@Pull Up the Roots
OPPRESSION ISN'T ONLY ABOUT WHO HAS MORE POWER AT A GIVEN MOMENT. IT'S ALSO ABOUT WHO INITIATED VIOLENCE, WHO REJECTED COEXISTENCE, AND WHO CONTINUES TO PURSUE ELIMINATIONIST GOALS..JEWS DIDN’T ARRIVE IN THE MIDDLE EAST AS COLONIZERS BACKED BY EMPIRES, THEY WERE INDIGENOUS TO THE REGION AND RETURNED AS REFUGEES FLEEING ARAB AND EUROPEAN PERSECUTION. ARAB STATES EXPELLED NEARLY A MILLION JEWS, MANY OF WHOM ENDED UP IN ISRAEL. THAT HISTORY MATTERS WHEN WE TALK ABOUT "OPPRESSOR" AND "OPPRESSED"
FRAMING ISRAEL AS AN EXTENSION OF WHITE SUPREMACY IGNORES THE FACT THAT THE MAJORITY OF ISRAELI JEWS ARE MIZRAHI, SEPHARDI, ETHIOPIAN, OR MIDDLE EASTERN..MANY EXPELLED FROM ARAB COUNTRIES WHERE THEY WERE SECOND-CLASS CITIZENS OR WORSE.
CALLING ISRAEL "WHITE SUPREMACIST" ERASES THE LIVED EXPERIENCES OF JEWS WHO WERE NEVER TREATED AS WHITE..ESPECIALLY THE MIZRAHI MAJORITY.
INTERNAL INEQUALITY DOESNT AUTOMATICALLY MAKE A STATE AN ILLEGITIMATE OPPRESSOR. EVERY MULTIETHNIC SOCIETY, INCLUDING THE U.S., HAS INTERNAL HIERARCHIES.
THE DIFFERENCE IS THAT IN ISRAEL, ETHIOPIAN JEWS ARE CITIZENS WITH VOTING RIGHTS, LEGAL PROTECTIONS, AND REPRESENTATION. PALESTINIANS UNDER ISRAELI CONTROL ARE IN A POLITICAL CONFLICT BETWEEN TWO NATIONAL MOVEMENTS, NOT A RACIAL CASTE SYSTEM.
SAYING PALESTINIANS ARE SIMPLY "PEOPLE UNDER OCCUPATION" STRIPS THEM OF AGENCY. PALESTINIAN LEADERSHIP HAS REPEATEDLY REJECTED PEACE OFFERS AND HAS USED VIOLENCE AGAINST CIVILIANS FOR DECADES.
POWER ISNT ONLY TANKS AND MONEY..IT’S ALSO IDEOLOGY, REGIONAL BACKING, AND WILLINGNESS TO PERPETUATE CONFLICT. HAMAS, HEZBOLLAH, IRAN, AND OTHER ACTORS ARE NOT POWERLESS VICTIMS.
BLACK SOLIDARITY HAS ALWAYS INCLUDED JEWISH ALLIES, FROM THE CIVIL RIGHTS MOVEMENT TO TODAY. REDUCING JEWS TO "OPPRESSORS" WHILE EXCUSING ARAB STATES TREATMENT OF JEWS, KURDS, BLACK ARABS, AND OTHERS SUGGESTS A SELECTIVE MORAL LENS....
SOLIDARITY SHOULDN’T REQUIRE MISREPRESENTING JEWISH HISTORY OR DENYING JEWISH INDIGENEITY.
THE OPPRESSOR ISNT JEWS OR ISRAELIS ANY MORE THAN ITS BLACK PEOPLE OR AMERICANS..
THE CONFLICT IS BETWEEN TWO NATIONAL MOVEMENTS WITH UNEQUAL POWER, SHAPED BY DECADES OF WAR INITIATED BY SURROUNDING ARAB STATES AND SUSTAINED BY LEADERSHIP CHOICES ON BOTH SIDES.
REDUCING IT TO A SIMPLE OPPRESSOR/OPPRESSED BINARY MAY FEEL MORALLY SATISFYING, BUT IT DISTORTS HISTORY AND SHUTS DOWN HONEST ANALYSIS.
JUST SAY YOU'RE MAD BECAUSE YOU'RE UPSET JEWS ARE ACTIVELY FIGHTING YOUR JIHADIST ZADDY WHO HAS YOU UNDER A SPELL AND KEEP IT PUSHING. THIS WHOLE "HE'S A RACIST!" SCHTICK EVERY TIME YOU WEIRDOS GET CHECKED IS TIRING.