Fatah and Hamas, and he even explained some of the inner workings of the Israeli government. 

I was horrified. 

I was horrified and utterly disappointed. I look back now thinking, “How could I be to disgustingly ignorant? How could I be so uninformed?” but then I realise, “You didn’t know any better. How could you?” 

My father is a liberal Zionist who wants a 2 State Solution (which really makes no sense at this point, but whatever do what you want).

I went from being a full on proud Pro Israeli to being an Anti Zionist Pro Palestinian in the timespan of about eight months. I crammed myself with history and news on the region, and I became more informed than ever.

So, why are Jews in the USA so Pro Israeli?

The real answer is simple: They keep us in a state of constant fear that everyone wants to kill us. They keep us in a community which has everyone in a tight cocoon of racism. They want us to be uninformed. They want us to keep spending our money on Israel. They want us all to go to Israel and fight for Israel. They scare us into loving Israel. They scare us so much and tell us, “We’re only scaring you to tell you the truth.”

The Jewish community has every single right to be traumatised by the Holocaust. We have every damn right to be angry at Anti Semitic comments done by “Pro Palestinians”. We have every fucking right to be scared. 

Because we’re so scared, they know to use that. 

But you know what the real truth is? 

“We’re scaring you because we’re scared, too.” 

“We’ve reached the point of great power that we’re so convinced we can keep it that way and never share it with anyone.”

“We’re so scared that we need to keep you scared. We need to scare others so they can understand how scared we are.”

The answer, really, is simple. 

This is a great write up by Aitana, I think anyone that wants to gain a little bit of insight into the massive propaganda machine that targets American Jewish communities should read it.

This is an amazing write up that many people will find extremely useful.