sexier

Anyone with a name that starts with a “Z”, ends with an “i”, and isn’t some kind of Italian pasta, IS SERIOUS

Mahmous Abbas’ “moderate” Fatah published this poster on their Facebook page, showing that they would not accept any security measures on the Temple Mount, no matter how innocuous.

In short, Israelis have no right to protect themselves, according to Mahmoud Abbas. he pretends that he is against violence, but he strongly believes that Arabs have the right to carry weapons to their holy places. Why? Obviously to kill Jews or other Israelis in what they claim is “defense.” Today Israel installed security cameras at Lion’s Gate that supposedly could identify potential weapons, although how they can find weapons in a backpack without a metal detector is unclear. The metal detectors remain for now. Once again, Arabs refused to visit their “third holiest spot” today, pretending that Israel is banning them and calling for an Arab League emergency meeting this week.

Meanwhile, Al Jazeera published an op-ed by Hamas lawyer Stanley Cohen, making the case that Arabs indeed do have the human right to murder Jews, as long as they call it “resistance.” This idea is absurd - the entire Geneva Convention is not overridden by vague General Assembly resolutions. But he calls himself a “human rights activist” while he condones stabbing Jews so Al Jazeera regards his rants as being worth publishing. In the end, the Palestinians appeal to the leftist world by invoking the biggest human right of all - the right not to be offended. On any random month they declare that something new offends them and threaten violence unless their enemies back down from the unforgivable crime of offending them. And no one dares to call them on it.

cont. I also want to be allowed to exist as a Jewish person, redgardless of my feelings on Israel. Antisemitism should never be excused, regardless of any Jewish person’s feelings on Israel. I don’t trust the right, but I can never trust the left either. Both sides are wildly antisemitic, for different reasons, but still with the same outcome. The constant hate for Jewish people and for Israel on this site and in other places is so tiring.

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I completely understand where you’re coming from. I am exhausted too. I just have to remind myself that the best revenge is to call people out when necessary, but remember that living well and succeeding is also resistance. 

This is Dλke March Chicago’s statement on what happened and I need to break this down, because my rage over this anti-Semitic dumpster fire of an event cannot be contained:

“Sadly, our celebration of dyke, queer, and trans solidarity was partially overshadowed by our decision to ask three individuals carrying Israeli flags superimposed on rainbow flags to leave the rally.” The flags in question were not “Israeli flags super-imposed on rainbow flags.” They were Rainbow flags with Magen David on them. That is not the same. At all. Either these people are incredibly uneducated about basic symbology, and therefore have no business running an event like this, or they knew these were not Israeli flags per se, but felt uncomfortable with public Jewishness. 

“This decision was made after they repeatedly expressed support for Zionism during conversations with Chicago Dyke March Collective members.” Given that the flags were not Israeli flags, this second sentence can only imply that the organisers saw participants who were being openly, visibly Jewish and then immediately took it upon themselves to go up and quiz them about their beliefs on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict in order to make sure that they were “the right kind of Jews,” before determining whether or not they could stay. Because they were not carrying Israeli flags, and were not commenting about the conflict, the only way they could “express repeated support for Zionism during [their] conversations” was if they were confronted about their politics on the grounds of merely being Jewish and asked to pass a loyalty test. Moreover, in the account from Ellie, the Persian Jewish woman whose statement I posted earlier, there was absolutely no discussion where she “proclaimed Zionist leanings.” In fact, she maintained that she was not in the least attempting to make a statement on Israel and was only there as a proud Queer Jew of Colour—yet they ejected her anyway because her Jewishness was “triggering.”

“We have since learned that at least one of these individuals is a regional director for A Wider Bridge, an organization with connections to the Israeli state.” So, again, they were totally unaware of her affiliation at the time of questioning. There was no indication that she worked with this organisation at the time. They are openly admitting this. They didn’t know this particular woman’s politics until they saw her Magen David and grilled her on her beliefs.

“A Wider Bridge has been protested for provocative actions at other LGBTQ events and has been condemned by numerous organizations.” The labelling of this incident as a “provocation” is staggeringly insidious, as Jews have been accused of being evil provocateurs with ulterior motives for literally centuries. The implication is that Jews are evil puppet masters attempting to infiltrate and derail gentile communities, and the accusation has frequently been weaponised to either incite or excuse anti-Jewish violence. This has been true throughout the world over, from Germany to Iraq to Ethiopia, and now Chicago. It is a coded message branding Jews as perfidious and untrustworthy. “You can’t believe anything they say about what happened because they are known liars who will deceive you for their own gain in every way possible. Do not trust any Jew who has not submitted to you and proven themselves beyond any reasonable doubt.” 

“The Chicago Dyke March Collective is explicitly not anti-Semitic.” Did you read your own statement, or…?

“The Chicago Dyke March Collective supports the liberation of Palestine and all oppressed peoples everywhere.” *Except the Jews.

This is a direct ATTACK on the queer Jewish community.  The organizer’s claim that the parade was not in favor of Zionism, a claim which inherently IS antisemitic, has clouded their understanding of what the Star of David is and who is stands for.  Although we can work to teach people the true meaning of Zionism, how to criticize Israel without being antisemitic and how the term Zionism is often hijacked by the far-right, in situations like this we do not have time to simply teach.  We must stand up for the oppressed and stand with our brothers and sisters in Chicago.