Semitic Semantics

Zionist. Two-Stater. Liberal. Anti-Racist. Ashkenazi. Irish. American. Relatives in Israel, Argentina and the FSU. Feminist. Democrat. Semite. Despite some minor setbacks, I believe that peace and self-determination are achievable goals for the peoples...

[progressivejudaism]

Opinion | Our Synagogue’s Custodian Is A Member Of Our Family - And ICE Just Deported Him

Armando has no criminal record, steady employment and a community of hundreds of families who love him. Yet in an instant, he was taken away.

I have included the entire text of this article.  It is worth reading the entire text here from Rabbi Aaron Brusso of Bet Torah of Mt.Kisco, New York’s beloved Armondo:

A week before the Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer told him he was going to a detention facility, Armando, our synagogue’s custodian for two decades, had come in to work on President’s Day to be there for my family as we held a small service to celebrate my son’s upcoming bar mitzvah.

Afterwards, as we ate lunch, Armando stood at a distance smiling. A week later, when I spoke to him in custody, he said through tears, “I have seen your son grow. I wanted to be there for the big celebration. ”My son, by happenstance of birth, is a United States citizen, and simply by reaching the age of 13 he becomes a full citizen of our religious community. Armando has worked and lived in this country more than twice as long as my son has been alive, has two boys of his own, no criminal record, steady employment and a community of hundreds of families who love him.

Yet in an instant, he was taken away.

Like my son, I did absolutely nothing to earn or deserve my citizenship, it was gifted to me at birth because of a decision my great-grandparents made. I didn’t have to work for it, sacrifice for it, travel for it. It was given to me before I knew to dream of it, before I knew what dreams were.

We enjoy tremendous privilege and access simply because we were born in the right place at the right time. Not so for Armando.

We got a call that Armando had been arrested over the weekend and was in the county jail. He was in a restaurant with family when a fight broke out. The police were called and they arrested a number of people, including Armando. Aside from being in the wrong place at the wrong time, he was completely exonerated in court.

But during his time in the county jail, ICE was sent a list of inmates. An ICE officer came to the jail to let him know he was going to be brought into detention.

Armando came to this country nearly 30 years ago. In the 20 years he worked in our synagogue, he paid social security, Medicare, state and local taxes. As far as we were concerned he belonged in every way. But others apparently saw that differently.

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[myjewishaesthetic]

A Statue of Yehuda HaLevi (1075-1141)

[janothar]

“If judgment is not softened by love, it lashes out and threatens to destroy life. Here lies the origin of evil, called Sitra Ahra, the Other Side. From a more radical perspective, evil originates in divine thought, which eliminates waste before emanating goodness. The demonic is rooted in the divine.”

— The Essential Kabbala - Daniel C Matt

[readyokaygo]

The Palestine Reader

The following is a collection of articles, essays, and books on Palestine. These are not introduction texts to the question of Palestine or the Palestinain-Israeli “conflict”. If you need one read The Palestine-Israel Conflict by Gregory Harms and Todd Fery. Further, this is not an “unbiased” or “neutral” readng list. Everything listed below is counter-hegemonic. I feel absolutely no need to provide anything from the Zionist or Israeli point-of-view when that is the dominant narrative. With that said, I believe this provides a diverse, but in no means comprehensive, overview of the discourse on Palestine. A continuously updated page of this list can be found here.

