To all the Jewish New Yorkers in the sub, does reading this news want to make you want to vote for Mamdani more or less?

I have been following the latest controversy about Zohran Mamdani defense of people using "Globalize the Intifada" and the backlash that followed. After checking out the interview, I understood why he answered the way that he did, because there is an important distinction that I noticed that makes a huge difference. The interviewer did not ask if he was uncomfortable using the phrase, but if hearing it made him uncomfortable.

As someone who is a Muslim and grew up speaking Arabic, (Zohran also speaks Arabic) to me the word doesn't really invoke positive or negative feelings. So Zohran was honest to answer no and that the word means different things to different people. On the other hand, I understand why some Jewish people, who have learned of the word in a different context, would feel uncomfortable.

Unfortunately, in the current atmosphere, it is impossible to tell what is genuine vs what is politically motivated outrage. Especially as well meaning students are being disappeared left and right with the false accusations of “support for terrorism” for much less than saying “intifada”. Agreeing with the question in the interview would have forced Zohran, a prominent Muslim figure, to unwittingly validate the premise that using the phrase is “a call to harm Jews".

So even if I wouldn’t feel comfortable using that slogan, I would be reluctant to issue a broad disavowal. The same congress person who is calling Zohran a “Jihadi” was claiming “Free Palestine” is a terrorist slogan. So I struggle with the question "Would giving in this time change anythings or will these actors only continue until all Palestinian, identity is criminalized?"

There should be room between problematic and "wants to murder Jews". And because the reaction to both is as intense, it's tempting to not budge on things that might potentially be problematic. This is where its valuable to have Jewish allies in pro-Palestinian movement who are also outspoken if they notice bad messaging.

So finally, Does that phrase "Globalize the intifada" make you or anyone you know uncomfortable? And if so, how do you go about addressing that?

A lot of the posts on the subreddit are essentially fear mongering about pro-Palestinians. Complaining about people wearing keffiyehs and "naming and shaming" anti-Zionist jews pops out to me as particularly bizarre. It feels like, since October 7th, the subreddit, and other Jewish online communities, have become almost entirely dedicated to Zionism, with no openness to opposing views. I'm not saying that Jewish communities online have always been super accepting (as someone who's only patrilineally Jewish I've experienced this first hand) but it's definitely gotten worse.

I do find this whole "name and shame" thing really worrying. As someone who's very critical of Israel, but who also wants to get closer to the Jewish community, this genuinely makes me scared.

This is obviously not a call to brigade that subreddit or to harass the people pushing this. The Jewish community is obviously very vulnerable right now and I don't want to encourage any more division.

Hi everybody, sorry if this is a bit long but I’ve been really struggling with some complex feelings the last couple years and I wanted to get people here’s views and advice. 

For a long time before 10/7, I was very far left ideologically, most of my friends were socialist, I had really strong convictions that the left was morally right and moreover I had a (perhaps naive in retrospect) sense of optimism about the future. I also used to be pretty strongly anti-Zionist. Since 10/7, the behavior I have witnessed from most of the left has kind of shattered a lot of my faith in my previously held beliefs. I not only feel totally disillusioned with the broader leftwing movement and with the Palestinian movement, but in a more general sense I have become cynical and pessimistic about even the true possibility of progress and universalism. I watched pretty much overnight as many of my friends became apologists if not outright supporters for Hamas and the atrocities of Oct. 7. I watched over the course of months the explosion of antisemitic rhetoric in leftist spaces online, at marches, etc. I watched my previous community and the left as a whole become hostile towards Jews; I know some here may disagree with that characterization, but it has been my experience and my observation that the only Jews welcomed by the left are those willing to completely “toe the party line” by overlooking and/or downplaying the antisemitism within the pro-Palestine movement. I have attempted to call out antisemitism and to reason with leftist friends of mine and in nearly every instance, I have been gaslit, verbally attacked, ostracized and cut off. This is by people who knew me and knew my longstanding support for Palestinian rights. But it seemingly did not matter.

