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It's almost impossible to discuss Israel/Palestine b/c 1. the history is complex & 2. the discourse is both reasonably charged &, in some cases, unreasonably toxic.
The Israeli gov't oppresses Palestinians (fact). Americans who wish to show solidarity w/ Palestinians achieve nothing thru anti-semitism (fact). Americans & others make it *harder*, not easier, to discuss how to help Palestine when they pollute the convo w/ anti-Jewish bigotry
I do not believe that I ever said that the behavior of Netanyahu & his government was difficult to define as "bad." I said it was a fact that they oppress Palestinians. I said the overall convo around the history of Israel/Palestine is complex. That is just true.
I say all of this b/c I'm currently witnessing a Jewish friend deal w/ an onslaught of anti-semitism simply for saying that Gal Gadot is not an Israeli spy, among other things. And, no, none of this anti-semitism is coming from Palestinians. It's coming from misinformed Americans
Instead of doing this, people could use their time:
-Learning about the history of the conflict & about the specific oppression enacted by Netanyahu
-Learning about solutions proposed by Palestinians
-Figuring out how to pressure the U.S. gov to hold the Israeli gov accountable
-Learning about the history of the conflict & about the specific oppression enacted by Netanyahu
-Learning about solutions proposed by Palestinians
-Figuring out how to pressure the U.S. gov to hold the Israeli gov accountable
B/c I'm pretty sure a lot of the Americans who claim to have solidarity w/ Palestinians don't actually know 1. wtf is going on or 2. what the various Palestinian proposals for change are.
Learning about how to specifically lobby Biden on this issue would be more productive than engaging in anti-semitism on twitter. And, again, the anti-semitism is not just bigoted, it also misrepresents Palestinians & makes it harder, not easier, to discuss what we can do to help.
The Obama admin showed change in a good direction on the Israeli gov (not far enough, imo, but still farther than others). How can Biden do better? What should he propose & how should he pressure Israel? What do *Palestinians* want the world to do & how can we make that happen?
And, I'm serious: A lot of people just do not engage w/ Israel/Palestine for a lot of different reasons. If you eradicate all anti-semitism from the conversation, it will be easier to educate people and to advocate for an empowering solution for Palestine.
Some people in my mentions seem to continue to take issue w/ the sentence "The history is complex." It is complex. Saying so is not assigning normative values to different actors, nor is it a comment on the current oppression. It's just saying "The history is complex."
Other things that are complex? The American Civil War. The French revolution. The Ottoman Empire. The origins of WWI. The origins of WWII. European Colonialization. McCarthyism. Proxy wars in the ME. The Vietnam War.
Everything. It's all complex.
Everything. It's all complex.
If I say, "The origins of WWII are complex," I am not saying, "Let's consider all sides!" I am just saying. . . .it's complex. As is the history of Israel/Palestine. And if you think the latter is not complex, I dare you to ask people to describe the history of the conflict.
Also, "the history is complex" is a comment on *history*, not the current government of Israel. I have stated plainly throughout this thread that Palestinians are oppressed by the government of Israel.
