XPost: alt.global-warming, edm.general, soc.culture.usa   
   XPost: or.politics   
   From: doctor@doctor.nl2k.ab.ca   
      
   In article , Sharx335   wrote:   
   >On 2024-11-11 9:23 p.m., NefeshBarYochai wrote:   
   >> By Anna Lippman  November 9, 2024   
   >>   
   >>   
   >> A few weeks ago in downtown Toronto, I watched a group of Zionist Jews   
   >> come across a car decorated for Diwali. The car was covered in flower   
   >> and candle decorations, as well as some Hindu symbology. Aghast at   
   >> noticing a swastika amidst the decorations, this group became irate   
   >> and began yelling about blatant antisemitism. I wondered if they knew   
   >> the relationship between this symbol and the Hindu religion, but I   
   >> doubted they would care if they did. Despite its origins (and   
   >> different orientation) in Buddhist and Hindu culture, for many today   
   >> the swastika is synonymous with Nazism. For myself, knowing the   
   >> history of this symbol does not mitigate the visceral response I feel   
   >> to seeing a swastika.   
   >>   
   >> On October 29, a man in Oakland, California was kicked out of the   
   >> Jerusalem Coffee House by the owner for wearing a blue baseball cap   
   >> with a white star of David on it. Police are now investigating the   
   >> incident as an antisemitic hate crime. Was it antisemitic to ask this   
   >> man to leave? Maybe. Yet no one is asking a bigger question about this   
   >> incident- why did this man feel it appropriate to walk into a   
   >> Palestinian coffee shop wearing a hat so closely mirroring the flag of   
   >> Israel? Did he not expect to elicit a visceral response from the very   
   >> people being slaughtered in the name of this flag? Do Palestinians who   
   >> have watched the death and destruction of their homeland carried out   
   >> under this symbol not have the right to be offended by it?   
   >>   
   >> In Canada, the Zionist lobby has spent the past year decrying any   
   >> appearance of the Star of David within the pro-Palestine movement.   
   >>  From social media posts to protest signs, they have claimed that   
   >> depicting this star in anything critical of Israel is antisemitic and   
   >> equates the entire Jewish people with the State of Israel. Yet, this   
   >> lobby and the state of Israel have themselves worked tirelessly to   
   >> conflate Judaism and Israel. Beyond putting the star in the middle of   
   >> the Israeli flag, the Centre for Israeli and Jewish Affairs has also   
   >> put the star in its logo. B’nai Brith Canada uses the Jewish symbol of   
   >> the menorah in its logo. When Zionists themselves begin appropriating   
   >> Jewish symbolism, the distinction between Judaism and Israel becomes   
   >> blurred.   
   >>   
   >> Perhaps more than anyone, it is Israel itself that is appropriating   
   >> Jewish symbols for fascist purposes. As a genocide continues in Gaza,   
   >> the Israeli army celebrates this devastation by carving or spray   
   >> painting the Star of David into demolished buildings and   
   >> neighborhoods. When spray paint falls short, soldiers and police brand   
   >> and carve this symbol on Palestinians themselves. The co-optation of   
   >> this symbol for terror is most evident in the West Bank. Palestinian   
   >> cities and neighborhoods are often vandalized by settler youth who   
   >> spray paint the star and accompanying fascist slogans over Palestinian   
   >> murals and on flags. When settlers are finally able to displace these   
   >> Palestinians from their villages, a star or menorah is frequently   
   >> placed on top of this ethnically cleansed land.   
   >>   
   >> On October 9, 2023, I proudly wore my Star of David necklace at the   
   >> emergency rally for Gaza. I wanted people to know unmistakably that I   
   >> was Jewish and still pro-Palestine. At the rally on October 5, 2024   
   >> marking one year of genocide in Gaza, my necklace instead featured the   
   >> ‘chai’ symbol. I am no longer seeking to redeem and reclaim the Star   
   >> of David.   
   >>   
   >> Like the swastika, there is nothing wrong with the star in and of   
   >> itself; this symbol existed before Israel and will exist after   
   >> Israel’s demise. Yet, this symbol which was once an integral part of   
   >> how I show my identity, is now synonymous with the cruelty and evil of   
   >> the Zionist regime. When Palestinians look at this symbol, which has   
   >> been used to represent Jewish supremacy and Palestinian destruction,   
   >> they do not feel a distinction between this symbol when it is blue and   
   >> in between two stripes or if it is gold and around my neck. Both   
   >> represent the destruction of the Palestinian people.   
   >>   
   >> While discussing the incident in Oakland on social media, Mohammed El   
   >> Kurd makes the same argument that the Star of David is now a hate   
   >> symbol, whether Jews like it or not. Peter Beinart responded by saying   
   >> the symbol is a Jewish symbol that exists outside of Israel’s   
   >> appropriation of it and thus criticizing the Star of David is in fact   
   >> a condemnation of Judaism. I agree it is not the fault of Jews that   
   >> Israel has decided to use our symbol as the logo for their fascist   
   >> regime. However, we are not absolved of the current weight of these   
   >> symbols and we should not fault Palestinians for their visceral   
   >> emotions when they see these symbols.   
   >>   
   >> During my most recent trip to the West Bank, some local children were   
   >> scouring my belongings for potential gifts. Finding the Magen David   
   >> necklace I wore through customs, a girl turned to me and said: “oh so   
   >> you love Israel?” No! I vehemently responded. They giggled and asked   
   >> why I have their symbol on my necklace? At first I tried to explain   
   >> that this is a symbol of Jewish people, not the State of Israel. But I   
   >> quickly trailed off. For Palestinians who know nothing of Judaism   
   >> aside from its role in oppression and ethnic cleansing, this star   
   >> symbolizes harm, destruction, and hate. I had specifically removed it   
   >> when entering Palestine because I knew it was triggering to see.   
   >>   
   >> In North America, the Jewish community is given special consideration   
   >> during Diwali because of the use of the swastika and its associations   
   >> with Nazi Germany and white supremacist movements. Palestinians must   
   >> be afforded the same consideration when Jewish people choose to   
   >> display the Star of David which has now become associated with the   
   >> Gaza genocide and Israeli apartheid. Israel has made it impossible to   
   >> divorce this symbol from the unfathomable devastation carried out   
   >> under its banner. Israel has turned the Star of David into a symbol of   
   >> supremacy and fascism. I refuse to associate myself and my Judaism   
   >> with Israel and all it represents. That is why I am no longer wearing   
   >> a Jewish star.   
   >>   
   >>   
   >https://mondoweiss.net/2024/11/i-stopped-wearing-the-star-of-da   
   id-because-it-has-become-a-symbol-of-supremacy-and-fascism/   
   >>   
   >>   
   >   
   >More neo-Nazi bull.   Oh, how your mother must have wished for an   
   >abortion.   
      
   is Nefesh a practising Muslim?   
      
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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