XPost: alt.global-warming, edm.general, soc.culture.usa   
   XPost: or.politics   
   From: sharx35@telus.net   
      
   On 2024-11-12 2:07 p.m., NefeshBarYochai wrote:   
   > On Mon, 11 Nov 2024 22:41:09 -0700, 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   
      
   [continued in next message]   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)