Have a Loving Weekend.

Thank you for this comment DG. I agree with every word (as a pro-two-state, Netanyahu-hating Jew in Tel Aviv). The American Jewish voices in the debate are too often a voice of privilege – it is wonderful that they have always felt safe and never needed Israel as a homeland or safe haven! But the vast majority of Israelis I’ve met either directly escaped religious persecution (in the USSR, Iran, or Ethiopia) or are the children or grandchildren of those who did (Europe/Iraq/Syria/Yemen). It seems eerily similar to white privilege to me to say that a Jewish homeland is not necessary when there are people who fled rape and murder to reach Israel. I moved to Tel Aviv from Park Slope this past summer and even as we spent the last two weeks running in and out of our bomb shelter while Hamas’ rockets were falling around us and it was terrifying. At the same time, I know I would be just as terrified speaking Hebrew with my kids in Brooklyn or Manhattan right now. Sending you big hugs.

Same. Give her a break. It’s hard to get this right and she is trying.

But the thing is, Cup of Jo did not clearly express its stance against the state-sanctioned violence and oppression faced by the Palestinian people. I haven’t seen any comments that went beyond sharing “kind direction,” indicating why it is important to also show solidarity with the Palestinian people. I am sure it wasn’t your intention but to be honest, your comment kind of discourages those who support Palestine from sharing their critical perspective by saying that sharing their view is piling on and that their views can push the team to no longer be able to handle posting difficult topics. As someone who has actually been directly affected by the Israeli-Palestine conflict, I am speaking up now more than ever because, similar to the changing views of BLM that started last summer, people are finally starting to listen and learn about the plight of Palestine.

Thanks Marissa, it was the blaming, judging, critical piling on I was referring to. Different I think from respectful feedback and perspective sharing

Amen! The expectation now seems to be that everyone with any sort of platform must comment on every global and geopolitical issue in a way that feels good to all parties. How could it be possible? Belarus, Turkey, Ethiopia , shootings, voter suppression – those are just off the top of my head. “Do better, apologize, getting it right….” I applaud the team for continuing to try to do all that despite the inevitable and continued backlash. We love you Team CoJ!

You aren’t alone, I’m with you. I shouldn’t be ashamed to say I am a supporter of Israel, I’ve studied the region for at least 10 years now – to me there is no question. The government has its faults FOR SURE. But I am with you

Well said

Thank you!!! I was thinking the same thing.

@Dani. I hear you, and feel the same – politically, emotionally, with regards to the plight of Palestinians. Yet the thing that confuses me, is why do we expect CoJ to make a statement on the bombing of Gaza, but not of the bombing of Yemen? US plays a big role in that atrocity, too.

@Sara that’s actually a very fair question, though the only counter I have is that the US is far more implicit with that the state of Israel does given we give them $3.3 billion a year in aid, vs $1 mil to Saudi. And also no one conflates criticizing Saudi with Islamaphobia (the House passed a bill last year criticizing abuses in Yemen, that has yet to happen with Israeli human rights abuses).
Though ultimately you’re right in that I wish we called out our government more for their problematic allyship with them.

Hi @Aly, thanks for clarifying the aid v financing, and I’m thankful you and your family were protected and absolutely think it’s necessary and justified for Israel to use those funds for missile defense. I wish the civilians in Gaza were afforded the same protections, my friend from college last 21 members of his extended family in Gaza a few weeks ago.
At this point we can go back and forth without convincing the other, I’m sure there would be lots of “But what about Hamas” or “But what about Palestinians being expelled from their homes.” I’ll just clarify that my criticism is with the government of Israel only, ie the largest recipient of American foreign military financing.
Signing off from the comments here, wishing you peace.

@NM, I am not blaming Jewish people for the actions of Israel! I am saying that it is WRONG to blame people for the actions of a country, but sadly, it does happen a lot. I am just saying that in the specific context of “stop Asian hate,” that is not what was happening, and the two situations can’t really be compared. I do not condone that behaviour, just highlighting that hate crimes can’t be compared like apples and oranges? They’re all bad. Maybe for different reasons, but still bad.

ALSO Asian does not equal Chinese.

110% agreed with this. It read as I’m sorry for antisemitism. Oh ….and yes palestine!

Antisemitism Is BAD. Also Palestinian families are being killed. WORSE.

Maybe please donate to Palestine. Then mention antisemitism.

Thank you for mentioning Palestine though.

Thank you!

Plus one from me. Thank you for putting my thoughts into something cohesive. Completely agree.

@Anon – just to make sure you’re receiving accurate news, it was just made public that the journalist building (which was already revealed to house offices of Hamas terrorist operations) was also the location for Hamas” R&D of technology that would disrupt the Iron Dome system – i.e. the system that intercepts the rockets aimed at MY children in MY densely populated civilian neighborhood. The equipment was in the building at the time of the strike.
You may have noticed that Israel revealed some highly classified intelligence to President Biden at the time of the strike, and President Biden expressed support for the strike (without making his reasons public). Now we know why.
We now know that Hamas not only endangers innocent Gazans by building terror tunnels under UNWRA schools (those have been made public – I assume you’ve heard) and sending rockets from densely populated civilian areas in Gaza (25% of which FELL IN GAZA), but they also endangered civilian journalists by locating terror operations within a journalist building without their knowledge.
Before you accuse Israel of “bombing the journalist’s building so that they cannot report what is happening” I suggest you read a broad variety of news sources in order to ascertain the facts and avoid spreading misinformation.
Surely you’ll speak out against Hamas’ deliberate endangerment of Gazan civilians and journalists? Or retract the previous misinformation you spread? Surely someone will? Anyone?
I am dismayed to see that there are a number of Jews (including me) who have to teach Modern Middle Eastern Politics 101 on every blog post and Instagram post and very few allies who are joining us in corrected the spread of misinformation and antisemitic tropes. It’s exhausting. I wish everyone took it upon themselves to educate themselves (truly, with legitimate news sources that aren’t instagram). Feel free to start with Haaretz – Israel’s left-wing newspaper. No one is more critical of Israel than Haaretz. It contains the good, the bad, and the ugly, and does not mince words.

