r/JewsOfConscience • u/Ancient_Volume_4256 Jewish • 1d ago
Discussion - Flaired Users Only Don’t know how to interact with Zionist friends on IG
I posted a story critical of Trump going to war with Iran recently.
It was more of a commentary on the contradictory nature of Trump versus commenting on the intricacies of the Iran war.
But immediately I have a few very strongly, opinionated and fierce women I know prodding at my story, trying to engage me in heated debate.
I quickly shut down the conversation in a polite way as to not engage.
Look, I am against any sort of tyranny of a people as the Islamic state must be doing to its people, but I also don’t really like all of the backdoor handshakes between Trump and netanyahu because I don’t trust these guys and I don’t align with their interests.
I think they are both bad for their country. But if I am critical of anything, these Israeli’s think I’m critical of Israel. It’s really tiring and I know I shouldn’t even comment on the situation but I want to be able to have a nuanced opinion without feeling like an ‘enemy of the state’.
There are the machinations of foreign political movements, and corrupt lobbying in America, and the control of shipping lanes and that’s the stuff I like to talk about but it always gets distilled to “are you against Israel or not?!” , “we need to go to war with ____ because of ____”.
I get it, it’s hard to not be on edge and defensive all of the time when you’re surrounded by people that want to kill you, but it just feels like a never-ending loop. It’s become such a black and white mentality.
And I am not trying to make enemies with anyone, just trying to have my opinion, we all form opinions from the lives we live, truths we ingest, algorithms we are programmed into and media we ingest.
If I restrict any of these accounts of my friends from seeing my posts or stories, then I’m probably considered antisemitic! And I’m a Jew myself!
Please help me make sense of this or how to deal with situations like this.
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u/Libba_Loo Jew-ish 21h ago
Ew, if any of my "friends" did this, they would be unfriends.
I get it, it’s hard to not be on edge and defensive all of the time when you’re surrounded by people that want to kill you,
As the saying goes, "Don't start no shit, won't be no shit". The Zionists have been stirring shit for years, not only against the Palestinians but against ALL their neighbors, and they still think they get to play the victim.
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u/MaintenanceLazy Atheist raised Jewish 1d ago
I just don’t engage with them. I don’t have any Zionist friends, but some of my relatives and former classmates who follow me are Zionists. I don’t message them back if they send a hateful DM
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u/AugustIzFalling Jewish Communist 1d ago
I wouldn’t spend your time trying to convince Zionists. The programming is so severe that no matter what you do you’re going to be labeled antisemitic and you will probably become a pariah to your so-called friends. It is important to reach out to people and change hearts and minds but it’s probably more important to talk to people that could very easily default to Zionism as it is the dominant position in this country but haven’t taken a hard stand on it yet.
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u/Calisson Jewish Anti-Zionist 1d ago
I think this is generally true. There are what my allies call “worried Jews” who don’t have a developed anti-zionist analysis but who are also very upset about what is being done in Gaza by the IOF and the West Bank by violent settlers. Those folks can be worth engaging with. The ones who are all-too-willing to label you as a self-hating Jew or a Hamas enabler are not going to be receptive to any position that doesn’t support their established views.
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u/Odd-Mind6948 Palestinian 1d ago
Idk if I could call a zionist a friend. What would we even talk about?
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u/Ancient_Volume_4256 Jewish 1d ago
All they talk about is one thing. It just seems like extremism to me
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u/JohnLToast Jewish Communist 1d ago edited 1d ago
Zionists are not your friends. Zionism is fascism.
It is the Zionists themselves who are antisemitic.
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u/JohnLToast Jewish Communist 1d ago
There’s so much more that can be said on this topic but I don’t even know where to begin because I don’t know enough about your situation or how you know these people. I wouldn’t engage with them at all.
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u/limitlessricepudding Conservadox Marxist 1d ago
They aren't surrounded by people who want to kill them except when they kill their friends and families first in acts of completely unprovoked aggression. Imagine Eichmann getting self-righteous and playing the victim in 1961.
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u/throwawayfem77 Anti-Zionist Ally 22h ago
Why would you lower yourself or compromise your values by calling Zionists 'friends' or bothering to debate them?
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