wow, femme-and-furious sounds like me from like 2 years ago. dang.
remember growing up and learning about israel? remember learning about only jews in israel and loving to hear about it? didn’t you just love doing the “prayer for the state of israel” during service, thinking about how beautiful the country is and how amazing it would be to live there? remember? do you still do it?
i can remember all of that so clearly as i grew up. you know how they would educate us about the Holocaust, making us furious, so angry that our people— innocent people— were killed by the thousands, millions… remember how you sat there listening to those lessons and thinking, “This will never happen to my people ever again. I will never let this happen to my people. I will never let that horror happen on this planet. No one should ever suffer something like this.” and really fighting back the tears, or not even bothering to do so?
I’m glad i came by this post today because this morning i went to shabbat service and my rabbi did a sermon on Deuteronomy, Devarim. it speaks about freeing slaves and servants. the entire book of Deuteronomy is about not looking at people who may be in a lower socio-economic standing as no lesser than you. it’s about realising that we were once the oppressed, and should never become the oppressor because doing so changes and helps nothing and no one. the entire Torah is very political (as you may know, and i’m sure you do) and Judaism is a religion of activism, going against that which is unjust, putting ourselves in the position of the oppressed, and knowing that when there are those in need we need to help them, as was written.
i have a similar experience to yours, and then i thought something was off. it may just be because i’m a realist and something is always suspicious.
when i went to israel for the first time, it was back in 2012 and i was 14 years old, just a year prior i had had my bat-mitzvah. my parsha was about the israelites going into the land of Canaan, “a land that flows with milk and honey”. i was so proud to finally go to that land, and when i did i was amazed. i went to the Wall, and wept as many do, praised God as many do, and explored the country so proudly. as we drove around the country, i noticed something on the highway that sort of caught my attention and i wasn’t actually sure what it was. i asked the tour guide, and she said “there’s nothing strange about a wall on a highway”. and yeah, it was just a small wall, but when i looked back and the angle was higher, i noticed that on the other side of the wall, the ground was not the same level as our side. it was much deeper, and to me it looked like more than 20 feet tall (and, in reality, it’s about 26 feet tall). i was really surprised by this and i didn’t know what it was or why they needed it, but on the other side it just looked like farm land and gates and gates and soldiers and more gates. it was disconcerting to look at.
later that night i decided to ask my dad who the palestinian people were because, during our jewish youth we don’t hear anything about palestinians or arabs and don’t learn anything about any other people who may be living on that land. my father told me about the history of israel from 1914-2012, and i was really surprised and sort of disgusted by how radically and violently the state of israel was created.
that began to change my point of view. i realised it wasn’t because we’re jewish and that’s why they hate us. did you know that muslims helped jews during the Holocaust? did you know that muslims respected jews during the time of the Muslim Empires? did you know that jews and muslims would live in the same neighbourhood, even get married, let their children play together, and had a wonderful history together?
before israel was created, it was a land with jews, christians, and muslims. they lived in peace and accepted each other. muslims respect us and i cannot believe that there is an idea that they hate us simply because of our religion because it’s TOTALLY AGAINST THE KORAN TO HATE JEWS OR CHRISTIANS. i know. i’ve read it. basically the whole beginning of the Koran is about our homeboy, Moses (Israelite Prophecies fufilled in Qur’an) (Divine Favors on Israel). like. cmon. this isn’t about jew hate, but i’m not gonna say this isn’t about religion or ethnic purity because it really really is. there is racism not only against arabs in israel but also against african refugees.
you might think that it’s only non-jews fighting against the segregation, ethnic cleansing, and hatred against arabs (but realistically, the palestinian people), but it’s also jews fighting for this cause because they realise that in order for there to be justice and peace, we must fight against it. an example of someone is Hedy Epstein, who is a 90 year old Holocaust survivor and HUGE activist for many causes and is also a raging pro-palestinian.
to understand this oppression occurring then you must understand the history to it and realise what Al-Nakba is.
there is segregation, there are hate crimes, there is racist propaganda from the government, there are racist things said by government officials, there is simply no equality there whatsoever and i don’t know why jews are led to believe so because it’s simply not true at all.
there are jewish groups that actively speak against israel and what it does because really it’s like the old south africa okay it’s that fuckin bad. and i suggest going to those sources if you’re more comfortable with that if you don’t believe anything that a palestinian that has actual personal experience with these events will say because really what’s the point of listening to the oppressed point of view? why not just listen to what people like me are saying? that makes more sense.
i really suggest watching this documentary about life in the west bank and it’s called Five Broken Cameras and really. it’s really good. i promise it is and it’s important to watch. they don’t hate jews. they’re suffering and everyone is ignoring them as everyone once ignored us. visit Electronic Intifada because really i’m telling you, they don’t hate us. i can promise you that as a whole they don’t hate us they just want peace and they want their kids to stop being taken in the middle of the night, they want to return to their homes, they want to have the freedom they deserve, they want to have basic human rights that are violated every day, and they want to stop getting bombed and then getting blamed for it.
jews and muslims have worked together and lived together in peace for centuries. we can do that once again.
i have so many muslim friends i really can’t even count and i trust them so much and i love them all to death, and i wouldn’t have even met them if i didn’t learn all of this and more. there are really great blogs to check out like somepalestiniankid and pax-arabica and soooo many more oh my god they’re all over the place here.
there’s a history to this.
there’s a story to every person that has suffered through this.
there are so many lies being spread.
why is there so much damn racism.
why isn’t there enough peace
why do people laugh when others die
why don’t people listen to former IDF soldiers about the lies being spread
what the fuck is wrong with these right-winged israelis
no seriously WHO THE FUCK DOES THIS SHIT
this isn’t fuckin innocent
guys seriously what the fuck
these kids are INNOCENT and haven’t done SHIT
this shit isn’t a democracy
god bless these lil jews tho
we need more of this courage
bless the zapatistas seriously
i only see real courage here alright this is the fuckin right shit to do and look at those right-winged assholes
dude i can literally go on all day okay.
conclusion: judaism is a religion of activism and if you don’t see that then wake the fuck up and get with the century
