Is your pro-Palestine activism hurting innocent people? Here's how to avoid that.
Over the last few days, Iāve had conversations with several Jewish people who told me how hurt and scared they are right now.
To my great regret, some of that pain came from a poorly-thought-out post of mine, which ā while not ill-intentioned ā WAS hurtful.
And a lot of it came from cruelty theyād experienced at the hands of people who claim to be advocating for Palestine, but are using the very real plight of innocent Palestinians to harm equally innocent Jewish people.
Yāall, we need to do better. (Yes, āweā definitely includes me; this is in no small part a ālearn from my failā post, and also a āmaking amendsā post. Some of these are mistakes Iāve made in the past.)
So if youāre an advocate for Palestine who wants to make sure that your defense of one group of vulnerable people doesnāt harm another, here are some important things to do or keep in mind:
Ask yourself if youāre applying a standard to one group that you arenāt applying to another.
Would you want all white Americans or Canadians to be expelled from America or Canada?
Do you want all Jewish people to be expelled from Israel, as opposed to finding a way to live alongside Palestinian Arabs in peace?
If the answer to those two questions is different, ask yourself WHY.
Do you want to be held responsible for the actions of your nationās army or government? No? Then donāt hold innocent Jewish people responsible for the actions of the Israeli army and government.
On that subject, be wary of condemning all Israeli people for the actions of the IDF. Large-scale tactical decisions are made by the top brass. Service is compulsory, and very few can reasonably get out of service.
Blaming all Israelis for the militaryās actions is like blaming all Vietnam vets for the horrors in Vietnam. Theyāre not calling the shots. They arenāt Nazis running concentration camps. They are carrying out military operations that SHOULD be criticized.
And do not compare them or ANY JEWISH PERSON to Nazis in general. It is Jewish cultural trauma and not outsidersā to use against them.
Donāt infuse legitimate criticism with antisemitism.
By all means, spread the word about the crimes committed by the Israeli army and government, and the complicity of their allies. Criticize the people responsible for committing and enabling atrocities.
But if you imply that theyāre committing those crimes because theyāre Jewish, or because Jewish people have special privileges, then youāre straying into antisemitic territory.
Criticize the crime, not the group. If you believe that collective punishment is wrong, donāt do it yourself.
And do your best to use words that apply directly to the situation, rather than the historical terms for situations with similar features. For example, use āsegregation,ā āoppression,ā or āsubjugation,ā not āHolocaustā or āJim Crow.ā These other historical events are not the cultural property of Jews OR Palestinians, but also have their own nuances and struggles and historical contexts.
Also, blaming other world events on Jewish people or making Jewish people associated with them (for instance, some people falsely blame Jewish people for the African slave trade) is a key feature of how antisemitism functions.
Please, by all means, be specific and detailed in your critiques. But keep them focused on the current political actors ā not other peoplesā or nationsā political or cultural histories and traumas.
Be prepared to accept criticism.
You probably already know that society is infused with a wide array of bigotries, and that people growing up in that environment tend to absorb those beliefs without even realizing it. Antisemitism is no exception.
What that means is, thereās a very real chance that you will screw up, and get called out on it, as I so recently did.
If that happens, please be willing to learn and adapt. If you can educate yourself about the suffering and needs of Palestinians, you can do the same for Jewish people.
Understand that the people you hurt arenāt obligated to baby you. Give them room to be angry.
After I made a post that inadvertently hurt people, some were nice about it, and others werenāt. Some outright insulted my morals and intelligence.
And I had to accept that Iād earned that from them.
Iād hurt them, and they werenāt obligated to be more careful with my feelings than I had been with theirs.
They werenāt obligated to forgive me, trust me, or stop being mad at me right away.
Iāll admit, there were moments when I got defensive. I shouldnāt have. And I encourage you to try not to, if you screw up and hurt people.
I know thatās hard, but itās important. Getting defensive only tells people you care more about doubling down on your mistake than you do about healing the hurt it caused.
Instead, acknowledge that they have a right to be angry, apologize for the way you hurt them, and try to make amends, while understanding that they donāt owe you trust or forgiveness.
Be aware that some antisemites are using legitimate complaints to āTrojan horseā antisemitism into leftist spaces.
This is a really easy stumbling block to trip over, because most people probably donāt look at every post a creator makes before sharing the one theyāre looking at right now.
I recently shared a video that called out some of the Likud and IDFās atrocities and hypocrisy, and that also noted that many Jewish people are wonderful members of their communities.
I was later informed that, while that video in particular seemed reasonable, the creator behind it is frequently antisemitic.
I deleted the post, and blocked the creator. I encourage you to do the same if itās brought to your attention that youāve been āTrojan horseād.
Fact-check your doubts about antisemitism.
Depending on which parts of the internet you look at, youāve probably seen people accused of antisemitism because they complained about the Likud and/or IDFās actions. So you might be primed to be wary, or feel unsure of how to tell what counts as real antisemitism.
But that doesnāt mean antisemitism isnāt a very real, widespread, and harmful problem. And it doesnāt mean many or even most Jewish people are lying to you or being overly sensitive.
So if someone says something is antisemitic, and you arenāt sure, I encourage you to:
A. Look up the action or thing in question, including its history. Is there an antisemitic history or connotation you arenāt aware of? For best results, include āantisemiticā in your search query, in quotes.
B. Understand that some things, while not inherently antisemitic, have been used by antisemites often enough that Jewish people are understandably wary of them. Schrodingerās antisemitism, if you will.
C. Ask Jewish people WHO HAVE OFFERED TO HELP EDUCATE YOU. Emphasis on WHO HAVE OFFERED. Random Jewish people arenāt obligated to give you their time and emotional energy, or to educate you ā especially on subjects that are scary or painful for them.
@edenfenixblogs has kindly offered her inbox to those who are genuinely trying to learn and do better, and Iāve found her to be very kind, patient, reasonable, and fair-minded.
Understand that this is URGENTLY NEEDED.
In one of my conversations with a Jewish person whoād called me out, they said this was the most productive conversation theyād had with a person with a Palestinian flag in their profile.
THIS IS NOT OKAY.
I didnāt do anything special. All I did was listen, apologize for my mistakes, and learn.
Yes, it feels good to be acknowledged. But I feel like Iāve been praised for peeing IN the toilet, instead of beside it.
Apologizing, learning, and making amends after you hurt people shouldnāt be āthe most reasonable thing Iāve heard from a person with a Palestinian flag pfp.ā
It should be BASIC DECENCY.
And the fact that itās apparently so uncommon should tell you how much unnecessary stress and fear Jewish people have been living with because of people who consider themselves defenders of human rights.
By all means, be angry at the Likud, the IDF, and the politicians, reporters, and specific media outlets who choose to enable and cover up for them.
But direct that anger toward the people who deserve it and are in a position to do something about it, not random people who simply happen to be Jewish, or who donāt want millions of people to be turned into refugees when less violent methods of achieving freedom and rights for Palestinians are available.
Stop peeing beside the toilet, people.
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