@PeterBeinart, if reading/listening to you over the past months has encouraged me to do anything, it’s to read/listen more to Palestinian voices. I want to thank you for that. It has expanded my understanding of Palestinian voices & narrative for the better. https://twitter.com/peterbeinart/status/1339260731607445504

After listening to your interview w/ Rashid & Nadia, among other pieces, I’m seriously rethinking the simple equation of anti-Zionism with antisemitism, though I remain convinced that anti-Zionism (as opposed to criticism of Israeli policies/acts), is harmful & counterproductive.

One thing that struck me about the interview, though, was the repeated insistence that how Israel “chose to implement self-determination” was via war & expulsion. Do you think Israel chose that? I ask because...

Scholars as diverse as Walter Laqueur & Ussama Makdisi agree that among Palestinian intellectuals & leaders, there was no interest in, or willingness to seriously entertain, the binational frameworks advocated by the likes of Brit Shalom & others in their orbit.

Jews returned home to a place we understand as our indigenous homeland, & faced a population that refused to either split the land between us or to work out a binational framework that recognized us & allowed for sharing the land. Was it really so simple as the Jews choosing war?

When partition passed, the Jews accepted the plan & Arabs rejected it. And violence immediately broke out. In the first 6 months of the war, as you know, Jewish militias fought Palestinian militias intent on preventing any Jewish state from emerging. Those were hard months.

Did the Jews of Palestine choose all of that? Did they have other possibilities? I’m seriously asking. I’m not trying to catch you. I really don’t understand. Should we have packed our bags and given up on the dream of coming home after keeping that dream alive for so long?

Is it unfair to say that the Jews’ choices were constrained by the choices of other agents, who made their own choices - including Palestinian leaders and militias? Or did we choose war when there was another obvious choice? Didn’t Jews & Palestinians make choices?

Finally, does anyone have the right to tell an indigenous people they can’t come home & practice self-determination - whether under the rubric of partition or binationalism or regional autonomy? Isn’t that one of the root causes? The rejection of Jewish history & indigeneity?

Today, Israel is now the stronger party, & therefore the one with more maneuverability & relative responsibility to relieve Palestinian suffering & move toward a better future. But aren’t these core questions at the root of arguments today, & the discourse around anti-Zionism?

Might it be the case that though Palestinians acted/act out of reasonable self-interest (not antisemitism), the logic of arguments rejecting Jewish self-determination in our homeland ultimately rest on the rejection of our history & indigeneity?

Might that be why some do see anti-Zionism as antisemitism?

If you get around to reading this @PeterBeinart, I appreciate your time. I care about our community & Israel, & am invested in serious discourse. I know you face a lot of trolling from bad actors. That’s not my intent.