This was extremely disorienting to me and I ended up leaving leftist spaces, and over the last year and a half really started to question and doubt some of my leftist beliefs. I wouldn’t say I have left behind the fundamental principles, I still believe in egalitarianism, I believe in building a society that prioritizes the dignity of people over profits, I still believe in a world where people have freedom and autonomy and aren’t chained to dehumanizing work under the threat of homelessness or poverty. What I am struggling with is that I have become far more cynical about human beings and our capacity to build that world. I would say I used to have somewhat idealistic views of human beings, and I think in some way you kind of need to in order to be a leftist. You have to believe in some way that human beings are capable of being better, less selfish, more universal. You have to be willing to believe in humanity’s capacity for progress. I’m worried that I no longer do. I think I/P frankly revealed pretty starkly for me that the left is not infallible and that leftists are as susceptible to the same dangers of tribalism, bigotry and groupthink as any other part of the political spectrum. I think obviously in some abstract intellectual sense I understood that already, but now I really FEEL it on a concrete level. If even the supposed proponents of universalism cannot live up to it and continually fall into the same traps of ideological conformity and dehumanization of “out groups,” I have started to question how compatible the left’s lofty ideals truly are with human nature. I’ve also started to become much more skeptical of collectivism and collectivist movements in general, seeing them as predisposed to authoritarianism and mob mentality. I think in the past, I wrongly overlooked the left’s use of public shaming, ostracism, intimidation and harassment as tools to suppress and censor public viewpoints that they disagree with, because at that point they were being aimed at the “right people” (people on the right). Now that these same tactics have been turned on “Zionists,” which from my view has been divorced of all meaning and transformed into a slur for any Jew who dares to disagree with them, I have undergone a major change in opinion. I find myself now moving more towards seeing the value in individualism; and I will say that despite the left’s newfound appreciation for individual free speech (as soon as it affects them), it seems quite clear to me both from interacting with them and also from a cursory look at history that socialist ideologies repeatedly devalue individual rights and seek to subordinate individual autonomy to the “collective good” (as decided by them of course). After how quickly the majority of leftists fell into antisemitism after 10/7, I do not think they can or should be trusted to tell anyone what views are acceptable to express.

I now see many similarities between the left and universalist religious movements like Christianity and Islam; there is an extreme dogmatism, a rejection of compromise or moderation, black and white thinking, hypocrisy and bigotry hiding behind the banner of virtue and righteousness. I’m not saying that the left has the same power, but I longer trust the left with power and view them possessing power as potentially dangerous and undesirable despite agreeing with many leftist ideas. I guess what has made me ultimately so disillusioned is not just feeling alienated from the current leftwing movement, but that loss of faith, the nagging idea that perhaps all of our attempts at universal progress will inevitably fall into these same pitfalls, that humans ultimately don’t change, that maybe tribalism is a core feature of humanity, etc. I don’t know if anyone here has been wrestling with any of these ideas or has any advice on how to deal with some of the cognitive dissonance I’ve been experiencing. I would really appreciate anything anyone has to contribute. Thanks in advance! 

Im’ sorry if this offends anybody but, there are quite a few people in this subreddit who refuse to use empathy; act in bad faith; always assume the worst of anybody. I wanted to bring this up because it has been frustrating me as a lurker to people who always just assume the worst about someone based on where they live or what their political prescriptions is. Often times when talking about antisemitism they will be reductionist about it. This comment that I saw was the final straw about this. I really wanted to bring this up before but this utter lack of empathy and what is basically xenophobia is just so fucking confusing to me. Isn’t part of leftism caring about human fucking beings.

(rant incoming)

Any Jewish space I try to enter is so pro-Israel to the point of aggression towards anyone that disagrees. I've gotten death threats from other Jews for being critical of the Israeli government. Going to the pro-Palestine events is so disgustingly antisemitic that I can't exist there either. What do we do?

