#avoid

[is-the-thing-actually-jewish]

is Jewish Voice for Peace actually Jewish? I've heard a couple different things about that but no sources

@gryphistheantlerqueen also asked:

Whooo boy. So this has been sitting in the inbox for a few months, I wrote up a draft, and then it just sat... until this past week, when some new JVP BS hit the fan and gave me the kick to finish it.

Sooooo...

Verdict: Not Actually Jewish

(updated verdict after finding out about the “self-managed conversion” and “teacup mikvah”) Jewish, technically, and that "technically" is doing a lot of heavy lifting, and is actively debatable without access to a detailed breakdown of JVP’s actual membership rolls. 

In general summation, JVP is a far-left radical antizionist group that is headed by a few visibly antizionist Jews and whose membership rolls are either a strong minority or outright majority of non-Jews, based on variable statistics that they've released. Although they claim that the “majority of their members and staff are Jewish”, this seems to be both statistically unlikely and actively suspicious due to their noted tendency to instruct even non-Jewish members to speak #AsAJew on social media, and their instructions to do “self-managed conversions”.  However, due to their title, they are very popular with people who want a Jewish Stamp Of Approval for demonizing Israelis and Zionist Jews as a result. In effect, they are Jewish in the same way that people like Candace Owens and Hershel Walker are Black—as self-tokenizing minorities who throw the rest of their ethnic group under the bus in exchange for power and political access.

And despite the claims that they are “inspired by Jewish values and traditions” (as put on their website) and “oppose anti-Jewish hatred,” JVP routinely engages in antisemitic rhetoric, up to and including blood libel and antisemitic conspiracy theories, and acts as a shield against non-Jews who also engage in antisemitic rhetoric so long as the non-Jews in question remember to shout "For Palestine!" first. This is not an exaggeration. 

The primary example of their in-house antisemitic rhetoric is their "Deadly Exchange" program, where they explicitly and conspiratorially blame Israel as being responsible for American police brutality and militarization. However, for all of their fearmongering and blame-casting on the subject—as if American cops needed outside help in brutalizing minorities or gaining military-grade handmedowns from the Pentagon, both of which are explicit claims of the "Deadly Exchange" program—they have a hard time actually identifying specific deaths associated with the international training seminars they're holding up as responsible.

One of the the closest they've come to a specific allegation is claiming that "former St. Louis County police chief Timothy Fitch trained with the Israeli military three years before Michael Brown’s killing and the Ferguson uprising." (Note: this was in a video that appears to have since been made private.) But Darren Wilson worked for the Ferguson PD, not the St. Louis PD, and Fitch retired months before the killing. So he was in a completely different police department, and this is the closest JVP comes to pointing to specific deaths or acts of brutality that they blame on Israel. Everything else is literal fearmongering--up to and including the classic conspiratorial tropes of "secretive Jewish governmental influence".

JVP has also happily supported the words of white supremacists like Richard Spencer, taking his “You could say that I’m a white Zionist in the sense that I care about my people," statement at face value, using it as the basis for entire articles where they compared Zionism to White Supremacy as a deliberate misrepresentation of the ideology that is common on the extreme political Left (you can compare that treatment again with how Candace Owens treats the word "Woke" on the Right). Even when the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" march happened, JVP wasted no time in comparing Zionism with the very ideology fueling the people chanting "Jews Will Not Replace Us," saying that Zionism is "Jewish racial supremacy" and calling for a universal condemnation of the ideology as a form of White Supremacy... which was the exact sort of message that many of those same White Supremacists would have happily agreed with.  So JVP is essentially siding with literal White Supremacists,  even as they claim that "Jews are not the primary victims of White Supremacy."

JVP also engages in Holocaust revisionism, such as with this lovely quote from Cecilie Surasky, the deputy director of JVP, “I believe it is critical to situate the genocide of Jews in a broader context, and not as an exceptional, metaphysically unique event. Some 6 million Jews died, but another 5 million people were also targeted for annihilation.”

(another quote, from an article by Surasky, which compares Netanyahu to Hitler.)

