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Ok so I would call myself a leftist.I read @972mag and @haaretzcom,I oppose the occupation,and I got called a "self-hating Jew" plenty times, because I firmly believe in a Palestinian right to self-determination.However,I find @jvplive's statement on #Zionism highly irritating./1
I think the statement is extremely one-sided, not providing context when speaking about Zionism and it comes from a position of privilege that many other Jews don't have. The US has the biggest Jewish community outside of Israel /2
Jewish culture is a "natural" part of American culture. As an American Jew, living a "Jewish" life (at least in the big cities) is quite easy when it comes to finding kosher food at the supermarket, channuka candles or a "Mazel Tov" greeting card. /3
Jews in Europe don't have that. The only way I can experience Jewish culture as a "normal" aspect of everyday life, is when I am in Israel. Being Jewish in Europe means feeling alien a lot of the time (at least for me). And I feel that many American Jews can't relate to this. /4
Saying that Zionism is "wrong"is easy when you live in an environment where being Jewish is nothing special. However, living in a place where being Jewish is still considered something "special" or even "exotic"is very exhausting because you constantly have to explain yourself./5
(Which btw doesn't mean I'm not happy to answer everyone's questions on Judaism, but it just reminds you time and again that you're not part of the majority) /6
So it kind of makes me angry when American Jews tell me that there's no need for a Jewish state because many of them have no clue how exhausting being Jewish can be when you're a tiny minority and what a huge relief coming to Israel can be. /7
Also, there's many things I find highly problematic with the @jvplive statement, but I'm not even gonna go into all of them, but what I find really outrageous is the claim that is was Zionism that destroyed the communities & relationships of Jews in N. Africa & the Arab world./8
I mean, the status of Jews in those countries can't have been *that* great when all it took to chase them out of the country was some Europeans of the same religion founding a state for themselves in the area. /9
And 1 last thing:there's certainly a long list of crimes,atrocities &human rights violations that happened&continue 2happen in the name of Zionism.However, just because crimes happen in the name of Zionism,it doesn't mean the original idea behind Zionism is any less legitimate/10
The statement of @jvplive doesn't mention Palestinian violence *at all*. For peace to be achieved, it needs BOTH sides. There can be no two-state or one-state solution without Palestinians AND Israelis committing to peace./11
If @jvplive prefers to focus on Israeli violence because they're the hegemonic party, fine, but that's never going to bring peace. Peace starts with mutually acknowledging the other side's tragedy & trauma (Nakba & Holocaust, Occupation & constant attacks)./12
In the end, Zionism was/is the desperate wish to have a home where you finally can't get kicked out of. In an ideal world, we wouldn't need Zionism, because no one would care about ppl's religion, but as long as that remains a utopia we need a Jewish homeland. /13
And we need to find a way to have this homeland while granting the same right to Palestinians as well. (And no, I don't have the solution, although I still very much like the thought of the United States of Palisrael) /14
What I don't need is American Jews, who mostly have a very different experience of what it means to be Jewish, to tell us European Jews that our fears and our longing for normalcy and a homeland, which for me constitute Zionism, are wrong or immoral. /15