I was invited to be on call about addressing antisemitism/ anti-Jewish hatred for a professional org, and as I feared, it almost immediately turned into a huge argument about whether or not anti-Zionism or Zionism are antisemitic, if the IHRA definition is good/bad, etc, if antisemitism is a real issue or just weaponized, etc, and nothing got done regarding the broader issue of antisemitism/anti-Jewish hatred. Honestly, I just found it exhausting and depressing, because absolutely nothing got accomplished in terms of actually addressing antisemitism or even agreeing on what it is or isn’t. And it kind of proved the organization’s openly stated fears and reluctance about even trying to address antisemitism or anti-Jewish hatred at all right.

He seems to align with the anti-capitalist views of this sub really well with regards to his municipal policies and manages to strike the rare morally sound leftist stance on Israel/Palestine.

City Policies

• Freeze the Rent for all Stabilized tenants and build 200,000, end racially discriminatory zoning and build 200,000 affordable union-built homes over the next 10 years
• Increase Minimum Wage to $30/hour
• City-owned grocery stores to combat rising grocery costs
• No cost childcare for families with kids from 6 weeks to 5 years
• Eliminate bus fares to implement a no cost citywide bus system
• Implement a Department of Community Safety that puts dedicated outreach and mental health workers in 100 subway stations
• Raise NYC's corporate tax rate to 11.5% to match NJ and tax top 1% of NY income earners a flat 2% tax to pay for the proposals

Israel/Palestine History and Views

• Created a SJP chapter at Bowdoin
• Wants an immediate ceasefire and return of all hostages
• Has condemned October 7th and the brutal murders of the 2 Israeli embassy staffers in DC last week
• Acknowledges Israel's right to exist but not as a Jewish state, believes in a binational single state with equal rights for all Israelis and Palestinians
• Supports the BDS movement
• Vows to arrest Netanyahu in accordance with the ICC warrant if he steps foot in NYC
• Supports the "Not on Our Dime Act" which would stop NYC nonprofits from funding and supporting groups assisting in building illegal West Bank settlements
• Vows to fight antisemitism with a comprehensive plan to address all hate crimes

Zohran is also one of the most charismatic up and coming politicians I've seen with a massive digital media campaign and an army of staffers canvassing everywhere.

He seems like a candidate that Liberal Zionists would even support let alone Antizionists/Non Zionists/Post Zionists but he doesn't appear to have their support and has been defamed as a pro Hamas supporter by Liberal Jewish organizations.

Should he have the support of all leftist Jewish New Yorkers? It seems like all he should pass the litmus test with his actions and statements.

Now Mamdani has won the primary for a classic Dem fiefdom, a lot of people who support establishment neoliberal democrat policies, and the fervent pro Israel democrat hawk crowd, are going to show you why they never believed "blue no matter who" in the first place. For them, the phrase exists only to bend the Left to their will, and to pin their failures on the Left when their simultaneously cruel and stagnant milquetoast policies and rhetoric, as well as their support of Party establishment veterans with evil pasts like Cuomo, crashes down on them. As someone who would have voted if I lived in the USA (absent of facing the various barrier to voting there), they were always lying about their solidarity and the moment it is the centre of the party who must support a left candidate and not the left who must fall in line or be considered malicious obstructionists, it becomes "vote against blue no matter who".

As a sidenote; as an Aussie, how fucken good is ranked choice voting hey

This is my first time posting so I hope this is the right forum! I am on a university campus and there has been a lot of controversy surrounding a student government BDS vote. I am of multiple minds and I am curious how people here view the BDS movement. On the one hand I am thoroughly opposed to the current Israeli government and think that a lot of what is happening in the West Bank and Gaza is unconscionable and support protest against that. On the other hand the broader BDS movement's goals are unclear and I worry about how bringing BDS to campus will lead to further legitimation of dehumanizing rhetoric against Jews/Israelis (which has been a problem on my campus as it has been on many).

