I just read an article online which talked about how a lot of hatred and anti-semitic attacks are being targeted towards the Jewish community of Paris, France, and other European countries, due to Israel's destructive, inhumane war crimes happening in Gaza.
This really breaks my heart to see this. It really saddens me to see Jews in Europe being targeted for crimes that they did not commit in Gaza. I understand that a lot of Arabs and Muslims (I hate labeling, but this is where a lot of the confusion is occurring), equating all Jews as militiant zionists, which is a dangerous thing to do. It would be like equating all Muslims and Arabs as terrorists, which is also not true.
I call forth an end to the violence.
While I feel nervous about being a target for being Jewish, I can't let this stand in the way. I am proud of my heritage, culture and faith and I REFUSE to let anyone belittle me. Events like these are the REASONS why we need dialogue, and mobilize action to the governments, in order to stop the violence, which is a breeding ground for hatred in the other parts of the world. War has never benefitted humanity-- it has only created lies, hatred and rumors that are not true about the latter.
I may be a lone soldier on a battefield, but having confidence in myself makes me feel like a million soldiers.
I plan to go to a protest this weekend near my school. I am devising a poster that I am going to wear, that is entitled:
Two Peoples: One Heart: One Love: End the Violence in Gaza and Sderot.
There will be two hearts together, and in the middle there will be a fist interlocking both in solidarity. I understand that people may see it as weird that I am advocating for both sides, but I refuse to not turn my back on anyone. I am here for ALL people.
I refuse to see an injustice happen to a Jewish brethen over a crime that they did not do. The same for my Palestinian brethen in Gaza for crimes that they did not do.
Love and light
Stephanie :)
Article:
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/4142583/Gaza-killi...
Gaza killing sparks attacks on Jews across Europe
Israel's invasion of Gaza has provoked a surge in anti-Semitic violence across Europe with attacks on Jewish sites in France, Belgium and Britain.
By Henry Samuel in Paris
Last Updated: 5:09PM GMT 06 Jan 2009
In France, home to Europe's biggest Arab and Jewish populations, unidentified attackers rammed a car into the gate outside a synagogue in the southern city of Toulouse late on Monday and set it on fire with a petrol bomb.
No-one was hurt, but it has revived memories of a sharp upturn in anti-Semitic crimes in 2000, with the outbreak of the second intifada or Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation. In 2002, as fighting raged in the Middle East and Afghanistan prior to the allied invasion of Iraq, some 2,300 Jews left France for Israel because they felt unsafe.
Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said: "I am, in fact, worried by the international situation. My concern is that the situation should not degenerate in our country, that the violence not be imported."
President Nicolas Sarkozy, currently on a peace mission to the Middle East, condemned the synagogue attack.
In a statement issued by the Elysée, he said France would "not tolerate international tensions translating into violence between communities."
Leila Shahid, the Palestinian envoy to the European Union, said there was undoubtedly a link between the attack and fury among France's five million Muslims at "images from Gaza".
On Saturday, a pro-Palestinian demonstration turned violent, with a mob of around 500 protesters burning cars and looting a Paris jewellers.
France's Union of Jewish Students has recorded two attacks on kosher stores in Bordeaux, one on a Jewish apartment in Paris and another on a synagogue in Toulon since New Year's Eve.
"We insist the public authorities quickly investigate these warning signs of a new wave of anti-Semitic acts on our doorstep," said the Jewish community's Central Consistory.
Similar incidents have also been reported in Belgium, where a Molotov cocktail was thrown at a synagogue in Brussels on Monday.
No injuries were reported, but the building sustained damage.
Joods Actueel, a Jewish magazine, has received a dozen death threats including those by an anonymous man who threatened a suicide attack to "avenge the suffering of the Palestinians". A Jewish home was firebombed over the weekend.
In Britain, one Jewish charity, the Community Security Trust, or CST, has reported 24 anti-Semitic incidents in the past week; the most serious occurred on Saturday when three youths tried to set fire to Brondesbury Park Synagogue in northwest London. The CST said that the threat had increased after calls from Hamas leaders to attack Jewish people around the world
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5 comments:
Stephanie,
I know you are going to hate to hear this, but ZIONISM IS A HUGE REASON for these attacks of anti-Semitism. Zionism makes all Jews look bad. In the words of Mia Amir, a Canadian woman affiliated with Birthright Unplugged, “By calling itself a Jewish state and committing war crimes in the name of Jews everywhere, Israel makes the world even less safe for Jews, leading to an increase in animus towards Jewish people around the world.”
