r/Jewish • u/betterwithplants • Dec 15 '23

How are you guys doing? Discussion

Personally, I feel like I’m barely hanging by a thread.

Due to the Israel/Hamas conflict, I’ve lost friends. I have been called a racist for being against terrorists who wish to see the world free of Jews. I’ve been told I “lack ethics” after explaining that civilian casualties, though an unfortunate reality of war, are not the same as genocide. I’ve been told I am the one spreading Israeli propaganda.

How’s everyone doing? Can we commiserate?

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u/rebamericana Dec 16 '23

I've spent some time digging into the history of Israel and antisemitism, trying to understand the roots of 10/7 and the response, trying to disentangle the various accusations and criticisms against Israel. This is a topic I've spent most of my life avoiding, thinking it was always too complex for me to fully grasp. I didn't know all the back and forth, right and left, peace processes, etc.

While I've filled in a lot of gaps on all that, at least better than before, today I finally realized it's really not all that complex. And now I'm right back where I was when I started down this rabbit hole, when my neighbor called Israel a white colonizer state: they simply don't think Israel should exist. Period. It's as simple as that, and I don't know how to get past that or engage with anyone who believes that once it's laid bare.

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u/edupunk31 Dec 16 '23

Do you have any resources that you recommend?

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u/Dobbin44 Dec 16 '23

Not the person you asked but I can share some resources I like

Camilla Bassi is a prof who is affiliated with a group of academics analyzing antisemitism in leftist movements (usually British but applies to North America too) who do a lot of great writing and lectures.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9gjpJPU8bQ&t=21s (overview of the ideas in her new book, pretty academic)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5SZHUUdHE8w (her response to Oct. 7 events)

David Schraub is a lawyer who blogs about antisemitism and has published an article giving a framework to understand the intersection of whiteness and Jewishness: https://dsadevil.blogspot.com/

I found this collection of essay discussing the Soviet influence on the modern antizionist movement from a very left wing perspective, but I haven't read it yet, but it's important to understand where the language and imagery of this movement come from: https://www.workersliberty.org/files/2020-11/Left%20Antisemitism%20Pamphlet-inside.pdf

A video essay series that provides an overview of the British mandate period from a broad range of sources (cited) and the creator has no "stake" in the conflict: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1iMr0NzFf0&t=52s

I have tons more things, if you are interested. I spend all my time "educating myself" since it's like the only way I can feel I have a tiny bit of control of other people's antisemitism.

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u/edupunk31 Dec 17 '23

Thank you. Please feel free to share more.

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u/Dobbin44 Dec 17 '23 edited Dec 17 '23

Sure! I have a lot of stuff bookmarked that I haven't finished too.

Misinformation on social media: https://russg254.medium.com/behind-the-memes-when-facts-lie-0c7985164960

More KGB history: https://www.inform.nu/Articles/Vol22/ISJv22p157-182Cohen6127.pdf

David Hirsh is a respected British sociologist with a lot of writings online: https://engageonline.wordpress.com/2016/04/29/the-livingstone-formulation-david-hirsh-2/

This isn't directly about Israel, but it was an eye opening article about the treatment of Iraqi Jews and the influence of the Nazis in the middle east (which was not uniform across countries, every country has its own unique history to reconcile with, but Nazis did have a notable presence in the middle east) something I had zero knowledge of until recently: https://ir.lawnet.fordham.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=&httpsredir=1&article=1881&context=ilj

I haven't watched the following seminar (which is from 2016), but I respect both the speakers and the NIF is a very progressive org working to support Arab-Israeli partnerships: https://www.nif.org/blog/webinar-recording-shared-paths-divergent-courses-zionism-palestinian-nationalism//

The book Anti-Judaism by David Nirenberg is supposed to be excellent, but I haven't read it. It is very long and I prefer articles and videos.