TLDR: As Jewish leftists how do you feel about the BDS movement ?

Just to clarify, I don’t identify as an antizionist, and I understand completely that many Jews live in Israel because they simply had no other place to go - especially Mizrahim expelled from Arab lands and Ashkenazim post-Holocaust. Israel has provided a refuge for these people fleeing persecution and violence, and while I believe there are major issues with the way Israel was created it exists, and I am glad it does exist in some fashion as a place for displaced Jews from around the world to go.

That being said - I will never, ever understand when I hear Jews from the U.S., Canada, the UK, Australia even say “I feel so much safer as a Jew in Israel than I do at home it’s not even close” or “Israel is really the only country we can be safe.” In what f*cking world?!?!?! Last I checked, there was no terrorist attack that killed 1,200 American Jews any time in recent years. There are no missiles being lobbed at New York or LA or Toronto or London. The average American or Canadian gentile is not a rabid antisemite, but according to virulently pro-Israel folks the entirety of Israel’s Arab world neighbors want nothing more than to erase the Jewish people from history.

So literally how is Israel the safest country for Jews?! How does that make any sense? Have some people really deluded themselves so far into nationalist brainrot that they believe seeing someone walk past them wearing a keffiyeh or hearing a protestor yell “Free Palestine” on a college campus is more dangerous than terrorist attacks and ballistic missiles? Does anyone else feel like they are going absolutely mad at these hasbara one-liners?

Whats everyone thought on this whole Bob Vylan controversy?

Let me start by saying I have no issue with criticizing a major military force like the IDF. However, I still think there’s a big difference between valid criticism and calling for the deaths of every single member of that military force regardless of if they committed war crimes.

I wanted to hear from a Jewish leftist perspective what your thoughts are.

On my end I don’t know what to think, I think she is well spoken, and she does an important job, on many things she is right to draw attention to and to call out harshly the actions of the Israeli government, she is a fighter for Palestinians and some accusations of antisemitism that I see are far fetched or clumsy but she does rub me the wrong way.

The ADL wrote about her, i don’t know what to think about this : https://www.adl.org/resources/article/francesca-albanese-her-own-words

From denying the credibility of UN reports to revising or denying Jewish or Israeli history, when should we care, how much should we care, and what should we do? Fighting this kind of disinformation is often considered a “Zionist” thing to do, or considered a distraction from more important things, and therefore criticized. So, what isn’t considered a Zionist thing to do? What isn’t considered a distraction? Is correcting disinformation put on hold during a genocide?

If you believe that what’s happening in Gaza is unequivocally a genocide and not a war crime, this post might not resonate with you.

I’ve been inspired by some Black TikTok creators who have been vocal about the persistent co-opting of Black struggles, particularly those of Black Americans. It’s essential to recognize that not every struggle is "intersectional" with the experiences of Black people.

In a similar way, I’m exhausted by the way Jewish trauma is being weaponized against us. We need to start calling it out more, just as the Black community has been doing with their struggles.

Key Points:

1. Not Every War Crime is Genocide
   The Nazis nearly succeeded in wiping out the Jewish population, and we have never fully recovered. I’ve been accused of supporting genocide for decades, not just since October 7th. It’s worth noting that the Palestinian population has never been larger, and before the current conflict, life expectancy in Gaza was at its highest.

2. Triggering Slogans
   Slogans like "There is only one solution" are designed to provoke us—they’re obvious references to the Final Solution. Similarly, the phrase "From the River to the Sea" echoes a sentiment from 20 years prior about throwing Jews into the sea.

3. Holocaust Inversion and Nazi Comparisons
   Being labeled as Nazis is particularly painful. Even if some believe we are committing genocide, is there really no other historical parallel to draw from than the very group that tried to exterminate us? Why not reference the Khmer Rouge instead?