You try to make a distinction between “radical” and “moderate” Zionism, but in the eyes of everyone else in the world, Zionism is still racism, no matter how severe or benign the ideology. Being a Zionist still means associating yourself with a state that was founded on ethnic cleansing and land theft. Obviously, it's a little problematic to claim to support “both sides” when modern-day Israel exists on STOLEN INDIGENOUS LAND!
The Jews all over the world that are being admired and thanked by Arabs worldwide are the Jews who are making prominent anti-Zionist protests and separating themselves from Israel. I know how badly you want to believe your ancestors are innocent of everything, and I know these things are hard to think about because you were raised with these Zionist ideologies, benefiting from white privilege. Despite everything I say, this does not make you a bad person-- it just means you need a re-education. (I'm speaking as a white person who is continuously educating myself.)
Also, there's no reason you can't still be 100% proud of being Jewish, and also be anti-Zionist/anti-racist! (Look at our friends like Lizz, Matan, Lila!)
To read the rest of Mia Amir's statement, go here: http://aaron.resist.ca/node/235
We can also talk about this more when I come back to school, or I can give you more stuff to read in the meantime.
-Hannah
Hannah--
First, the Jewish people are from what is known as Israel/Palestine. They too are just as indigenous as the Palestinians.
If you think about it, the whole conflict is about brothers killing brothers-- it has been genetically proven that Palestinians and Jews are no different!
This is not Columbus comming to America. This is NOT the Chinese government invading Tibet, claiming that "we are liberating you from the past."
And the distinction that I am trying to make is that there are several different types of zionisms. The people that are in the government are committing the war crimes are the extremists.
The whole conflict is about extremists vs. extremists. And who has to pay the price? The civilians.
This is what we need to educate the world and realize that zionism is not black and white. Did you know that initially, zionism was based on socialistic and anarchist prinicples?
I am not justifying Israel's actions at all. I think that what they did was wrong and out of the blue. And this further stifled hope from Israel gaining diplomatic relations with other Arab and Muslims, neighbors, namely Syria.
However, I disagree with the actions that Hamas is doing as well. A friend of a friend
Things are not black and white. I may like Israel, but that does not that I approve of the occupation, war, siege, etc.
For the most part do not really give into nationalisms. All nationalism are a form of discrimination (inlcuding Palestinian as well). However, there are some good things in all nationalisms as well.
I love America, and I am damn proud to be American, and I support anyone that goes out of their to volunteer for the US. My brother is in Afghanistan, with no family or friends. He will always be my hero, since he decided to volunteer--give up his own FUCKING time to help others. I don't care what type of governemnt it is, the point of the fact is that my brother was giving up his time and energy with the intent to help others.
How about Bush supporters--> Are they all bad people? Probably not. The majority of them probably come from middle of nowhere Kansas, and have probably not even left the US. I am sure that they are good people. Now are they personally responsible for every war crime that Dick Cheney and Bush have done? Absolutley not!
I refuse to have to give into what is socially acceptable. I am sorry that you want to see things on black and white terms.
What all boils down to is that there is good and bad in everything. There is some good in zionism and some bad. What you saw on your trip in the West Bank where the religious extremists (whom EVERYONE hates and should be put in jail and face the prices against humanity).
I know who I am, and I am gonna be who I am. And I am not changing for anyone.
I am not here to have people tell me that I have to re-educate myself. I have a brain, a mind an intellect. I can rational. I am open to new things. But to tell me that I have no idea about what I am talking about, I have a problem with
Learn to have a heart and see the good in everyone, because everyone in my world is good. Yes, even the worst of the terrorists, for they have psychological problems, and have gone mad.
Same thing with extremists.
Also, when I say "I am here for both sides," --> I am here for the people on BOTH the Palestinian and Israeli sides who have been killed, injured, terroized or emotionally hurt from the violence. We need to be hear for everyone, regardless of what side they/we are on.
What you saw on your trip in the West Bank where the religious extremists (whom EVERYONE hates and should be put in jail and face the prices against humanity).
<--- What the FUCK is that supposed to mean??
...And this IS Columbus coming to America. Israel is my plymouth rock. Yes, Arabs and Safardic Jews are genetically brothers, but this is a case of COLONIZATION, pure and simple, and anyone would be blind not to see that.
P.S. Herzl was a monarchist. And you know that the Zionists were thinking of moving into Argentina or Kenya, right?
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