I
don't have an Israeli passport. I have an American passport. I was not
born in Israel, I was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. My parents
attended services at Congregation Tree of Life during my infancy, while my father was completing a surgical fellowship.
Yesterday, a far-right white supremacist shot and murdered 11 people
there, after posting on social media: "HIAS [Hebrew Immigrant Aid
Society] likes to bring invaders in that kill our people. I can’t sit by
and watch my people get slaughtered. Screw your optics, I’m going in."
This
fear and hatred of immigrants should come as no surprise to anyone who
has watched a Trump rally. And, equally, that Jews are suddenly being
accused as the people pulling the strings should come as no surprise.
The blood libel is alive and well throughout the world: Look no further
than the demonization of George Soros.
But in the wake of this atrocity in Pittsburgh, along with other violence stemming from hate sowed by President Donald Trump, I cannot help but think of all the support I hear for Trump in Israel, where I am currently studying.
At
Jewish day school in the U.S., I identified Judaism with the Holocaust.
My teachers reminded us of the vulnerability of life in the Diaspora.
However, at any moment, my assimilation could be traded in for an
Israeli passport. That was the greatest insurance plan we could have.
So
how has it come to pass that the Jewish state now welcomes the same
authoritarian movements contributing to the revival of age-old
conspiratorial anti-Semitism that endanger those living outside of
Israel?
Jews in the Diaspora
are dependent on a tolerant pluralistic society - that is where we
thrive and where we are safe. If there is one thing we have learned, it
is that the moment hardline nationalist movements begin to percolate and
hate becomes a cheap ploy to consolidate power, Jews come under the
gun.
It
is this current of anti-Semitism, that conspires a secret Jewish world
order, that festers under the surface waiting for the careful nurturing
of opportunistic leaders.
Just two weeks ago in
response to the Supreme Court hearings of Justice Kavanaugh, fliers
with a picture of Soros and other figures, reading, "Every time some
Anti-White, Anti-Freedom event takes place, you look at it, and it’s Jews behind it," appeared at the University of California campuses, Vassar, and Marist college, and around Iowa.
The Daily Stormer produced these. This is not an obscure group
limited to small time American neo-Nazis. When President Trump defended
white nationalists in Charlottesville by saying they included some
"very fine people," he made room in our political sphere for neo-Nazis.
The President of the United States did this.
Last summer, Yair Netanyahu re-tweeted an anti-Semitic caricature
of George Soros that originated in far right online circles and ended
up on the Stormer’s website. MK Miki Zohar utilized this anti-Semitic
trope of world domination when he submitted "The Soros Law"
for Knesset approval, aimed at banning the Soros Foundation in Israel,
and Netanyahu himself has referred to Soros as someone who "continuously
undermines Israel’s democratically elected governments" - an enemy of the state.
Still Viktor Orban,
the Hungarian Prime Minister, who fueled his own campaign on accusations
of Soros destroying Christian Hungary, was invited on an official visit to Israel
and as a guest of honor to Yad Vashem, helping to elide his
anti-Semitic ties. This is 21st century anti-Semitism legitimized by the
leader of the Jewish state.
After the synagogue attack yesterday, Donald Trump suggested, "If they had protection inside,
the results would have been far better," that the massacre could have
been prevented. Earlier this week, a right-wing white supremacist
targeted a black church in Kentucky; and when he could not get in due to
security, he went to a local supermarket and killed two African
American individuals there.
Security is not the issue;
it is the discourse of our leaders that foment and use fear and hate.
It is this kind of violence minority communities face that is a symptom
of Trumpism.
When Israelis
champion Donald Trump for his hardline Middle East foreign policy, it is
important to understand the man and methods they are lauding.
When Benjamin Netanyahu
promulgates anti-Semitic tropes through the figure of George Soros,
supports and aligns with authoritarian regimes, and fuels racist
sentiments in his own country, he is contributing to a rise of
intolerance and danger in the world. When Netanyahu and others in his
coalition target asylum seekers and lay blame
at the feet of Soros and the New Israel Fund, they parallel the white
supremacist criticism of Soros, HIAS and other refugee resettlement
organizations in the U.S.
Netanyahu, in his
embrace of Trump, makes it clear that while Israel is a Jewish state, it
does not attend to the safety of Jews around the world. This is despite
the new Jewish Nation State Law
which posits that "The [Israeli] state shall act within the Diaspora to
strengthen the bonds between the state and the Jewish people."
In
a dangerous bargain, it appears Prime Minister Netanyahu has traded
support for illiberal, authoritarian type rulers who attack tolerance
and a free press, and promote conspiracy theories of Jewish world order,
for protection of his administration’s wrongful settlement policies and
his continued rule.