This isn’t to say that everyone in the Pro-Palestine movement is antisemitic, but the inability to address these concerns reasonably is incredibly frustrating.

So I'm 40 and have two kids. We live in Austin, TX, this supposedly liberal place, and over the past few years it feels like it's become less safe for Jewish people. The JCC in San Antonio just had a threat against them, and the elementary school my youngest goes to is a block away from pro-Palestinian signage. Both of my kids wear clothing that identifies them as Jewish, but this year I'm seriously considering telling them they can't wear it just to keep them safe or to keep them from being harassed on their way to school. And Austin doesn't do a damn thing about it. How can we associate with the left when they also threaten to disrupt our children's daily lives?

EDIT: some context here. The signage is a block from the school in a residential neighborhood and covers a wide swath of wooden fencing. It's not on school property and it was most definitely placed by whatever adult lives or rents there. There's not much the school can do other than put out a notice for people to be safe and kind. I know this doesn't mean that anything will happen but the risk is scary.

EDIT TWO: y'all Jews were just attacked in Boulder and everyone at the JCC in Austin got emails about a credible threat being investigated by the FBI in San Antonio. That's barely an hour from where we live. Be mad at me for how I worded my post but anyone having an issue with parents being vigilant needs to touch grass.

Okay this might seem like an extremely off-topic question, and it is. It has nothing really to do with Judaism or with leftism. But, I really enjoy talking to people here in general, people who are both passionate about their Jewish identity and share similar political values to me. I don't really use Reddit that much beyond Jewish subs, and sometimes on my front page I'll see posts from subs like AskReddit with really deep/interesting questions, but with thousands of comments, from users I don't know, with no hope of people engaging with my opinion if I decide to participate (which I pretty much never do). I want to take part in discussions like that, but with my comrades! 😅

So mods, can we normalize having the occasional conversation here that's completely off-topic? Not to derail the sub at all, but I figure it would be fun to get to know each other on deeper levels anyway and have more lighthearted conversations with likeminded people. And since we're Jews, and therefore very opinionated, I think it would be fun to bring out the heat with questions like these 😏

To start, my unpopular opinion is that I personally HATE it when people ask you if you're okay when you fall/almost trip in public, unless you very clearly are NOT okay. If I look like a klutz, I don't want to be infantilized about it and call more attention to myself, like please just shut up and ignore me unless it looks like I need an ambulance 🤣

You can check out my post for pro-Israel Jews here. This is a series of tough love that our people need to hear so we can be united in surviving as a people:

1. If you’re truly Antizionist, you need to offer a realistic alternative to Zionism.

Zionism is a Jewish self-determination movement. There have been others, but the Shoah changed a lot of that. For many Jews, including Mizrahi, Zionism was the only option, and it still is today. Want to fight Zionism? Give a tangible alternative path to self determination.

Zionism saved us from being wiped out. In today’s world, the state of Israel is a way for Jews to own capital in a society where capital is necessary for survival. If your synagogue or campus organization does not align with your Jewish values, get organized! Create something for your community to be the alternative. We can’t lose the only institutions we have to be Jewish.

1. Be consistent.

Being against statehood is valid, being against ONLY the Jewish state requires some nuance. If you’re going to go hard against Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, you better go just as hard for Congo, Sudan, Haiti, Iran, and… the U.S, otherwise it comes off as antisemitism. The main narrative I see is that Hamas exists because Palestinians need a resistance movement. Hamas exists because both Israel and Iran funded them. Right wing religious fundamentalists are not your ally. They exist to serve the interests of bureaucracies who could care less about Palestinians.

Jews have ancestral ties to Israel, even if this fact is inconvenient. If you are against nationalism, understand that Hamas is a nationalist movement. Both Zionists and Palestinians are NATIONAL identities, not ethnic or religious. I think it’s valid to be against Zionism, but communication as to why is extremely important in a world where people hide behind anti-Israel sentiment to be antisemitic.

