Rep. Pramila Jayapal, the head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, on Saturday condemned Israel as a racist state, warning activists that there is an organized opposition against progressive critics of Israel’s policy towards the Palestinians.
The sharp criticism from the lawmaker from Washington state marks among the highest-level condemnations of Israel, as several members of her caucus plan to boycott Israel President Isaac Herzog’s address to a joint session of Congress later this week.
Speaking on a panel at Netroots Nation, an annual progressive activist conference in Chicago, Jayapal was addressing pro-Palestinian attendees interrupting the session.
Jews are generally cool people, and I’m friends with just about every single one I’ve ever met. Israel is a racist state actively and gleefully committing genocide. It’s pretty annoying that Israel constantly using antisemitism as a shield effectively forces all criticism of Israel to immediately and preemptively justify itself as not being anti-Jew. You can, in fact, hate Israel without hating Jewish people. It’s tragically ironic that Israel ended up becoming a fascist state committing ethnic cleansing when Jews are the most well-known contemporary victim of genocide. But Israelis themselves seem perfectly fine with the hypocrisy.
I am firmly anti-Russia, but I don’t hate Russians. I am anti-China, but I don’t hate Chinese people. I am anti-Israel, but I don’t hate Israelis or Jewish people.
I doubt the vast majority of Americans would bat an eye at the first two statements. Why is the third one somehow more problematic than the first two?
As a secular Jew in the diaspora, I do wish Zionists would keep me out of their political games, but frankly, there’s a contingent of people who conflate diaspora Jews, or Jews in general, with the Israeli state. I encounter this frequently with a Pakistani friend of mine, but the mindset is widespread among religious and political dogmatists of many stripes. This type of thinking long predates the establishment of Israel, and has flared throughout history in some terrible ways, so it’s understandable why Jews would be sensitive to it, and Jews who support Israel would be just as incapable of separating their religious identity from Israel as antisemitic conspiracy theorists are. The land is part of our identity, and the Zionist project is (for many) a triumph of Jewish national identity and a beacon of hope for safety from antisemitic violence. The fact, then, that Zionism has always, since the latter half of the 19th century, gained at the violent expense of Palestinian Arabs, is a cruel irony, and utterly unconscionable for any Jew with a shred of ethical fortitude.
In short, it’s hard for many reasons and for many people, Jewish and otherwise, to separate Israel from Jewish identity. When Jews do it, it’s counterproductive to the cause of eliminating antisemitism. When non-Jews do it, it provides Jews with another reason to continue to be on high alert. One reinforces the other.
It’s a bit of a conspiracy theory, maybe, but I definitely feel that Israel and Zionists don’t necessarily do absolutely everything they could to prevent people conflating Jews and Israel.
I’ve heard other diaspora Jews complain before that they feel Israel is a bit too presumptuous in speaking for them.
maybe ethnic cleansing, but genocide would be an innacurate term to describe what is happening in the west bank.
People use antisemitism accusations to defend the evil the Israeli government does. It’s not antisemitic to recognize that kicking people out of their homes and having an open air prison city based on religion is evil.
She’s correct. Fuck Israel. (inb4 someone calls me an antisemite bc they conflate hating the nation of Israel to hating Jews which is the dumbest fucking thing ever, bc I am American and I hate the American government so I guess I hate myself and everyone who lives here?)
Kicking people off their land so your own people can move in has a term, it’s called ethnic cleansing. It is considered a crime against humanity under the genocide convention.
a significant amount of jews moved to mandatory palestine before israel was even established, due to the loose immigration laws. the other portion of the israeli population arrived as refugees in the 50s after several states in the middle east expelled their jewish populations post independance. the people kicked out of their homes are not being kicked out for forigners to move in usually, but rather for native israelis to move into, though there are some small american groups in the west bank settler movement. (i am not pro israel or pro palestine, just trying to educate people)
Right. Let me kick you out of your house that you’ve had for generations because I can “claim” the land as mine as my ancestors resided there a thousand years ago. This is the dumbest argument to justify ethnic cleansing. Stop trying to pass this revisionist idiocy off as “education”.
because I can “claim” the land as mine as my ancestors resided there a thousand years ago
Actually, the Jewish National Fund purchased land from subjects of the Ottoman Empire. Often when the Jews showed up to claim their purchase, they found that there were Palestinian Arabs living there. That’s a result of misappropriations under the Ottoman Land Act of 1858.
That doesn’t make the situation any less horrible, but it’s a far cry from the way you describe it.
I’ll need a source on this claim.
Alot of pro palestine people exadurate the situation emensely, which loses them supporters in the general public.
I think people are just ignorant of the deep, complex historical roots of the conflict. That’s not a personal failing; ignorance can be treated with education. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is very difficult to understand. I just wish people would take a little time to think about their blind spots before commenting on it.
Yeah, theres misinformation coming from both sides on this issue.
Russian Jew here that hates Israel. Can confirm fuck Israel.
You’ve got a twofer of being represented by shitty governments
Being Russian, he is not represented by the Israeli government, so it is not, in fact, a twofer.
It is almost unheard of for US representatives to publicly criticise Israel. Is she quitting next election or something?
She’s very very safe here in Seattle, I can tell you that.
Trump upset the balance. Support for Israel used to be bipartisan, but Trump was so extreme in his pro Israel support that Democrats took the opposite position.
Edit: not sure why people are downvoting for this. Support for Israel used to be nearly unanimous in Congress before Trump. The Squad and others came into office as a result of Trump, and they weren’t afraid to criticize Israel. Trump told Israel to ban them and they did, blocking Rashida Tlaib from visiting her family and causing a wave of criticism in Congress, creating a visible rift between the parties. Democrats weren’t punished for criticizing Israel and the Israel lobby wasn’t able to pressure them as much anymore for fear of angering Biden.
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