This is just straight revisionism of the entire Holocaust and the unique fixation the Nazis had on the Jews. Literally, even when they were losing, they were diverting resources from the war just to kill more Jews. Quote Hitler himself, "Jews must be prevented from intruding themselves among all the other nations as elements of internal disruption, under the mask of honest world-citizens, and thus gaining power over these nations." The very basis of the Nazi ideology paints Jews as an existential threat to the human race's peace and security—a far cry from JVP's claim that the Jewish suffering in the Holocaust wasn't unique or exceptional.

Additionally, JVP ignores or re-envisions Mizrachi Jewish history. They call the very term Mizrachi “Zionist rhetoric,” and refer to Mizrachi “immigrants,” (“Deadly Exchange,” pg. 16-17), and claim “the Israeli government facilitated a mass immigration of Mizrahim” (“Our Approach to Zionism”) as though those weren’t the direct result of the mass expulsion of and violence against Jews in MENA countries. These weren’t immigrants, these were refugees. 

And as for the question of “Are they Jewish?”, well...

Statistically, they are not representative of the Jewish population as a whole, 90% of whom identify as some degree of Zionist in the sense of “Supporting Jewish self-determination.”  One does not need to be Jewish to join JVP, as they proudly state on their website. Their membership rolls are also extremely obfuscated, and the fact that they encourage their followers, whether Jewish or not, to post and speak “as Jews” on social media makes it even more difficult to figure out what percentage of their membership is actually Jewish.  Furthermore, they have instructions for their members to engage in “self-conversions” that are not acceptable to Jewish law or tradition, and misuse/appropriate other sacred Jewish traditions to the point that “blasphemy” is an accurate description, with their instructions on the mikvah (a sacred bath) being outright offensive.  

(note that one has to be completely nude and bare of any adornment or makeup to use the mikvah, which is a pure pool of collected rainwater to be immersed in, for context on the above... misuse.  Trying to claim this as being “in line with sacred Jewish tradition” is like trying to claim to be Catholic while also saying that the Pope is the Antichrist and that using beer and a doughnut for the Eucharist is acceptable. For more information on mikveh, see: The Jewish Virtual Library, Aish, myjewishlearning, or Chabad.

There's also no altar.

The irony of asking people not to appropriate while doing this is astonishing.)

It’s also telling that they straight up say they are “claiming” the practice as their own.

Furthermore, JVP has hosted panels on “antisemitism” in the past... headed by people who are not only not Jewish, but who have been credibly accused of antisemitism in the past.  

JVP has also endorsed The Mapping Project Boston, which was a Boycott, Divest, and Sanction (BDS) subsidiary, listing every “Zionist” organization in Boston, Mass. This included Jewish schools, elder homes, community centers, disability centers, and more; all of them painted with scary and misleading “links” to non-Jewish organizations to insinuate Jewish control of the state and city governments, invoking age-old antisemitic tropes of a conspiracy of Jews as they did so:

(first image is the Mapping Project, the second is a 1938 Nazi political cartoon)

The Mapping Project also, and this is my personal favorite, accused Harvard University of doing “racist science” for engaging in archeological and genetic studies of Jews and Jewish history.  Tellingly, BDS actually disavowed The Mapping Project (albeit for bad optics, not for the rank antisemitism they were promoting)... but JVP has not, even though the Mapping Project’s entry for the ADL reads as follows:

Masquerading as a “civil rights” group, the ADL is a counterinsurgency and espionage organization whose mission is to protect the mutual interests of the US and Israeli governments, and to eliminate solidarity among oppressed peoples, especially concerning Palestine. The ADL spies on and criminalizes activists (using its connections to governments, police, schools, and corporations) while undermining their work by pushing its own state-sanctioned, pro-“Israel” agenda. And while the ADL claims to represent Jews and to fight “antisemitism” on their behalf, the organization has supported anti-Jewish state violence and sanitized Nazis. The ADL cannot be reformed: it must be dismantled and whatever resources it has should go towards repairing the many harms it has done. (Emphasis added.)