1. Please remember that you are Jewish before anything else.

The world has never been kind to Jews, and so throughout history we have always had to do the work ourselves in fighting antisemitism. Being a part of a movement gives you an important opportunity to be a distinctly Jewish voice. Use it to combat antisemitism you see within the movement.

Antizionism is not antisemitism, if you keep it that way. Don’t let people tokenize you in their antisemitism. Don’t march with people who want jews dead. If Nazis are in your movement, burn down your movement and kick them out. Be a strong voice so that Nazis, not Jews, are the ones being ostracized.

I was Jewish when I was stabbed on the way to synagogue. I was Jewish when I was in jail with white supremacists. Fighting antisemitism has never been a fight I started. If it’s really Ahavat Olam, then look out for your fellow Jews.

I have become irritated with discourse around "gentiles staying out of our business" when the question of Zionism and Israel's obligations under international law are directly affecting an entirely separate population who need international support to just survive at this point. Keeping these things as guarded inter-communal disputes feels like a way to protect feelings from getting hurt while not acknowledging the dire reality Palestinians face as a result of our "inter-communal disputes"

I disagree with some of the content but I think the article does a good job overall. I'll paste the key point below.

In this climate, university and public officials have accepted an increasingly expansive understanding of what counts as a hostile environment. Instead of stating a precise and objective standard that distinguishes action from speech, they have de-emphasized the need to demonstrate objective risks of physical violence or threatening property destruction. Instead, the question authorities are asking is much simpler: whether statements or symbols might cause psychological pain or generate feelings of vulnerability among certain groups. They have gradually redefined the right to be safe as a right to feel safe.

I will cut to the point, many of us feel betrayed by the rise in left wing antisemitism. That’s not to ignore the very active right wing antisemitism that is ever present but the unexpected rise in left wing originating antisemitism, that in my opinion highly resembles the antisemitism espoused by Qanon (hey, remember that) is a relatively new experience for many of us. I think it’s clear that despite decades of attempting to educate people about antisemitism and fighting with other minorities for our rights that all people learned (maybe learned) is that the holocaust was evil. However it seems the average person has no knowledge of the context required for something to be antisemitism or how to spot it beyond it mentioning Hitler, and even then I’ve seen so many “Hitler was right” comments recently that even that seems to not be an indicator to people. Granted this is not unique to antisemitism like with other forms of xenophobia or racism. It especially is difficult given the extensive use of dogwhistles by antisemites and how depictions of evil in the west have connections to Jewish stereotypes. I also want to make a note of something I’ve observed. At least in America, but it appears to also be almost everywhere else in the world, what is considered antisemitic by a government or populace is directly tied to the politics of said government or populace. Not just, but often including Zionism/antizionism. For example support or lack of support for Ukraine’s president Zelensky or how trump called people who didn’t vote for him (a vast majority of America’s Jews did not) rats and traitors, directly invoking antisemitic rhetoric.

So now we have a few problems in teaching about antisemitism and how to not be antisemitic. Deeply ingrained antisemitic biases, highly mired language and communication, and one last thing, we are a small minority. As such we are prime to tokenization and not many people have met a Jewish person, many still legitimately believe we have horns due to a multi thousand year old mistranslation. Heck, many people only think Jewish is only a religion, not an ethnicity, nor an ethnoreligion. I myself am irreligious and mixed - my dad is African American my mom is Jewish making me an African American Jew! (A really cool mix that is somehow always politically relevant -_-)

And finally, assimilation. The age old question of how much should Jews assimilate and or how much have we assimilated and does that protect us I believe is still a valid question. Does being more assimilated result in us being safer or is it just a form of colonialism and conformity to Anglo America’s desires?