Prime Minister
Netanyahu need not only look to corroding Israeli democracy or the
occupation for Israel’s undoing, but also at his disregard for world
Jewry.
While the Nation State Law may codify into law
the hypervigilant ethno-state, it cannot protect us, both Diaspora and
Israeli Jews, from nativist and deeply anti-Semitic forces that this
type of law, and Netanyahu's close alignment with President Trump and
other authoritarian leaders, help unleash.
Talya Wintman is a
junior at Barnard College studying Middle Eastern Studies and currently
attending the Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Israele governo di estrema destra e opposizione 156 Israele opposizione civile e democratica 618 Sulla scia del colpo di stato giudiziario, le discussioni israeliane sul trasferimento all’estero non si fermano più ai gruppi di social media. In una lussureggiante valle dell’Italia nordoccidentale si stanno concretizzando idee di emigrazione collettiva – e iniziative simili stanno prendendo forma anche altrove Hilo Glazer 2 settembre 2023 1:19 IDT “Mentre il numero di ore di luce nella democrazia del loro paese continua a diminuire, sempre più israeliani arrivano nella valle montuosa alla ricerca di un nuovo inizio. Tra loro ci sono giovani con bambini nel marsupio, altri con bambini in età scolare, e ci sono persone con i capelli grigi come me. Un insegnante, un imprenditore tecnologico, uno psicologo, un toelettatore, un allenatore di basket. Alcuni dicono che stanno solo esplorando, ma si vergognano ancora di ammettere che stanno seriamente considerando l'opzione. Altri sembra
joimag.it Né Ashkenaziti né Sefarditi: gli Ebrei italiani sono un mistero - JoiMag Ashkenaziti, Sefarditi, Mizrahim, ma anche Bukhari, Falashà e Romanioti. Sono numerosissimi i gruppi che compongono la Diaspora ebraica. Tuttavia gli Ebrei italiani, gli Italkim, rappresentano un’eccezione unica e con una grande storia. Spesso si sente parlare di due categorie di Ebrei: Ashkenaziti e Sefarditi . Alcuni alludono anche a un terzo gruppo, i Mizrahim , per indicare gli Ebrei che vivevano in quei territori che oggi sono Iraq, Siria, Yemen, Iran, Georgia e Uzbekistan. Ma questa divisione in gruppi può risultare molto più complicata di quello che può sembrare a un primo sguardo. Ci sono tre modi di intendere la classificazione degli Ebrei; uno di questi si basa sulla geografia. Questo approccio applica l’etichetta “Ashkenazita” agli Ebrei che hanno gli antenati che provengono dal territorio che nella letteratura rabbinica medievale era chiamato
Palestina :area C annessione strisciante - occupazione militare GERUSALEMME (AP) - Nei prossimi anni, gli israeliani potranno recarsi a Gerusalemme e a Tel Aviv dagli insediamenti , situati nelle profondità della Cisgiordania ,attraverso autostrade, tunnel e cavalcavia che tagliano ampiamente le città palestinesi. I gruppi per i diritti dicono che le nuove strade prepareranno il terreno per una crescita esplosiva degli insediamenti, anche se l'amministrazione statunitense entrante in qualche modo convincerà Israele a frenare la costruzione di alloggi. I costosi progetti infrastrutturali segnalano che Israele intende mantenere ampie aree del territorio occupato in qualsiasi accordo di pace. Ciò renderebbe ancora più difficile la creazione di uno Stato palestinese vitale."Non si tratta di un altro centinaio di unità abitative lì o qui", ha detto Yehuda Shaul, un attivista israeliano che ha passato mesi a ricercare e mappare i nuovi progetti. "Questa è de facto anness
di Giacinto Seccia . Basta dare uno sguardo a un murales vicino Nardò per capire lo stato d’animo di quei profughi ebrei che, scampati all’Olocausto, trovarono rifugio nelle terre pugliesi prima di emigrare da clandestini verso la Palestina e fondare il tanto agognato Stato ebraico nel 1948. Chi lo dipinse su quel muro, anticipò la storia a modo suo. Il murales raffigura una cartina con l’Italia, tante persone in attesa, e una freccia che si protende verso una grande stella di David. Esiste tutt’ora conservato in un museoIl Salento fu solo la prima terra di incontro per quei profughi perché, a sostare nei campi per rifugiati (I.R.O.) di Bari Palese, Barletta e Trani, furono in migliaia fino al 1949. E da queste località si organizzava l’espatrio verso la “terra promessa” grazie alla posizione strategica che rese la Puglia in breve tempo la base principale dell’emigrazione clandestina ebraica (Aliya Bet).Le partenze dei clandestini avvenivano da Bari e Taranto, ma anche da altri porti
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