gedeiht - Tumblr blog

[gedeiht]

Agam Goldstein-Almog lives in Shefayim, Israel.

Growing up in Kibbutz Kfar Aza next to Israel’s border with the Gaza Strip meant a childhood that could be interrupted at any moment by sirens warning of a Hamas rocket attack. Sibling fights or quiet nights were instantly turned into a scramble for the nearest safe room. Hamas took control of Gaza a few months before I was born in 2007, so living in its shadow is all I have ever known.

Having 15 seconds to run to safety might not be a common theme in childhood nostalgia, but I convinced myself that it had made me stronger than kids from the comfortable Tel Aviv bubble.

Then came Oct. 7. Hamas terrorists charged into our home, shooting my father, Nadav, and sister, Yam, in a furious ecstasy of hate. I was dragged out of the house together with my mother and two younger brothers and forced into a car to Gaza. I see my father’s fading eyes when I close mine at night.

Arriving in Gaza, the car was surrounded by a mob, mostly people who appeared to be about my own age, 17, or younger. They smiled and laughed as I wept.

In Judaism, there is a tradition that baseless hatred — hatred divorced from all reason — is what led to the destruction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70. I now know what it means to be hated baselessly — for all that I am and all I am not.

My Hamas guards hated me for being Jewish, so I was coerced into reciting Islamic prayers and made to wear a hijab. I was forbidden from mourning my father and sister, and often ordered to look down at the ground. Six female hostages I met in a tunnel told me about men with guns who came into their shower rooms and touched their bodies.

Hearing about these young women’s fear of sexual abuse was agonizing. When one of my guards told me that he would find me a “husband” in Gaza, and that I would live the rest of my life as a chained slave-wife, my mother interrupted, deflecting his advances. I was fortunate to be released, along with my family members, in a prisoner exchange after 51 days. But those six young women are still in captivity, held for more than 300 days, without their mothers. They all should have come home a long time ago.

Baseless hatred can lead a person to awful places, but when that hatred is shared by a group, it is terrifying to witness. One morning, my family was moved from our safe house to a school hall, filled largely with Gazan women and children. Strangers asked if I wanted anything to sit on, or if I was thirsty — a rare moment of human connection.

But then, in an instant, the low buzz of conversation was drowned out by Hamas launching rockets, just meters away from us, from inside the school compound. The hall erupted in joy, and as the Gazans celebrated, I realized that Hamas had moved us there to serve as human shields.

Shortly before my family and I were released at the end of November, a guard made a point of telling us that, in the next war, Hamas would return to kill us. There would be no hostage-taking, no more dealmaking.

When we were transferred to a Red Cross vehicle for our ride out of Gaza, a mob formed, just as when we arrived. But weeks of Israel’s intense bombing had changed the mood. Instead of laughing and taking photos, the Gazans banged on the windows and screamed at us: Die, die, die. The word is almost the same in Arabic as in Hebrew — but, then again, hatred sounds the same in every language.

In captivity, I had often filled the long, silent hours by fantasizing, trying to keep the dread and terrible memories at bay. One of my fantasies was that we would be freed and the world would embrace us.

But the world I came back to was deeply divided and seething with anger. The hatred that I thought I had left behind in Gaza was waiting for me online.

My social media feeds were flooded with trolls, falsehoods and conspiracy theories, all with seemingly one objective: driving hate. The comment sections of news articles mentioning my name were battlefields, as hatred from one side was met with hatred from the other.

I have watched as the movement in the West for a Gaza cease-fire sometimes devolves into full-throated support for Hamas and the hounding of Jews in public spaces. I’m sure my kidnappers still hate me, but when American students call for “intifada” or chant in praise of Hamas terrorists “Al-Qassam, you make us proud,” I’m reminded that many other people do, too.

Now a dangerous escalation in the war that began on Oct. 7 may loom, involving an Iranian regime that has long promised to wipe Israel off the map. Theirs is the same hatred that killed my father and sister. The same hatred that poisons too many campuses and too much of social media.

On Tuesday, news arrived that Israeli forces in Gaza had recovered the bodies of six hostages. It is unclear how many of the more than 100 hostages still held by Hamas remain alive. Negotiations for their release continue. I pray for their freedom, but I have no illusions about the world to which they’ll return.