Of course, JVP has also engaged in similar conspiracy-toned antisemitic dogwhistles, such as this fun bit from their first Deadly Exchange video:

So clearly (to me at least), they have no problems with The Mapping Project’s tone and presentation.  

And this isn’t even going into JVP’s routine promotion of blood libel, their egregious double standards, their approving of pogroms, their active support for Hamas terrorists and demonization of Hamas’ victims, their attempted revisionism of Jewish history, their abject rejection of Jewish culture, and their other actions that show not just bias, but outright hatred for 90% of the world’s Jews.  

As one commentator put it, JVP as an organization is very much like Autism Speaks is to Autistic people--a thinly disguised hate group that views the people they’re supposedly speaking for as the problem, and themselves as promoting the Solution.  To this moderator, they’re the equivalent of the Association of German National Jews, who were also known as the Jews for Hitler; they wanted to abandon Judaism and embrace Naziism... and they got sent to the gas chambers anyway.  

Mod Joseph

Sources:

www.adl.org/resources/backgrounder/jewish-voice-peace

www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/Mikveh-Guide-for-Jewish-Voice-for-Peace-Outlined.pdf

(and also just... a general experience/exposure to them on social media, where even the most progressive actions taken by Israel, such as the recent ruling regarding queer Palestinians being able to claim sanctuary in Israel, being labeled as “pinkwashing”)

#jumblr #jvp #not actually Jewish #appropriation #avoid

[thatsbelievable]

#What to do About People #tips #tricks #life hacks #helpful hints #advice #avoid #anxiety

[dk-thrive]

How cavalier people are- with language and with silence. Any ghost will tell you- the last thing we mean to do is leave you.

— Andrea Cohen, "Ghosting" (via Regina Rosenfeld)

#Andrea Cohen #ghosting #silent #quiet #avoid #ghost #andrea cohen

[koreanaswego]

Korean Word of the Day

피하다

To avoid

#korea #korean #learning korean #korean word of the day #avoid

[chronoport]

AVOiDDOLLiC !!

A gender under the genderdollic system related to being both avoidant and a doll !!

@mogai-toybox

#my flags #mogai #mogai flags #genderdollic #dollgender #avoidantdollic #avoiddollic #avoidant #avoid

[theoddsideofme]

#minding my own business #trouble #avoid #useless #difficulties #dictionary

[hel7l7]

Hollow shell, quiet hell, but you’re so into me, screaming why don’t you love me back? 

I only want what’s best for you baby

Avoid // Lil Peep 

#avoid #vent art #lyric art

[babymorte]

What is a song you can sing by heart ?

If you could have your eye color be any other color you wanted which would you pick?

What is your favorite type of flower to be given ?

oh there are a lot of songs i know by heart~ a few that I know the lyrics by heart and have been getting me through today have been

so my eyes are green and i really love the shade because they sparkle in the sunlight but ive always wanted brown so dark it almost looks black, icy blue, or a light lilac or baby pink if we’re talking non traditional colours 🤩

honestly im not super picky about flowers~! i do love getting them though i think its so sweet 🥹 i used to think it was corny when i was a teenager but now i freaking love it 🤩 i love any that are pink or purple or white if its like a bouquet~ OR sunflowers because they’re the flower of my birth month and i love that they look like little lions 🥹

#i love illit so much #i want to get the hand dance down cuz it’s so cute 😅 #🎧 #illit #avoid #thrown #yes i know nights just came out 😅 #it was on repeat #but also if you ever wonder why i reblog a lot of sunflowers now you know 😊

[buggywiththefolkmagic]

Book Review: Modern Witch: Spells, Recipes & Workings

TW: Appropriation, mentions of sexually transmitted diseases.

This is: Modern Witch: Spells, Recipes & Workings by Devin Hunter

Rating: 4/10 for the first 100 pages then 1/10 for the rest.

Pros: The author covers a ton of correspondences, from spirits, to protection, and anything else in-between. He focuses a lot on vibrations, but insists on cleansing and protection which is very good! The author also uses a lot of more folk-based workings, which would help new witches understand that you don't need a giant fancy ritual and a jar to do a spell!

