שִׂמְחָה

[ofskfe]

Djerba, an island off the southeastern coast of Tunisia, is home to one of North Africa’s only thriving (albeit small) Jewish communities. Roughly 1200 Jews live there, running Jewish schools, synagogues, and Kosher restaurants. 

Credit: Daniella Zalcman

[ofskfe]

Ancient Jewish quarter in Baghdad, Iraq, 1950. Henri Cartier-Bresson.

“Photography of any sort was strictly watched by the government, and a very polite, very persistent escort was provided to see that the rules were observed.”

[eretzyisrael]

Why Believing Atrocity Stories About Israel is Stupid, Even When They’re on CNN, By Liel Leibovitz

But here’s why it’s highly unlikely that there is ever any fire under the smoke: Israel, for all of its flaws and its faults, is an open and democratic society. Its armed forces obey rules of engagement that are more restrictive than those under which American or European forces operate. Israel also grants the local and the international media largely unfettered access to its cities and to battlefields. Israel, therefore, has virtually no incentive to lie about easily verifiable matters of fact that occur in public while operating under a global microscope. You may have little respect for the current government in Jerusalem, and you may have your qualms about some or all of its policies, but, honestly, no one is that stupid.

Which leaves us with Hamas. Why is the group blatantly falsifying facts? The answer here is simple, too: Because they can get away with it, year after year after year. And they can get away with it because their arguments about Jewish perfidy and bloodlust were never based on facts to begin with.

What the terrorist organization offered the world in Gaza in 2014 was a version of the story contained in its founding charter, which is only the latest chapter in a very old story: The Jews are sucking our blood. Deliver some version of this libelous tale, and no one rushes to examine the evidence. After all, anti-Semitic atrocity stories don’t need evidence to back them up; they’re part of a larger conspiracy theory, in which “the Jews” are responsible for the world’s misfortunes.

[ofskfe]

A Jewish cobbler ready for Sabbath Eve in a coal cellar in New York, where he is living with his family, 1887. 

This photograph is one of a series taken of New York’s slums, using the newly invented technique of flashlight photography. (Photo by Jacob A Riis/Getty Images)

[mswyrr-deactivated20181203]

there’s a genre of gal gadot photos where she’s with another woman who she likes and who likes her and i stg it looks like an engagement photo

and then there’s the hair stroking thing that she does with other women who are often adorably much shorter than her

[hagar-972]

#from what I gather from my israeli friends this level of physical contact is normal in their culture 

Ayup.

[stfupenguins]

We are a direct people.

[witchofeindor]

Yep, we are very physically affectionate :D and indeed our normal, friendly level of affection is considered intimate by Western standards sometimes XD

[jewishwarriorprincess]

When i made Aliyah, I had to come to terms that I’ll be touched a lot lmao! Especially at my new job. I get hugs and kisses from everyone. When we say hello and when we leave. It’s nice though, I wasn’t used to love and affection like that.

[socialistsephardi]

It’s something that happens in close Jewish places outside Israel too. My schoolmates were very touchy and close.

[eretzyisrael]

That’s right, Israel. Not Palestine. Israel.

[abrif]

this is so cute, i never seen a post of this. soo… there is

[vintagemaroc-deactivated2018042]

Jewish Quarter of Rabat #rabat #maroc #maghreb #morocco #vintagemaroc

[guardian-of-our-galaxy]

literally Gal Gadot is such a fucking icon. She served in the Israel army for a few year. She won Miss Israel in 2004. She’s an amazing actor, model, human in general. Like what the fuck get u a girl who can do it all, get wonder woman plz. 

[yarnzipangirl]

This is just your daily reminder

That Gal Gadot has never ‘supported the Palestinian genocide’.

Does not have a rifle with the notch marks of all those she’s killed.

And has stated outright that she believes in coexistence.

She worked as a fitness instructor, never seeing combat during her mandatory stint in the Israeli army (IDF), and the only thing she said was that she wished luck to her former colleagues in the army (you know, the equivalent of ‘Support Our Troops’) and specifically wished them luck against (and condemned) Hamas, which is a terrorist organization.  Her tags then went on to note #stopterror and #coexistance.

You don’t have to like her, or Wonder Woman, or DC, but if you could keep the antisemitism out of it, that’d be great.

[rebe1-scum]

I’m gonna need some sources cause I’ve been very conflicted about wanting to go see the movie.

[yarnzipangirl]

The text is a little small but here’s a transcript:

“I am sending my love and prayers to my fellow Israeli citizens.  Especially to all the boys and girls who are risking their lives protecting my country against the horrific acts conducted by Hamas, who are hiding like cowards behind women and children.  We shall overcome!  Shabbat Shalom! #weareright #freegazafromHamas #stopterror #coexistence #iloveidf”

So one more time:

In Israel, EVERY citizen is REQUIRED to serve in the IDF.  It is a mandatory conscription army.  So her involvement in the army wasn’t really a ‘choice’.  And she’s sending love out to other people, young people, who also didn’t really have a choice.

