Im Ain Ani Li
2 min readJun 7, 2021

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Pablo, I'm not trying to shut down conversation. I believe you and I are both human beings who are equally capable of saying bigoted or ignorant things - often unintentionally - and equally deserving of having those things called out. I'm not trying to insult you at all and I'm happy to be in dialogue with you.

(Having and loving Jewish friends doesn't make a person incapable of saying antisemitic things, any more than having a wife makes me incapable of saying sexist things.)

The antisemitism I see in your comment manifests in a few different ways. Maybe you can clarify it and show me I'm wrong.

1. "You missed the opportunity to make clear once more that not all Jews are abusive, racist, land-grabbing, murderers." << The implication that it's on a member of a religion to make this clear places the responsibility on me, instead of placing the responsibility on all members of a civilized society not stereotype an entire religion.

2. "Uyghur extermination campaigns are not at the core of Chinese identity. While the Palestinian genocide is at the center of Israeli identity politics." << I think the onus is on you to back this up - the "genocide" slur in particular, which simply does not describe anything Israel has done to Palestinians, from the Nakba to the latest bombing of Gaza.

But even setting that aside, I suppose you'd need to define more what you mean by "identity politics" in this context. Is the Armenian genocide at the center of Turkish identity politics? Is the Holocaust at the center of German identity politics? Is *any* genocide at the center of *any* other nation's identity politics, or do you see Israel as an exceptional case? If so, why? The antisemitism here comes in the form of singling out (admittedly, I'm *assuming* you're singling Israel out - you're welcome to correct me) and in the form of making the "genocide" a core part of the perpetrator nation's identity (again, feel free to demonstrate that it's not just Israel you feel this way about).

To answer your question directly - I know practically no Jews - and practically no Zionists - who say that God gave the Jews the land. I'm not saying there aren't any, but I grew up in a pretty Zionist non-Orthodox context.

The question you asked also seems to imply that Zionism is the belief in a god-given right to Jewish hegemony in Israel. That's not my understanding of Zionism; it's not Theodor Herzl's understanding of Zionism. It's also not the majority view among American Jews, who actually subscribe to that belief at a lower rate than the American public in general (even as a majority of American Jews profess some level of emotional connection or support of Israel as a state that should exist). https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2013/10/03/more-white-evangelicals-than-american-jews-say-god-gave-israel-to-the-jewish-people/

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Im Ain Ani Li
Im Ain Ani Li

Written by Im Ain Ani Li

Grandson of Holocaust survivors and Nazi-fighters. Spreading Jewish self-knowledge, self-respect, and learning

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