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maybe this isn’t the most coexistence-pilled sentiment but i get so angry sometimes when i think about how people took our g-d and decided he was everyone’s g-d, took our holy texts and decided they were everyone’s holy texts, took our holy land and decided it was everyone’s holy land, and we’re expected to just accept that. goyim think they can tell us we’re worshipping our own g-d wrong because they decided he was their g-d too. they think they can criticize how we engage with our own torah because they stole it and changed it and added shit and rewrote it when it was ALWAYS OUR TORAH. they call yerushalayim “the holy land of three religions” because apparently if you colonize someone hard enough you get to claim their holy land as your holy land too and the entire world will just nod their heads right along because the entire foundation of their global society is based on the colonization of ours. and i know it’s antithetical to peace and so i push aside this feeling when i talk about actual solutions and real world actions and consequences but that deep angry part of me does think it’s complete fucking bullshit that christianity and islam get to plunder our entire culture for themselves in between mass murdering us and nobody calls them on it

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I was also never Christian, but I had to look the passages up once... and then look them up on Wikipedia for a compare-and-contrast to figure out wtf a Christian classmate was talking about.

Genuinely curious- did the Isaiah passages used to describe Jesus fuck you up too? I'm questioning my faith and I just keep going to that passage. And the fact that home boy did not actually fulfill prophecies. No Israel. No mention of the second coming in the OT. I feel like I've been lied to my whole Christian life.

I was never Christian so this isn't something I can answer. May I suggest @shalom-iamcominghome as a better person to ask?

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Russia, 1881: We’re gonna kill any Jew that doesn’t flee Russia. We’re restricting Jewish emigration to Europe, but permitting emigration to the Middle East.

Germany, Austria, Italy, Hungary, Romania, Bulgaria, Finland, Slovakia, Croatia, France, and others, 1933-1945: We’re gonna kill every Jew in Europe. Flee to the US or Palestine, or die trying.

The US, 1927-1952: Yeah sorry we’re restricting Jewish immigrants to like. 300 people per country. So good luck getting in. We recommend that Jews go to Palestine instead. Btw we are looking to take in Nazi scientists if you know any

Egypt, 1947-1950: We’re rounding up all our Jews and deporting them to Israel

Iraq, 1951-1952: We’re rounding up all our Jews and deporting them to Israel

Algeria, 1962-1965: We’re pressuring and intimidating Jews in the hopes that they’ll all leave the country and go to Israel

Egypt, 1956: We’re rounding up all our Jews and deporting them to Israel (again)

Egypt and Libya, 1967: We’re rounding up, torturing, and killing all our Jews. The ones that survive can flee to Israel

Poland, 1968: The Jews in our country are already loyal to Israel. They will face dire consequences if they don’t leave our country and go to Israel

Ethiopia, 1974-1985: We’re going to marginalize and eventually try to kill all our Jews, and the only way they can escape is by being airlifted out of the country by Israeli helicopters

The US, 2023: Why can’t the Israeli Jews just go back to where they came from? Don’t they all have dual citizenship or whatever?

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Tomb of Esther and Mordechai, Hamadan, Iran. Believed by Iranian Jews to be their resting place, and a historic site of pilgrimage.

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if we're at the point that jews talking about antisemitism, even in contexts entirely unrelated to i/p, gets taken as proof of zionism (derogatory) then it's... designed to get us to stop talking about antisemitism.

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An antisemitic banner in Cincinnati going "save Ireland from the Jews."

I don't know why they're worried. Ireland doesn't have a very large Jewish population. Like so many other countries, Ireland didn't take in Jewish refugees during the holocaust. Back then they were very happy to be... neutral.

I don't have the energy for the words I actually want to say about this.

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this is not a criticism of the actual content of this person’s tags, and i’ve left their blog out so they can’t be harassed. these tags simply made me think about some common statements and viewpoints i’ve seen lately.

while it is very true that the far right are hijacking the attention i/p is currently being given to disseminate hatred against jews, that is not the only place it’s coming from. i’m tired of people acting like left wing antisemitism is simply the result of people falling prey to right wing bad actors. leftist antisemitism is just as inbuilt as conservative antisemitism. leftists are just as likely to be antisemites as conservatives. antisemitism takes different forms between the two groups, but the core of it is the same - jews are other, jews are dangerous, jews are the problem. antisemitism is not an opt-in hatred - it’s so ingrained in society that it takes genuine effort to identify and unlearn it within yourself.

and what does it say about leftists when they keep “falling for” right wing antisemitic rhetoric? they don’t “fall for” other right wing hate campaigns with the same frequency or the same consequences as they do antisemitism. this suggests that the left is already breeding its own antisemitism and that by and large, leftists have still not unlearned their anti-jewish biases, as antisemitic dogwhistles and talking points are not raising alarms when they encounter them online and in person.

it is essential to deconstruct your thoughts, beliefs, and reactions towards jews, especially if you want to be an effective voice for the safety of minority groups. this requires seeking out long form resources (i.e. not just social media posts). it requires seriously and constructively addressing bias within yourself. it requires listening to jews, even the ones you disagree with. yes, even those jews. antisemitism affects us all the same.

the past two months have demonstrated to a staggering degree just how prevalent anti-jewish sentiment remains in today’s world, and just how dangerous antisemitism from any political angle is for jews. the responsibility for identifying and avoiding antisemitic rhetoric lies with the left just as much as it does the right. avoiding responsibility by shifting the blame will never make for a better future.