On Theory

Orientalism by Edward Said

Orientalism Reconsidered by Edward Said

The Question of Palestine by Edward Said

Reading Said in Hebrew by Ella Shohat

Notes on the “Post-Colonial” by Ella Shohat

On History

History of Palestine by Dr. Mohsen Mohammed Saleh

Sabra and Shatila: September 1982 by Bayan Nuwayhed al-Hout

Peace and its Discontents by Edward Said

On Being Palestinian

What It Means to be Palestinian by Dina Matar

A Narrative of Palestinian Dispossession by Samia Costandi

The Palestinian Exile as Writer by Jabra I. Jabra

My People Shall Live by Leila Khaled

Memoirs, 1948 Part I by Fauzi Al-Qawuqji

Memoirs, 1948 Part II

Palestinian Identity and the Performance of Catastrophe by Ihab Saloul

On Zionism

Zionism from the Standpoint of its Victims by Edward Said

Zionism from the Standpoint of its Jewish Victims by Ella Shohat

Jewishness and the Critique of Zionism by Judith Butler

The Invention of the Mizrahim by Ella Shohat

Jewish Fundamentalism in Israel by Israel Shahak and Norton Mezvinsky

Jewish History, Jewish Religion by Israel Shahak

The Ends of Zionism by Joseph Massad

The Persistence of the Palestinian Question by Joseph Massad

On Imperialism and Settler Colonialism in West Asia by Jamil Hilal

The Hidden History of Zionism by Ralph Schoenman

How the Zionists Took Over Palestine by Adel Safty

Imperial Israel and the Palestinians by Nur Masalha

After Zionism by Antony Loewenstein and Ahmed Moor

On the Holocaust

Respecting the Holocaust by Howard Zinn

The Holocaust: Learning the Wrong Lessons by Boaz Evron

The Victimhood of the Powerful by Jennifer Peto

On Media

Propaganda, Perception, and Reality by William A. Cook

Israeli Cinema an interview with Ella Shohat

Israeli Cinema by Ella Shohat

Palestinian Cinema by Nurith Gertz and George Khleifi

On Al Nakba

The 1948 Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe

The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine by Ilan Pappe

The Saga of Deir Yassin

The Fall of Lydda by Spiro Munayyer

Returning to Kafr Bir'im

How Palestine became Israel by Stephen Hallbrook

The Palestinian Exodus of 1948 by Simha Flapan

Why Did the Palestinians Leave by Walid Khalidi

Selected Documents on 1948

The Limits of the New Israeli History by Joel Beinin

On Genocide

Genocide or Erasure of Palestinians by Kathleen and Bill Christison

Israel’s Slow-Motion Genocide in Occupied Palestine by Steve Lendman

Ongoing Palestinian Genocide by Gideon Polya

The Lessons of Violence by Chris Hedges

The Brutal Siege of Gaza Can Only Breed Violence by Karen Koning AbuZayd

The Olive Trees of Palestine Weep by Sonja Karkar

Slouching toward a Palestinian Holocaust by Richard Falk

Gaza is Dying by Patrick Cockburn

Israeli Immunity for Genocide by Andrea Howard

Palestinian Misery in Perspective by Paul De Rooij

A Slow, Steady Genocide an interview with Tanya Reinhart

Gaza’s Holocaust by Dr. Elias Akleh

Genocide Hides Behind Expulsion by Adi Ophir

The British in Palestine, A Conveniently Forgotten Holocaust by Robert Fisk

European Collusion in Israel’s Slow Genocide by Omar Barghouti

Genocide in Gaza by Ilan Pappe

Genocide Among Us by Curtis F. J. Doebbler

Bleaching the Attrocities of Genocide by Kim Petersen

The Rape of Palestine by William A. Cook

Israel Plots Another Palestinian Exodus by Jonathan Cook

Slow Motion Ethnic Cleansing by Uri Avnery

Disappearing Palestine by Jonathan Cook

The Problem With Israel by Jeff Halper

Gaza in Crisis by Noam Chomsky and Ilan Pappe

Drying Out the Palestinians

Israel’s Latest Assault on Gaza by Norman Finkelstein

To Gaza I Did Not Go by Gideon Levy

Gaza, the World’s Largest Open-Air Prison by Noam Chomsky

The Most Humane Little Checkpoint by Amira Hass

On BDS

BDS: Winning Justice for the Palestinian People

Why Boycott Israeli Universities?

The Necessity of Cultural Boycott by Ilan Pappe

Companies Supporting Israeli Occupation

On Solutions

Two-State Illusion by Ian S. Lustick

Relative Humanity: The Essential Obstacle to a One-State Solution by Omar Barghouti

Where Now For Palestine? by Jamil Hilal

[vermiciousyid]

Unfriendly reminder that OP is a well known antisemitic troll: X X and that anything they post should be taken with a HUGE grain of salt.  Particularly noting their heavy use of Pappe, Finkelstein, and Said and their consistent denial of Jewish ethnic identity.  Go ahead and add them to your block lists.

[chikadee-deactivated20180625]

“The Victimhood of the Powerful” I can’t believe someone wrote a fucking antisemitic masters thesis that’s fucking insane

[vermiciousyid]

This paper focuses on issues of Jewish identity, whiteness and victimhood within hegemonic Holocaust education. I argue that today, Jewish people of European descent enjoy white privilege and are among the most socio-economically advantaged groups in the West. Despite this privilege, the organized Jewish community makes claims about Jewish victimhood that are widely accepted within that community and within popular discourse in the West. I propose that these claims to victimhood are no longer based in a reality of oppression, but continue to be propagated because a victimized Jewish identity can produce certain effects that are beneficial to the organized Jewish community and the Israeli nation-state. I focus on two related Holocaust education projects – the March of the Living and the March of Remembrance and Hope – to show how Jewish victimhood is instrumentalized in ways that obscure Jewish privilege, deny Jewish racism and promote the interests of the Israeli nation-state.

That’s the abstract on that one.  It’s dedicated to the author’s grandmother, a Holocaust survivor.  I don’t have the energy to slog through 100 pages of this.

[westsemiteblues]

Oh for fuck's sake.

[progressivejudaism]

Ramadan Mubarak to all of my Muslim followers and friends !

