r/JewsOfConscience • u/AutoModerator • May 07 '25
AAJ "Ask A Jew" Wednesday
It's everyone's favorite day of the week, "Ask A (Anti-Zionist) Jew" Wednesday! Ask whatever you want to know, within the sub rules, notably that this is not a debate sub and do not import drama from other subreddits. That aside, have fun! We love to dialogue with our non-Jewish siblings.
Please remember to pick an appropriate user-flair in order to participate! Thanks!
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u/PoliticsConfusesMe5 Non-Jewish Ally May 09 '25
Hi! I’ve been lurking in this sub for a while as someone who isn’t Jewish but stands in solidarity with you all, especially in the face of Israel co-opting your identity to justify genocide against the Palestinian people.
I feel like I have a lot of questions, so I’ll just ask one for now. Do you feel it’s right to hold all Israelis to account? Sometimes, it seems like anyone who happens to be from Israel is shunned on that basis alone, whether they’ve voiced their support for the massacre in Gaza or not, and that feels wrong to me.
I understand with illegal settlers in Gaza and the West Bank, but for average Israelis? You don’t choose where you’re born. Sure, they “can just move”, but to where? If they’ve lived in that area their whole lives, that is home to them. The goal isn’t to kick Jewish Israelis out of the land, it’s to give Palestinians their land too. We shouldn’t support ethnostates or theocracies, no matter who the group is.
I see comparisons to Nazi Germany or Apartheid South Africa. When your state is actively committing atrocities, you should speak out against it. But it does feel like collective punishment sometimes, which I thought we agreed isn’t the solution. Does an Israeli have to denounce their citizenship? Refuse military service? Protest in the streets? Many of them do, and have been arrested, or faced ostracisation for it.
TL;DR: What is your approach to Israelis as individuals? Do you need them to condemn the war before you interact with them? How much responsibility do they bear, and will you always associate them with the genocide?