The importance of being earnest

Recently a hate site decided to write a hit piece on me, which would be fine, if it didn’t involve doxing because honestly, the allegations they made were dumber than a really dumb brick from the dumb brick factory. Doxing, revealing someone’s private information, is a form of abuse and harassment. It isn’t “exposing” or “journalism” it is done for one reason only – to harass and intimidate… Er, two reasons, to harass, intimidate and to silence speech. Ok, let me start over, the purposes of doxing include harassment, intimidation, the silencing of speech and incitement to readers to commit acts of violence.

Doxing is never legitimate. It is cowardly. It is abusive. It is wrong. No matter what you think of a person’s opinions, fight them on substance, not through dirty tricks.. oh and when a person takes legitimate steps to stop the abuse, don’t whine about it like a whiny little spoiled brat.

So, dear doxers,  you all are little, little, little sad men who have nothing better to do with your lives than try to destroy the lives of others… that’s pathetic really. Even more pathetic that you think picking on women and children, Jewish ones especially, makes you feel like big important people, it doesn’t. It makes you the equivalent of a bunch of frustrated and emotionally-immature teenagers, except y’all are grown and that’s sad.

Anyway, I want to address the “substance” of what has been alleged against me because accuracy matters and stuff.

On Khamas

Hamas also responsible for: crocs, Nickelback, that red bump on your you-know-what, Brexit, the Breakfast of Champions which isn’t and Deflategate… thanks Obama!

“If it wasn’t for Khamas, I’d have built a giant castle out of bottle caps, for the good of humanity” – Sara Netanyahu

So, anyone who supports Palestine, beyond the ordinary accusations of antisemitism, is undoubtedly going to be called a Khamas supporter.

Do I support Hamas? No. They are corrupt, make bad decisions and get worse the more they stay in power without elections. There reasons behind due to the blockade and repeat bombings? Of course. But that does not absolve them of basic human decency and logic. But I’m also not a fan of ridiculous hyperbole, and pearl clutching, and I refuse to honour those that have the vapours every time someone brings up Hamas.. especially if they don’t have the same reaction to Likud, or Jewish Home(or Zionist Labour for that matter), who have killed far more than Hamas ever could dream of and are proud of it.

Do I support bombing or killing civilians? No. I never have. Nor will I. Such actions are a violation of international law, and a violation of my ethics and my faith.

Did I tweet a dumb song? Yes. Not because I think civilians should be bombed but because the way imperialist countries celebrate independence would be scandalous if it were celebrated by other countries. That was the point. It was snark, it was taken out of context by people who have absolutely no scruples or honesty.

However. Military intervention against military and government targets is not a violation of international law. Other countries have had military intervention for far less than Israel has done against the Palestinian people and its neighbours. In addition, occupied people do have a right to self-defence, that right being limited to government and military institutions. Non-violence is a tactic, not an end goal and we must not forget that in some cases, military intervention against government/military of an oppressor/human rights violator are absolutely legitimate. If no country is above the law and we must not hold Israel to double standards then it cannot be held to a double standard here. It cannot be given the right to violate basic human rights and to oppress a people without impunity – whether intervention takes the form of economic sanctions, military involvement or political pressure – impunity must end.

On Elie Wiesel

If Spiderman really took responsibility seriously, he’d be stomping out all the spiders, because srsly, nobody needs that many legs, nobody.

“With great power comes great responsibility” – Spiderman.

Elie Wiesel had power, he used it to deny other genocides, to try to keep non-Jewish victims of the Holocaust from being properly recognised, to launch racist tirades and promote violence against the Palestinians, to take money from rabid antisemites whose agenda includes a Holy War. What responsibility does he bear for that? We have seen his legacy whitewashed to ignore everything he did in his later life – when he had power – when he refused to use it for good.

