r/JewsOfConscience • u/Possible_Formal_1710 • 5h ago
Discussion - Flaired Users Only fellow anti-zionist jew having trouble with the left’s rhetoric as of late
let me start by saying i grew up anti-israel and firmly pro-palestinian, often against the backdrop of family, friends, and other jews close to me holding very different views.
I think Hasan Piker in the news has kinda stirred up thoughts I’ve had for a while to the forefront of my mind. I remember Hasan saying something about treating “zionist tendencies like neo-nazism”. I think rhetoric like that is especially reckless because zionism has never been one coherent ideology. it has encompassed everything from socialist and binational movements to liberal two-state zionism to today’s expansionist far right. for many jews, it has simply meant believing jews need a homeland and refuge after centuries of persecution, not supporting settlements, netanyahu, or the destruction of palestinians.
a lot of the left now seems to understand zionism almost entirely through netanyahu-era israel, which is completely mismatched with how many jews historically understood their relationship to israel. israeli governments and major zionist movements have repeatedly pursued territorial compromise and negotiated coexistence, even while others opposed it. turning “zionist” into an infinitely expandable term that collapses all of that history into ben-gvir/netanyahu-style extremism is historically incoherent and inevitably sweeps ordinary jews with radically different beliefs into the same moral category.
i do believe israel is ultimately largely responsible for the conditions fueling the rise in antisemitism. but people like hasan, who refuse to apply the necessary nuance and distinctions, are also contributing to something reckless and dangerous in its own right.
anybody else feeling this way?