The only thing she ever condemns or supports their fight against is Hamas, which has been condemned as a terrorist organization by multiple countries with verified human rights violations and who has been known to obstruct efforts towards a peaceful resolution.

She objects to terrorist action and the killing of civilians.  She tags it ‘coexistence’ and ‘stopterror’.

Nowhere does she support Israeli dominance, or the horrific treatment of Palestinians.  Nowhere does she carte blanche support Israel’s actions; she just expresses her concern and is praying for the ‘boys and girls’ who are part of her country’s military in the face of horrific terrorist behavior.  Nowhere does she wholesale blame Palestinians for the conflict and in fact seems to be horrified that civilians are caught in the middle of this.  Nowhere does she wants to free Gaza from Palestinians; just a known terrorist organization.

She’s not being anti-black or anti-brown, she’s not being anti-Palestinian, and she’s definitely not giving a thumbs up to war crimes or exulting in the death of ANYONE.  She’s praying and supporting her country’s young people in a really awful, complex situation and she’s very clearly condemning a SPECIFIC organization instead of painting all Palestinians in any way.

The politics of the region are complex and obviously, there’s a lot of layers and conflicting information and feelings but like… someone saying ‘I love and am praying for people in a terrible conflict and want us to overcome it’ isn’t what a lot of people are making it out to be.  Is she directing her concern in one direction? Somewhat, yeah.  Can you object to the fact that she doesn’t outright say ‘I pray for Palestine’?  Definitely.  But there’s being more concerned for your own people and then there’s what people are making out she is and has said.

Like I said: dislike her or dislike Wonder Woman or have no interest in the DCEU, but the blatant exacerbation of this post and the additions people have made (about her being a sniper, etc) is just outright antisemitism, plain and simple.

[martianmanboobies]

This whole “controversy” over Gal Gadot’s “Israeli ties” Is so stupid. She was born in Israel. She was REQUIRED to perform two years of military service. She served as a COMBAT TRAINER. that does not necessarily = killing innocent palestenians. She also wasnt “in the war” whatever that means. And yes, she doesnt like terrorists just like everyone else.

You can be an intersectional feminist and still like her.

i like Gal Gadot a lot. I am a muslim woman. Her nationality is not going to change my opinion of her. My opinions about the Israeli government’s politics are irrelevant. her weapons training only amplifies my respect for her as a “badass woman of color.” Afaik she is not an islamophobe or even really a zionist. She is wonder woman and i am very excited to have her.

[progressivejudaism]

Capturing The Country I love: A Photographer's 5-Day Road Trip Across Israel

Haaretz Photography Blog editor, Daniel Tchetchik, spent five days armed with an analog camera, documenting the 'beauty and complexity of the country I love very much.'

[whatamiyourwife]

There would be 32 million jews in this world (versus 13 million today) had it not been for the holocaust.

Tumblr talks a lot about racism, but antisemitism is often forgotten in favor of “OMg IsRael”, but Jews suffer some of the greatest effects of racism despite making up so little of the population.

Never forget Jewish suffering.

[tikkunolamorgtfo]

If you dislike Gal Godot for her past service in the IDF, that is entirely your prerogative. 

If you dislike Gal Godot for her support of IDF initiatives during Protective Edge, that is also your prerogative. 

I am not going to tell you how to feel about that; you are entitled to make your own judgments as informed by your personal values.

But if you use those judgments as a platform to spread falsehoods—especially ones that rooted in anti-Semitic tropes about how Jewish people are evil child murderers—then you and I are going to have a fucking problem. 

Gal Godot spent her time in the IDF as a fitness instructor, not as a sniper. She never saw combat, never shot any children, and certainly did not have kill notches on her rifle. She did not brag about killing Palestinians. She did not say “I want them all dead.”

She did make a post in 2014 that supported people in the IDF for “protecting my country against the horrific acts conducted by Hamas, who are hiding like cowards behind women and children” and tagged it with a few phrases including #loveidf and #coexistence. Now, again, maybe her support is antithetical to your beliefs, and I’m not here to lecture you on that. But no, she did not post anything about “praying for Palestinians to die quickly” or brag about killing people’s families. 

If her actual involvement with and statements about the IDF are things you find unsavoury, then fine; but if that’s the case, then you shouldn’t need to make up lies that evoke historical anti-Semitism to drive home your points. 

The things you oppose should hold up as they already are—otherwise, you’re effectively conceding that the things you don’t like aren’t bad enough to warrant your reaction on their own. 

For example, I don’t like the football player Luis Suarez because, despite being a talented goalscorer, he has a weird, creepy history of biting his opponents during matches. Now, this is a total valid reason not to like a professional athlete, so I have no cause to gild the lily. I don’t need to say “Well, actually I don’t like Luis Suarez because when he was at Liverpool he ate a Manchester United player’s liver with some fava beans and a nice chianti,” because his actual behaviour is aggressive, unprofessional, and straight up bizarre—meaning I don’t need to embellish the truth in order to be justified in how I feel about him. 