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despicable me ruined the word minion whenever i become a supervillain im just going to have to call them my homies or whatever

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Can we collectively agree that Judaism is not a major world religion?

There’s probably multiple folk religions with more adherents than there are Jews.

(Image Source)

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Tomorrow, October 27th, marks the 5th anniversary of the Pittsburgh Synagogue Shooting. For any of those who may not remember or forgot a few details, especially outside of the US: in 2018, a man named Robert Bowers went into the Tree of Life Synagogue during their Shabbat morning services and opened fire. 11 Jews lost their lives. On August 3, 2023, Robert Bowers was sentenced to death for this antisemitic crime. This was the worst mass shooting of Jews in the US to date.

Yesterday, October 25th, Jewish students at Cooper Union, a college in New York had to barricade themselves in the library while 'protestors' banged on the doors and shouted 'Free Palestine'. Note that the students had done absolutely nothing to cause this and have absolutely no power to do anything about the situation in the Middle East. This was an antisemitic attack, not a protest. You don't trap people for a protest. That's basic protesting rules. Disrupting is NOT the same as trapping. Peaceful protesting is defined as not blocking doors. Even if the students had opened the doors the demonstrators were right there and threatening. Not peaceful. It took over 40 minutes for the students to be safely escorted out of the building.

Also yesterday, a 6-person family in LA was woken up at approximately 520am by a man who kicked in their door and was wielding a knife. Blessedly (somewhat) he had entered the master bedroom first where he confronted the husband and his pregnant wife (at 9 months which means any amount of stress could put her into labor and put her baby at risk). All four children were also at home. Luckily the husband was able to fend off the knife-wielding antisemite. Multiple reasons he knew they were Jewish range from the mezuzah on their door to the fact he is apparently a neighbor and had talked to them before a few months previous where he found out they are Israeli. He apparently was drunk but had the wherewithal to state his intentions: he was going to kill them because they are Jews.

October has not been kind to Jews in the past few years and especially not this week in particular. Please, we are not okay. We are very tired and hurt and scared.

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I’m really glad you added that addition to the European racism post because like I didn’t feel comfortable pointing out that aspect of antisemitism being a racialized thing in Europe. I also sometimes feel while it’s not really racialized here in America in the same way it still kind of is. The minute people find out I’m Jewish they treat me different a lot of times. Especially white gentile leftists. I feel othered and just idk I still think it’s racialized in America some too. It’s different than what bipoc people go through I know

definitely. there's this weird phenomenon where progressive gentiles* get like weirdly pissed off when they encounter jews whose physical and cultural features** don't qualify them as Not White under us standards of race but also don't look like what ppl think white ppl are supposed to look like either. they can't figure out what box we're supposed to be in, so they can't figure out how they're supposed to treat us, how important our voice is supposed to be, what we're allowed to talk abt, etc. i see it a lot with mixed and light skinned gentiles too, and it gets even more complicated for mixed jews.

we're not racialized the same way a lot of european jews are where it's like "we are assigning you to this category of Non Aryan Race", but i would argue we are definitely racialized in a sense of "we assumed jews were supposed to be white, but you're not fitting in that box and you're also not fitting in the poc box so we have no clue how the fuck to treat you" so we get treated as this bizarre schrodinger's white where society sees that we are Cultural Other or we just don't quite look white enough and then treats us accordingly, but if we try to talk about that then we get "shut up ur white!!!" and like, that's not to say that jews who can pass as white never experience privilege or conditional safety because of that, or that because of our complicated relationship with racialization that we can't perpetuate racism ourselves (we very much can, talk to a jew of color). but this socially assigned racial ambiguity makes it very difficult for a lot of us to be part of the current conversation about race in the us because people just do not know what the fuck to do with us and it freaks them out.

*i've experienced this from nonwhite gentiles but the vast majority of the time it's from white gentiles. **might make a post on what i mean by this later???

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Spock’s bar mitzvah. He did not have fun

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I can only imagine how Jewish people must feel when culturally christian wankers say shit along the lines of "oh new testament God is loving and forgiving, not like old testament God who's evil and violent"

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people will be like “i am uncomfortable with kosher and halal slaughter because they slit the animal’s throat 😔 as opposed to the meat i eat, which magically and cleanly appears shrink-wrapped in the refrigerated section at the grocery store”

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Learned that one of the early goals of Jewish reform in Eastern Europe was to make Jewish women stop wearing headdresses with decorations on them, because obviously if gentiles see women with cute hats and jewelry and they think “these Jews are all rich!” that’s the fault of the women. Given this also happened/happens to Rromany women I’m gonna go out on a limb and say it was just bigotry