I think as a Jewish community we have to reflect that the reason why many Jews end up being radicalized against Israel has very little to do with the actions of the State as much as it’s a question of status, acceptance in social circles, and likes on social media.
And money.
That’s not to say that there are no true believers, some people who had very little to do with Jewishness in the first place and embraced ideology, there’s no erev Rav, etc. I’m not discussing those people. That’s another discussion.
I’m talking about a different phenomenon.
I am talking about people who embrace those views, even if only initially, because it will make their lives better or easier.
It’s especially true on college campuses, social media, and left-wing spaces.
Some it’s out of fear. Some out of need for acceptance. Some for profit.
If you’re confused as to why almost all anti-LGBT white supremacists are coming out in support of a left-wing homosexual Jewish man with two adopted boys, it’s because their only uniting principle is antisemitism. Everything else falls by the wayside.
But it goes deeper:
Before turning journalist, Greenwald was the high profile attorney of Matthew Hale of the World Church of the Creator (white supremacist church) and the National Alliance, a neo-Nazi organization. He even broke Illinois law in defending Hale and was barred from representing him.
While it might have seemed (and this is what he claimed, too) that he was merely living up to his principle and defending people whose views he found abhorrent, he was also the most high profile advocate for Nick Fuentes when he was banned from Twitter and on the no-fly list.
You have been lied to: the palestinians do not want peace, and the war has barely affected their desire to keep fighting Israel, much less destroy it.
A thread with receipts:
We are now almost 600 days since October 7th. We keep hearing about how Gaza has been turned into rubble, starvation is imminent, and a genocide is happening.
Yet 59% of them still believe that 10/07 was the right thing to do. That’s only a 13% drop since December 2023.
Not only has the war barely affected their belief that invading Israel, murdering 1,200 innocents and kidnapping hundreds was the right thing to do, a majority still thinks that it’s great PR for them and will help them with the rest of the world.
The Talmud does discuss the fact that books of idolatry that come in possession of a Jew need to be burned. Books of heretics are also included in this command, as well as those written by apostates. The fact is, however, that the gospels are not singled out.
There’s a lot to unpack but let’s make this clear:
The vast majority of Jews absolutely do not care about the CIK slogan. We do realize that it’s said in a childish way to try to get at us, but it doesn’t bother us anymore than someone saying to you Mohammed is the last prophet.
There’s this very interesting phenomenon where people who are extremely invested in something can’t fathom that others are not just as invested as they are. Which explains why Fuentes thinks that Jews are sitting around seething about Catholic Kings and what they did to us.
We do not seek out martyrdom, but martyrdom was foisted upon us many times throughout history, and to die sanctifying G-d’s name is literally considered the holiest sacrifice you can do (the holiest thing you can do being to live for Torah, not die for it) chabad.org/library/articl…
Small addendum about the “in public” statement: this is when it is done specifically to insult Judaism in public. In a situation where the people have no idea why you can’t and they are doing it for their own amusement, you wouldn’t be required to give up your life.