Currently watching a documentary called Israelism which is about how Israeli Nationalism is ingrained into Jews from a young age. They talk to a lot of different jews that grew up under this influence and they talk to people with a lot of different perspectives.
Itโs really fascinating. Theyโre training children to be prepared for military service on birthright trips. Rabbis and teachers talking about how they plant the seeds of Zionism. Soldiers describe how they enforced fear and control over the West Bank, even showing bodycam footage of horrific abuses of power over innocent citizens.
It reflects a lot of opinions about Jewish-American Zionism that I havenโt been able to articulate for a good while. Obviously, people are responsible for educating themselves and thinking critically about things, but it canโt be ignored the way that Jews are being groomed into total loyalty to Israel, and trained to instantly dismiss criticisms of Israel as false.
The whole thing is free on YouTube.
They interview Palestinian citizens. Thereโs a man who, at the same time of explaining the fact that have no rights, also discusses the impact of antisemitism and the generation trauma in the Jewish community. Itโs so unfortunate that Palestinians have to be fight to be humanized but Iโm glad this documentary is giving them the platform to humanize themselves.