Elie Wiesel is the American response to the Holocaust. Melodramatic, full of tears and lamentation and yet completely missing the point. For those of us whose families were killed and who suffered in the Holocaust, it isn’t a mystery, it isn’t an event outside time, it is a reality. A bunch of racists, motivated by hate and racist incitement rounded up the targets of their hate, tortured them and murdered them. Far from being a unique event in history, it is one we see again, again, again and again. 10 million butchered by King Leopold in the Congo, the genocide of the Armenians in Turkey, massacres of Indians, Africans and Asians by European colonists, the genocide of the indigenous Americans, the Nakba, the Holocaust, the murderous slave trade that built modern-day America, the mass graves in Bosnia, ongoing persecution of the Roma – all of these have a common root – dehumanisation and supremacy. Instead, people like Wiesel want to take the Holocaust out of its context and that’s a shame. They vowed “never again,” so far, “again” has happened again and again and we have learned nothing.

My ancestors were lined up at the edge of a mass grave and shot. I don’t need a book to explain the Holocaust to me. When survivors wanted to speak out, at first, no one wanted to hear it – that’s common with trauma victims and underlies the great need to have substantive support networks for refugees, victims of war, torture and other traumas. Instead, the Holocaust has turned into a sacred event that we worship. It wasn’t. It was a real event, that happened to real people, who suffered – now people continue to suffer, and instead of fighting the suffering, and ending the suffering we fight ghosts.

Yes, Wiesel should be recognised for the trauma he endured, and for writing a book that at least dislodged the privileged collective into recognising at least one genocide but he does not get to be the human embodiment of the Holocaust nor do we owe a man who did demonstrably bad things for those things to be ignored.

On settlers

“When I travel on air planes, I make sure to stay in the toilet the whole time, that way it stays occupied” – Israeli settler

Israeli settlements on Palestinian land are a war crime. Even the United States, which has been abetting Israeli war crimes for 68 years, agrees. If you hear someone calling them “disputed” that would be Israel, and giving legitimacy to a thief trying to justify his theft is rather silly isn’t it? Therefore, American, European Jews who leave the safety and comfort of their homes in order to commit a war crime do so knowingly and willingly. The question is, do they bear any responsibility for this? I would say yes.

Do we not hold people responsible for trying to join various nasty organisations in Syria(“moderate” or not)? Did we not blow a collective gasket at the parents of a little kid that resulted in the shooting of a gorilla? Knowingly participating in a war crime is a criminal act, taking one’s children along is child abuse.

I feel horrible for the 13 year old killed, but if we want to prevent further incidents we have to look at the totality of the circumstances. We have American parents who knowingly took their family to one of the most violent and racist settlements in occupied Palestine. We have American parents whose reaction to the death of their daughter is calling for more settlement expansion. We have American parents who, if they put their daughter first and decided to stay in America or within the 48′ borders, would be sitting around the dinner table enjoying watching their daughter grow up. Instead we have a family who put their own racist hate, their own brainwashed ideas about God giving them the land of others above their precious child. Do they not bear responsibility for that?

No one is saying the teenager who stabbed her doesn’t bear any responsibility. But he’s dead, he can’t account to any mortal source anymore. We also have to note that Palestinians, whether guilty or not, are held responsible for any act of violence, often collectively(in violation of international law and basic human decency) and by the international community. On the other hand, daily acts of violence, sometimes resulting in death, but always resulting in oppression – either by settlers or by the state of Israel go unpunished and have been so for decades upon decades.

Of course, the ultimate fault lies with the Israeli government which encourages its civilian population to take the lead in colonising more of Palestine. It is the Israeli government which uses brainwashed settlers as human shields to take more Palestinian land, to justify more Palestinian oppression.

The response of the Israeli government and the family of the 13 year old settler was to build, build, build. The only thing they are doing is building more Palestinian and Jewish graves. Until the Israelis learn to love their children more than they hate Palestinians and covet their land, there will be no peace.

On BDS

“Boycotts are horrible, violent and evil. We must fight people not buying our stuff with missiles, because we want peace and missiles are a partner for peace. Did I mention that Israel invented cherry tomatoes?” – Interchangeable Israeli official.