YES to every single word of this.

My parents/family suffered greatly during the Holocaust in Germany and that suffering was passed on to their children. Never in a million years would they or I want to oppress and disposes another people as has been done so often to Jews. Never.

While I do not know the answers as to how a solution should be reached, I am opposed to what the Israeli govt and some Israelis have done and continue to do to the Palestinian people (and yes, I do know the history as much as is possible).

When people who call themselves Zionist (there are many different types!) use the term in an extremist way to oppress another people, it is no longer about the “right for Israel to exist”, but rather the right for Israel to do as they please and create an apartheid state at any cost.

The freedoms and safety of Palestinian people will not only benefit them but also Israel and all Jewish people. As I have witnessed this conflict from afar (and heard various ideas from family in Israel), I am not only scared for my family and my children, but my heart breaks for all the innocent children who suffer at the hands of the corrupt and power hungry. Suffering that gets passed on and on and on…

C – yes to all of this! I keep thinking about those who perished in the Holocaust and how they must be turning over in their graves about what’s happening now. It truly blows my mind what Israel is doing.

As far as anti-Zionism, maybe Israel shouldn’t have a state if they can’t do better. How many years have they had to figure this out?

“ As far as anti-Zionism, maybe Israel shouldn’t have a state if they can’t do better. How many years have they had to figure this out?”

THIS is when legitimate criticism of Israel becomes antisemeitc. As another response noted, there is hardly a country in the world that hasn’t done things worthy of intense scrutiny and condemnation. Yet no one calls for those countries to cease to exist.
The antisemeitc test of criticism of Israel is this:

Does your standard apply to every other country or not?

Educate yourself. Question your internal prejudice. I am not sure what country you come from, but it is quite likely that under your system it should cease to exist. And even more likely it has had far far longer to “figure it out”.

Thank you, Dana. Every word of this.

Hi Emilie! As an American Jew living in Israel I am here to help educate (although it is deeply triggering to me and I feel that everyone should take it on themselves to “do the work”). Zionism is the belief that the Jews have a right to a state in the land to which they were indigenous (more or less the land in which the modern state of Israel exists. Palestinians are also indigenous to the land – although they settled the land approx 1100 years after the Jews were ethnically cleansed from the area. Following the ethnic cleansing of Jews in Europe in the Holocaust and from the Arab nations (Iraq, Yemen, Morocco, Syria, etc), the United Nations divided the British colony of Palestine into two states – one for the Jews and one for the Palestinians. The Jews accepted the state that was offered them, and for a variety of reasons, the Palestinians did not. The Jews declared independence and were recognized by a variety of countries worldwide, and Palestinians and the neighboring Arab countries then attacked Israel in the 1948 war with the express purpose of dismantling the newly formed state (during which Israel, in the course of defending itself, expanded its borders). Israel was again attacked unilaterally by its neighboring countries in 1967, during which time it occupied Gaza and the West Bank. Israel has continuously occupied the West Bank ever since, but unilaterally withdrew from Gaza in 2005. Hamas, which is recognized by the US as a terrorist organization and whose charter calls for death to all Jews, was democratically elected as the government in Gaza in 2007. As a liberal and a Jew and an American and an Israeli I am against the occupation of the West Bank. Nearly every Israeli I know is. We are all against the right wing government and my friends and I have voted 4 times in the past two years to get rid of Bibi (the prime minister) whose expansionist actions in the West Bank are mostly to secure his religious right wing voters who believe that that land is sacred. We all want to see a two state solution, but it is made complex by the fact that a terrorist organization (which of course never ran elections again in the 15 years since they won the election) claims to represent the people of Gaza who suffer tremendously. Getting aid to Gazans is made incredibly difficult by Hamas, who in the last week alone (a) sent rockets to the border crossing where Israel was delivering humanitarian aid, and (b) cut off water supply to use the resources to make more rockets to shoot at densely populated civilian populations in Israel. To say you are anti-Zionist means that you don’t believe there should be a state of Israel – that does not mean you are pro-Palestinian. It means you don’t believe the state is a legitimate state. It’s the equivalent of my saying the United States or France or Canada should not exist because of the violent acts that occurred in their founding and continue to occur today. It is insanely triggering to Israelis (and to some Jews) to say you are anti-Zionist because you are questioning the mere existence of a state that has been recognized by everyone for 73 years. To say you are against the right wing government and its policies is a different matter – much like we all disagreed and protested against the Trump regime. Like we protested against police brutality. Like we protested for BLM. And criticism of this government and its treatment of Palestinians is one that the majority of Israelis would agree with, btw.

Hi, Aly,
I wanted to also thank you for taking the time to post such a detailed and informative reply. I really appreciate it.