The author also includes options for LGBTQ+ individuals with the workings that would normally require a male and female attribute or focus in more gender balanced/Wiccanized practices. It has three and a half pages of a bibliography, which is fine for a 200 page book.

Cons: Unfortunately that's about all the 'good' this book has. The author uses a lot of items which are very not minor friendly. He also advocates for the use of white sage, sweetgrass, smudging, honey jars, proper voodoo dolls without initiation, working with closed deities, love spells, and...quite frankly the worst part?

The author very specifically mentions something in the protection section that...boils me up. He says that Java Citronella, the plant commonly used for avoiding mosquitos...when used on a person specifically a member of the LGBTQ+ community...it'll protect them from...very particular STDs. The type that has haunted the LGBTQ community as an epidemic called AIDS. A plant will keep you from getting this beyond horrific disease. It's absolutely irresponsible to make a claim like that, and insulting to those that have suffered with AIDS, not to mention that the LGBTQ+ community isn't the only humans capable of getting these, to make it seem otherwise is crude, rude, and derogatory if you ask me. I did not finish this book after reading that.

Overview: In my personal opinion please avoid this book, save your time, energy, and money. I found a couple of spells I liked, but nothing in this book is worth dealing with someone who thinks this way, regardless of his personal orientation. And he writes Fortnite books. Just saying if you want extra ooh no tacked onto your witchcraft author listing. Witch...and Fornite official author. At least use different pennames for different genres or something.

#buggy's book reviews #witchblr #witchcraft #AVOID #DNF #witchcraft book

[is-the-thing-actually-jewish]

is jewishvoice[dot]org jewish?

Rating: Absolutely Not Jewish, Creeptastic Messianic Missionary Site.

This is blatantly messianic propaganda that a) directly targets Jews for conversion to Christianity and b) encourages Christians to have a sense of "ownership" over Jewish traditions in an appropriative, ahistorical, supercessionist, and frankly creepy way. I've put direct quotes from their website under the cut as citations so you can choose to read or not, but on the whole, our recommendation is "Do Not Interact."

~Mod Leora

A: "We want every Jewish person to know that God's plan for them includes Jesus the Messiah."

B: "Want to live more like Yeshua (Jesus)? Take ownership of the heritage you've been grafted into by learning to embrace the traditions and cultures that Jesus Himself celebrated."

#jumblr #not actually jewish #messianics #supercessionism #appropriation #avoid #rating

[yeesiine]

The magic you are looking for, is in the work you’re avoiding.

#qoute #magic #work #avoid #success #life #embrace #challenge

[lqb2quotes]

If you want to avoid criticism, create less. If you want to avoid irrelevance, create more.

James Clear

#james clear #criticism #create #creation #creative #irrelevance #irrelevant #avoid

[dk-thrive]

“Call it a wild perversity or a wild optimism, but they were right, our ancestors, to celebrate what they feared. What I fear I avoid. What I fear I pretend does not exist. What I fear is quietly killing me. Would there be a festival for my fears, a ritual burning of what is coward in me, what is lost in me. Let the light in before it is too late.”

— Jeanette Winterson, “The Green Man” | The World and Other Places: Stories (Alfred A. Knopf; February 22, 1999) (via Alive on All Channels)

#jeannette winterson #fear #avoid #anxiety

[weeblmaodotcom]

The real reason Itachi was trying to avoid having to talk to Sasuke (OC). , Meme by Weeblmao.com

#avoid #itachi #Naruto #NarutoMeme #NarutoMemes #real #reason #Sasuke #talk

[dekaythepunk]

[\m/]

#AVOID

[verdantlyviolet]

For the love of Zeus …

TERFs, radfems, transphobes, gender critical morons and any other nonsense name you lot make up for yourselves, get the fuck off my blog. You are not welcome here.

Sappho does not support you. Aphrodite does not support you. Hera does not support you.

May they all turn away from you and cause misery and despair in your lives.

#Avoid