I think you mean well, and I always choose kindness so please understand that I’m not trying to be rude here: No, your reaction and interpretation does not make sense, because it is not ambiguous who she was talking to.
This isn’t really debatable. This is an antisemitic sign. I don’t know if the reason that you can’t see this is due to unexamined antisemitism or just not reading this particular comment/interaction with good comprehension or both, but either way we should have a very frank and honest look at this sign.
I truly do not know anything about you. I have not checked your page and do not know how old you are or if English is your first language or where you are from. For all I know, you could be a teen who has never studied antisemitism before in a non-English speaking country. In which case, you’re already better at English than I am at other languages. I have a lot of empathy for the idea that not everyone has the same starting point of knowledge and I try to approach every interaction by giving the benefit of the doubt. That said, I can tell that however old you are or where you’re from that you did not have a lot of knowledge about Israel, Palestine, the Arab-Israeli conflict in general, or antisemitism in general before this most recent flare up in this conflict. This is not an attack on your character. This is an important acknowledgment of your background and experience and why it is important to listen to those who have been living with this dilemma for a very, very long time. I have been living with this conflict for decades.
This sign is not about the IDF. You can tell this from the use of the word “indigenous.” This is not a critique of military tactics or of a government or of any system of power. The critique is of the (true and accurate) assertion that Jewish people make that Jewish people (yes, all Jewish people) are indigenous to the levant.
Like every other indigenous group, our origin and culture and history and practices and all the defining features of what make us a culture are tied to specific land. In the case of Jews, this means the Land of Israel in general and to Jerusalem specifically.
Antisemites want to deny and erase all Jewish ties to Jerusalem and the region in general prior to 1948. They often claim that Jews are not indigenous to Israel, because we have been in diaspora for 2,000 years.
This erasure is problematic for several reasons, including but not limited the extremely harmful idea that indigeneity can expire.
Indigeneity does not expire.
This is false and is also a claim that undermines all indigenous’ cultures claims to their homeland. It is important to note that Jews being indigenous to Israel does not negate any other culture’s indigeneity to Israel. Many peoples and cultures can be indigenous to the same place. Believing in Jewish indigeneity does not invalidate Palestinian indigeneity. Indigeneity has nothing to do with “who was there first?” and everything to do with “how and in what ways is my culture shaped by and reliant upon this location?”.
This sign has NOTHING to do with Palestinian welfare. This sign offers nothing to Palestinians. All it does is deny Jewish culture and history and reality.
And this fact is made worse by the fact that it not only erases our indigeneity, but condemns us to hell. It’s already a shitty thing to do to condemn a group of people to hell. It is ESPECIALLY horrific to do so Jewish people—especially people of other “Abrahamic” religions. This is because of something called replacement theology. This is not an attack on any form of Christianity or Islam. It is merely a necessary acknowledgement of the ways in which Christianity and Islam have been historically involved in persecuting Jews.
Jews do not believe in hell. It is not part of our religion or practice. Period. The concept of eternal damnation in the afterlife is something that Christians and Muslims have but not Jews. However, condemning Jews to Hell or an equivalent is a long-standing way of justifying violence against us. We don’t accept Jesus or Mohammed so it’s ok if we die and get sent to hell where we belong. Telling a Jewish person that we are INDIGENOUS to HELL is exactly the same as telling a Jewish person they are a demon. It is saying that our culture originates from hell and is shaped by hell. It means that we are not of G-d, but rather of the Devil (something we also do not believe in but that is one of the many reasons we have nonetheless been murdered—repeatedly).
Judaism and Jewish people have never been accepted anywhere! Everywhere we attempt to build a home, we get kicked out within a generation or two. And then now when Jews have suffered and died and finally gotten to build a home with sovereignty that is not dictated by other religions or governments, Jews are told that they are settlers and colonists.
On behalf of what empire do you imagine we are colonizing that land? As I have just stated: no nation has ever fully accepted us. We have no empire on behalf of which to colonize others.
If we are settlers in Israel, then where are we not settlers? We certainly aren’t indigenous to the americas or the far east! Europe made it extremely clear that we are not indigenous or safe there. The Holocaust ended in 1945 and JUST THREE YEARS LATER in 1948, the whole of the Middle East made it clear that we are not welcome there either.
So, where exactly are Jews indigenous to? What is the place that shaped our culture and ethnic identity?
There are two answers put forth in my post. My answer:
Jews are indigenous to Israel.
We are not indigenous to anywhere else. The history shows that the land of Israel is where we are from and how we became a people. It is the only place that has ever been a cultural home to all of us. It is the only place in history where Jews ever had sovereignty or self determination. It is our ancestral home. It is the ONLY PLACE THAT ALL JEWS HAVE IN COMMON CULTURALLY.
And the protestor’s answer:
Jews are indigenous to hell.
The protestor holding that sign also recognizes the truth: if you say that Jews are not indigenous to Israel, then there is no place on earth to which Jews are indigenous. Instead of simply admittibg that Jewish history in the levant is an easily proven fact, the propose an alternate theory. We are not indigenous to anywhere on earth. We popped up from hell itself like the demons we are and we should all just die and go back to where we belong. We are not human and we deserve to die. THAT is what this sign is telling all Jews. How do I know they aren’t talking to the IDF? Because the IDF has never claimed to be indigenous to anywhere. They are a national military force. They are not a group of people with cultural and religious practices and traditions. There is only one group asserting their indigeneity to the Levant right now. And that group of people is Jews.
No, admitting this does not mean that Israel’s military tactics. Because I do not. And I am NOT A ZIONIST AS I MUST HAVE STATED AT LEAST ONE HUNDRED TIMES ON THIS BLOG.
The ONLY thing that I have said about The Land of Israel is that it is our cultural home and it is the place to which we are indigenous. I have never used this to justify any act of violence. I have only ever said that Jews are an indigenous group whose culture is shaped and informed by our history and origin in the Levant in general and Jerusalem specifically.
The “You” in this poster means Jews. This is not ambiguous. This is not unreasonable. There is no other reasonable interpretation of this sign.
You can support Palestinian equality and justice and still recognize that this protestor is WRONG and BIGOTTED.
If your activism requires the denial of flaws in its activists, that is bad activism. Palestinians are not noble savages. They are real people who are suffering and dying and ALSO some of them hate Jews and want to solve their problems by making sure Jews suffer and die instead. That doesn’t mean all or even most Palestinians feel that way. This is not racist because it’s not an indictment of Palestinians that is any different from any other ethnic group. Lots of Christians have historically also wanted to kill all the Jews. I have linked to many examples of that in this post! Some Jews in Israel DO want to kill all Palestinians. That is also not bigoted to say. Because all of these groups of people are ACTUAL PEOPLE WITH VARIED BELIEFS AND SOME OF THEM ARE HATEFUL BIGOTS AND MOST OF THEM ARE NOT HATEFUL BIGOTS (caps for emphasis. I’m not yelling).
The person holding this sign is a hateful bigot who thinks all Jews sprang from Hell itself and deserve to die so that we can resume the demonic activities that define us and sub-human demonic creatures. That is what this sign is saying. There is no other interpretation of this sign that makes sense or that is supported by logic.
All Jews—even the ones in the IDF—are indigenous to Israel. And that does not make Judaism or all Jews evil!
Even the news you despise are indigenous to Israel. Because that’s how culture and history work. Denying this is antisemitic.
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