BDS, or the boycott, divestment and sanctions movement is a tool, one that uses grassroots mobilisation to put pressure on the Israeli government to change its policies. Organisations and individuals that engage in BDS span the world and a world of political opinions. The idea that I, or anyone else, speaks for BDS is rather… silly. The thing all of us have in common is that we see that Israel is doing great harm to the Palestinian people, and to itself. If that makes us horrible people, well, then being a horrible person isn’t so bad.

On jingoistic patriotism

“I would write ‘USA! #1’ on the moon if I had money, but I can’t afford healthcare, my kids can’t afford college, I work 3 jobs to pay my ridiculous rent..thanks Obama!” – Real American.

If you believe, “my country right or wrong,” you are not a patriot. America is rotting because of impunity. America is rotting because it does not critically examine its faults. True patriots do that. If America is ever going to be great, then we have to acknowledge our wrongs and we have to fix them. No amount of flag waving and yelling “if you don’t like it, leave it” is going to fix an ever growing wealth gap, systemic racism, and lack of social structures to make people thrive. No amount of flag waving is going to bring back the millions of dead Iraqis killed because of illegal war and destabilisation. No amount of flag waving is going to make countries who hate us for absolutely legitimate reasons, like us. Until we acknowledge that we are a country built on colonial conquest, whose structures were constructed by black slaves, who fought to give women, people of colour, LGBT, religious minorities, the disabled, scraps of rights until people were willing to suffer and die for them – we will not be great, not even close.

On identity

Labelling people is just as stupid.

“I love Israel, but those damn Jews” – Zionist proverb.

So the people, most of who have the ridiculous (((echo))) tags around their name took great glee in speculating over my “Jewish name.” Ah, the irony of that. Seriously though, do y’all not realise that that’s sort of… antisemitic? Oh well, it’s to be expected from Zionists. A Zionist was the first person ever to tell me to “go jump in the ovens,” a Zionist was the first person ever to call me a “kike,” a Zionist was the first one to tell me that they wished Hitler had finished off my entire family so I couldn’t come into existence. Oh, and all this is usually followed up by calling me a traitor to the tribe, or a kapo, or some other lovely expletive.

Except no one asked me whether I belong to this tribe, want to belong to this tribe or what my responsibility to the tribe is.

Pardon my language but fuck your tribe. Fuck all tribes. We’re tearing each other apart based on tribalism and you want people to perpetuate this system? Fuck you.

Whether or not I identify as Jewish, or sort-of-Jewish, or Jewish..ish, or not Jewish is my business and mine alone. This practise of trying to spot the Jew or to try to purge the Jew from the Jewish collective is sick and needs to end. There is more than one way of being Jewish and not only should that be respected, it should be celebrated. There used to be hundreds of different Jewish cultures, rich in history, tradition and custom – I’m not willing to throw that away to maintain the supremacy of a supremacist state. The idea that Judaism or Jewish identity comes with support for a criminal apartheid state is as illegitimate as saying that Christianity comes with hate for LGBT, or Islam comes with support for ISIS.

As for me, I don’t follow Judaism, and yet, I refuse to reject my family history which does have Jewish roots. That is my right, and I owe nothing to a bunch of right-wing fascists who think they’re entitled to a colonial outpost in the Middle East. Reading some obligation or duty into my name or into my heritage, oh that’s rude…and it’s no better than the (((echo))) idiots.

Norm Finkelstein once wrote that Israel only understands force. An absolutely accurate assessment if you look at its behaviour. I’d add that while Israel only understands force, it also follows up by playing the victim. But Israel isn’t a victim. Israel isn’t a Holocaust survivor. Israel isn’t a persecuted Jew. Israel isn’t an innocent 13 year old. It is a militarised state with enough nuclear and conventional weapons to wipe out all life a few times over. It is a state that has been violating international law for 68 years. It is a state that only understands violence as do its supporters.

Oh and a big shout out to all y’all who have been really great throughout all this, y’all know who you are. You are awesome and I have all the love for you. And kittens of course.