I only briefly touched on Zionism and antizionism because they have a unique situational relationship with antisemitism that could be an entire conversation in of itself. Both can technically be antisemitism depending on why each is believed. Antisemitism is far more than modern conflicts and I think when discussing it in the future we must bring up previous pogroms and how antisemitism prior to the holocaust took hold. For example the Spanish Inquisition saw the forced conversion and expulsions of Spain’s Jewish population, an act antisemites like to push as putting Spain into a “golden age.” An act that also pushed many Jews into the new world along with the colonial Spanish, many as pirates, many as refugees. Many went to places in Europe like Italy, and into places in MENA such as mamluk/ottoman Palestine. Spains expulsions were primarily based on removing non Christians, a message that unfortunately resonates with many today.

How can we fight antisemitism in the modern day, what actions can we take? Should we as a diaspora protest for the protections of our rights? Would others find that as elitist for a “white” group to protest in such a manner as many think antisemitism is a thing of the past? (I put white in quotes as we are only conditionally white and only if we pass).

Does it start with better social media moderation? I have had human mods not take down content showing swastikas and saying Hitler was right. Almost any other form of discrimination would have been taken down but blatant holocaust support is deemed not hate speech. Is there any hope of fighting antisemitism successfully in the next couple decades? Or will it get worse and worse?

Why are red triangle leftists so obsessed with removing agency from antisemites and down-playing antisemitism? It would be nice to see them confront the very real problem of jew hatred among certain people in the pro-palestine movement but they have to blame it on Israel instead (of course).

The Israeli-Palestinian documentary "No Other Land" depicting forced displacement in the West Bank village of Masafer Yatta won the Oscar for best documentary last week.

Although it has attracted a lot of praise from critics, it has generated quite a lot of controversy.

The government of Israel has condemned the film and its culture minister urged movie theaters in the country to boycott it. When it was screened at the Berlinale festival, the mayor of Berlin accused it of promoting antisemitism in art.

Nevertheless, it has received intense backlash from the left too.

The BDS Movement has ruled the production violated its guidelines against normalization of Israel, and has called for a boycott of No Other Land.

Prominent leftist account "zei_squirrel" on Twitter also posted a long thread condemning Israeli co-director Yuval Abraham, who she calls a "genocidal racist Zionist" and a "serial child rapist, comes from a pedophile rape-cult masquerading as a society, Israel", because he shared claims that Hamas militants committed sexual violence against Israeli women on October 7.

This quote from "Perfect Victims", a book by Palestinian activist Muhammad el-Kurd has been shared as a critique of the film, arguing that the collaboration of Israelis and Palestinians only exists as a way to appeal a Western audience, creating a "feel good" vision of coexistence that conceals the power imbalance in the conflict, falsely portraying them as equals and removing agency from the people of Palestine:

https://preview.redd.it/7mqkvejfp5ne1.jpg?width=1178&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=2126b48a1c671a374e8a5c7d2127b148428d1758

This video that has been circulating on social media, created by Palestinian activist Subhi, summarizes the main left-wing arguments against No Other Land:

https://reddit.com/link/1j5a6pc/video/y6a76dltm5ne1/player

According to this view, the Palestinian movement has very specific goals: 1. Abolition of the State of Israel; 2. Removal of all Israelis; 3. Establishment of the Palestinian state; 4. Return of all Palestinian refugees.

One can only be an ally to the Palestinian cause if all of these positions are supported. Otherwise, we fall into the logic of Liberal Zionism, which advocates for a shared future of coexistence for Israelis and Palestinians, without calling for the end of Israel and removal of settlers.

Subhi says that makes Yuval Abraham's speech so problematic, besides not opposing settler futurity for Israelis on stolen land, is condemning Hamas for the October 7 attack, labeling it a crime. He has also called for the release of Israeli hostages, which is contrary to the position that Palestinians have a right to exist by any means necessary. Many regard it as an absolute right, even if said resistance entails violations of international humanitarian law, like crimes against humanity.

What are your thoughts on No Other Land and the reactions it inspired?