The backlash to Zohran Mamdani’s “combat antisemitism” policy is an instinctive recoil from solidarity organizers who’ve picked up on their enemy’s insidious tactics. There was a time when the DSA’s fake, politically correct “pro-Palestine” politics could escape the level of scrutiny that it’s facing in this moment. But with the acceleration of Palestine’s extermination three years ago, everyone who genuinely cared about Palestine was forced to expand their education about what it means to fight imperialism and settler-colonialism. Judeophilic “anti-Zionism,” with its inescapable message that we need to protect the feelings of the group that’s committing these crimes, came to be rejected by the bulk of Palestine’s allies.
It’s important to frame things in these terms of Judeophilia protecting the oppressors, because we can’t let the liberal Zionists fulfill their goal of absolving institutional Judaism. This reality of the role Judaism has played means that it’s necessary to say “yes, all Jews”—obviously not in a bigoted sense, but in the sense that no Jews can honestly separate themselves from what’s happening, and all share the responsibility to intervene. It’s only when we stop playing the game of trying to defend Judaism’s reputation that this responsibility can be shouldered in a genuine way, whether by Jews or anyone else; because though there are Jews trying to intervene, many of them do so while holding on to the exceptionalist mindset.
We need to be honest about just how overwhelmingly Jewish organizations have been assisting in the genocide, and how marginal the outliers are. We also can’t let these actors redefine Zionism by claiming that most Jews have now become “anti-Israel,” as a recent Judeophilic “pro-Palestine” argument goes. This narrative says that surveys have shown the bulk of Jews are “anti-Zionist” simply because they no longer claim the Zionist label, yet the prevailing sentiment continues to be that Jews should have a state in Palestine. Anti-Zionism is a very specific position, and just because this position is still fairly niche doesn’t mean we should give up on pushing it or claim we’ve already succeeded. There can be no premature declarations of victory, especially when you’re fighting against an ongoing holocaust. But these supposed friends of Palestine want us to become complacent, because their goal is not victory for the liberation struggle. It’s the rehabilitation of Jewish supremacy’s image, via the return to Israel’s “progressive” form.
One argument from these covert Zionists is that the DSA reformist approach supposedly represents the only practical path forward. It’s the classic fallacy about how working inside the system is the only way to win, except here it’s extended into a way of discrediting a people’s fight for freedom. Within this liberal gatekeeping sphere, there’s a particular kind of demoralization tactic where we’re told that nothing we do can impact how these global events go, and therefore we might as well act like reformists. It’s the logical conclusion of the idea that electoralism is what matters the most, and that popular struggles are futile.
The effort to overcome these demoralization tactics is intertwined with the struggle against Jewish ethno-narcissism within the movement. Because it’s only when we separate the pro-Palestine cause from Judeophilic PC posturing that we gain clarity about how to support Palestine’s struggle.
Our government defines the forces resisting the occupation as terrorist organizations; which restricts what we can do, and increasingly what we can say. But we cannot let the reformists and Judeophiles use this limitation to justify condemning the resistance, or supporting the Democratic Party. Joining with the enemy is the coward’s way; there are always means to assist the liberation struggle when you’re willing to take them up. Good Shepherd Collective talks about how sincerely anti-Zionist Jews—and everyone else within the movement—have the option to act in a way that truly benefits Palestine’s fight:
The goal for anti-zionist Jews should be to disrupt zionist narratives, not to attempt to ‘save the soul’ of Judaism or absolve the Jewish community of its culpability for its communal involvement in zionism. When crafting speeches, solidarity statements, or making signs or fliers for rallies, events, or protests, anti-zionist Jews should be careful to avoid centering their feelings and experiences. Doing so can end up removing the attention from the people being directly subjugated by zionism. Further, if Jewish anti-zionists don’t decenter themselves when they show up, they run the risk of directly harming Palestinians in their community, Palestinian organizers, and the movement against zionism in general.
The success of the global struggle against zionism does not hinge on whether Jewish people support it. However, Jewish anti-zionists absolutely can support the struggle against zionism in real ways. It is plainly a product of racist zionist orientalism that the voices of Jewish anti-zionists are treated as more valid or trustworthy and anti-zionist Jews should understand that and acknowledge it directly in their public statements. That said, there are many instances where it can be helpful for anti-zionist Jews to organize and speak out as Jews against zionism. For example, amidst zionist efforts to redefine antisemitism within government institutions and at universities, Jewish anti-zionists can very effectively disrupt zionist narratives that zionists are acting in the interest of ‘Jewish safety’ or that they speak for the Jewish community.
In this way, it is necessary to work towards separating Jews from Israel, but such efforts are only productive if they come in the form of confronting the Jewish institutions directly. An “anti-Zionism” that’s in practice about maintaining perceived Jewish innocence, via declaring you’re separate from hegemonic Judaism, is actively counterproductive. It’s an extension of how liberal Zionists use disavowal to shield themselves from being implicated in the settler entity’s crimes.
Disavowal of the “bad” Zionism is Jewish supremacy’s primary tool for trying to blunt the progress of the resistance. It’s now the U.S. empire’s strategy towards Palestine, with the Democratic establishment denouncing Netanyahu ahead of the elections while Trump utilizes PR about his alleged private rifts with Netanyahu. Washington clearly hopes to return Israel to its “progressive” past, but signs show it will fail at this, because a collapsing Israel can only be one that’s dominated by the settler movement. This advantages us in that it makes the entity maximally expose itself, but any efforts to shine a light on the entity must be made for the purpose of helping the occupied with their fight—in whatever ways are viable for us to do. This goal is not compatible with the idea of protecting Judaism’s image; this impulse comes from an entirely different priority than supporting the resistance, and will inevitably be manipulated to demonize Palestine’s struggle.
————————————————————————
If you appreciate my work, I hope you become a one-time or regular donor to my Patreon account. Like most of us, I’m feeling the economic pressures from our era of accelerating inflation, and I need money to keep fighting for a new system that works for all of us. Go to my Patreon here.
To keep this platform effective amid the censorship against dissenting voices, join my Telegram channel.
No comments:
Post a Comment