In our world that unfortunately is filled with darkness, I pray that you find hope and light in your practice this year. And please know that the Jewish community loves you!

[westsemiteblues]

Two girls outside the Jews' Temporary Shelter in Mansell Street, London, 1965. In this year the shelter assisted immigrants from India, Pakistan, Tunisia, Aden and Cyprus.

[rainbow-femme]

I love the biblical naming system. You got:

Seth, which means “G-d kinda fucked up that whole Cain and Abel thing so he gave me you as a do-over”

Isaac, which means “G-d told me my greatest desire would be granted and I would have a child so I laughed right in his face”

And of course Israel, “I supplexed G-d in a Denny’s parking lot”

[girlactionfigure]

[returnofthejudai]

There is real antisemitism on both the right and the left. It matters on both the right and the left. Using the other side’s antisemitism as a gotcha not only fails to fight antisemitism, it allows it to expand in your own backyard, unfought and ignored. Demanding that Jews shut up to join up a movement and not fight for our own lives, safety and dignity is an antisemitic and oppressive act in and of itself.  Never forget that antisemitism is an ancient hatred, deeply ingrained in many cultures with a documented body count in the millions.  I’m tired of people arguing over whether Farrakhan’s or Steve Bannon’s antisemitism is worse. Neither is acceptable. Both must be visibly stamped out, and we can’t do it on our own, especially when our “allies” are busy shouting “look over there!” when we tell people to stop demonizing us and promoting our demonizers. Enough is enough.

[westsemiteblues]

My white goyische friends getting bedtime stories growing up: "And the royal family lived happily ever after."

Me at the same age: "And that's how our family narrowly escaped being murdered by the Cossacks."

[myoldblogiwontuseanymore]

 A Colombian Jewish journalist was ordered to resign from her anchor post on a daily TV newscast after she refused to cross herself while she was on the air.

[progressivejudaism]

Planned Parenthood parts ways with Women's March organizer over ties to Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan

Planned Parenthood announced Wednesday it would part ways with Women’s March organizer and co-chair Tamika Mallory due to her ties with anti-Semitic and racist Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan.

[progressivejudaism]

Nation’s largest Jewish denomination encourages congregations to protect undocumented immigrants

They say Jewish teaching compels devotees to treat “strangers in our midst with justice and compassion.”

[mir-katnip]

Amazing. In these terrifyingly dark times, is more more heart warming to see everyone be kind, helping one another out.

[asearchforg-d]

I’m sadly waiting for a particular crowd to say Reform is a heretic movement and cite this.

[flunkyofmalcador]

Then we need to remind them that the Torah says we were aliens and slaves in Mitzraim.

[progressivejudaism]

“You too must befriend the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt.”  (Dt. 10:19)

“Looking up, he (Abraham) saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them and, bowing to the ground” (Gn. 18:2)

“R. Judah said in the name of Rav’s name: Welcoming guests is greater than welcoming the presence of Shechinah (G-d)….There are six things, the fruit of which humans eat in this world, while the principal remains for them in the world to come: welcoming guests, visiting the sick, meditation in prayer, early attendance for study, rearing one’s children to the study of Torah, and judging one’s neighbor in the scale of merit.”  (BT Shabbat 127a)

[my-dwain]

LIFE IMITATING ART

[starlightomatic]

There are many valid critiques of Israel, the way Israel was founded, and Zionism itself. But “Jews are European colonizers who are really from Poland and Russia,” isn’t one of them, for four reasons:

- Roughly half of Israeli Jews aren’t even European, at all. They’re Levantine, Persian, Iraqi, Indian, North African, Ethiopian, etc.

- You can’t be a colonizer if your “colony” doesn’t have a mother country.

- Ashkenazim did spend 1000 years in Eastern/Central Europe, but we were never really considered European. In fact, we consistently faced discrimination and violence *because* we were seen as foreigners from the Middle East. By saying we’re “really European” you are foisting on us the identity of our oppressors.

- Ethnic Ashkenazim are not genetically Eastern/Central European. Roughly half of our DNA is from the Levant (the area where Israel and Palestine are) and the other half is from Southern Europe (like, Northern Italy). We have next to no Eastern/Central European admixture.

You can’t assign us an ethnicity just because you don’t like us. You can’t rewrite history or ignore science just because you don’t like us.

[wombatking]

Including Jews as “white folks” when specifically talking about things that “white folks” did that Jews specifically did not do (ie, voting for a certain president) is an act of anti-semitism.

[littlegoythings]

Republican Illinois candidate: 'Yes, I deny the Holocaust'

Arthur Jones, the only candidate running in the Republican primary for Illinois' third Congressional district and a former leader of the American Nazi Party, speaks to CNN's Alisyn Camerota.

[tikkunolamorgtfo]

Actual human scum!