If you think serving in the IDF is bad, then just say “I don’t like Gal Godot because I think serving in the IDF is bad.” Don’t make shit up, don’t exaggerate the truth. Otherwise it looks an awful lot like you’re deliberately going out of your way to insinuate that Jewish people are evil child murderers, which says a lot more about you than it does about Gal Godot. 

On that note, please make sure that you are also holding Adam Driver accountable with equal gusto for serving in the Marine Corps and continually supporting the U.S. armed forces by boycotting the new Star Wars movies. Again, you are totally entitled to dislike the military, especially in relation to conflicts ongoing conflicts that have had horrible effects on the Middle East, but not when it’s only against the j00z and nobody else. 

[battlships]

But also people should remember that she didn’t have a choice about serving in the IDF because Israel has a mandatory draft. Her actual support of the IDK if a different thing, but she didn’t have a choice about serving.

[wombatking]

It’s also really important (as is said in the OP, but I want to highlight it) that she never saw combat, as the majority of IDF draftees do. She served on base as a fitness instructor. 

So all the “Gal Gadot personally killed Palestinians and kept marks on her rifle for each one she killed” memes are nothing more than flat-out blood libels to defame a Jewish woman at the biggest moment of her career. 

[meangirlnurse]

my family is so. fucking weird and resistant to talking about anything. when i was a small child i asked my mother why she had a lot of gifts and things where people called her by another name and she like. didn’t give me a straight answer? it was her Hebrew name. like that’s literally it. that’s all u had to say 

[meangirlnurse]

great-great-grandma cohen refused to tell her younger children that they were related to her two eldest children

[meangirlnurse]

my family didn’t tell me about part of my actual name until i sent away for my social security info to get my driver’s permit in my junior year of high school. i have an entire middle name that no one ever felt the need to mention to me

[meangirlnurse]

i had to google my own brother to find out why we don’t talk about him anymore

[meangirlnurse]

one morning in seventh grade my mother was driving me to school and asked me if she was too overprotective. i told her “yeah, sometimes.” then she casually, calmly went, “maybe it’s because you were almost kidnapped as a baby”

she didn’t even elaborate until i asked her to explain

(my father later confirmed that i was, in fact, briefly stolen as an infant)

my mom just dropped this information on me for the first time and was then like “bye honey have a good day at school”

[meangirlnurse]

no one knows great-grandma ruth’s real last name 

[ziraseal]

this is some Lemony Snicket shit right here

[blackwoolncrown]

?????? y'all doin’ okay?

[anarchapella]

Omg my dad is like this too! He gives me the vaguest answers when I ask him about his side of the family or says he doesn’t remember when it’s like really basic stuff like last names of family members that he literally talks to regularly

[leelach]

this is the most Ashkenazi thing i’ve read in my entire life

[jewishmagpie-deactivated2018092]

I've been meaning to ask, what are your views on Israel and how Arabs call it a Palestine? As far as my knowledge, Palestine was never a place but, you seem more educated. Don't gotta go out of your way for a long answer, a short one is okay too. Love your blog. Glad I follow you.

Emperor Hadrian changed the area’s name to “Syria Palaestina” to remove Jewish links to the area after the Jewish Bar Kokhba Revolt. Eventually the British called it “Palestine.”

When they actually move half-way and make concessions (the same way that Israel must do since that’s something that can only happen together, at the same time) to make real peace and have a land of their own, they can call it what they like. But as for calling Israel “Palestine,” it’s the same removal of Jewishness that the Romans tried to do. 

It just astounds me that they’ll go to such great lengths to pull out pictures of passports or whatever from the time under British rule which had the label “Palestine” on it and use it as some kind of, “See? Arabs are indigenous!” and yet they can’t offer any actual proof of indigeneity. Jews can pull up archaeological records of ancient Hebrew kings, ancient coins with Hebrew on them, ancient references from elsewhere to ancient Jews, and the “Totally a separate and indigenous Palestinian people” crowd have… oh. Nothing. Because their history in the area didn’t start until the 1800s. Oops.

@jewishpolitics and @angryrussianlady might have more to say. They both come highly recommended from me.

[snarkyzionist]

Palestine was an area, not a country. It is still not a country. Arabs who call the land Palestine instead of Israel, are only doing it because they do not acknowledge Israel’s existence. 

Jewish Soccer Team Representing the British Mandate of Palestine in 1939. 

[decolonizejewish]

Aisha Dahan sings Ya Mashta, a Moroccan Jewish henna song, at the Grand Arénas transit camp in Marseilles, 1965. Background photo: Jewish singers in Tissint, circa 1935, by Jean Besancenot.

Here you can read several versions of the lyrics translated into English, and a lot of explanations and research about the song by Noam Sienna.

[decolonizejewish]

it is a beautiful and sad wedding song <3