By Amanda Gelender, a Jewish anti-zionist writer from California based in The Netherlands, who has been part of the movement for a free Palestine since 2006.
“….to assuage the liberal sensibilities of your members, donors, families, and followers in a way that suits your philosophical debates, fragile egos, guilt, and comfort as well as the empty darkness of your own conceits.” DAAAAMN 👌🏻🔥
This piece is incredible. I've seen so many people who call themselves allies to Palestine condemn Hamas and not realize how they are passionately upholding white supremacy.
First, we need to break the Jewish supremacist narrative in the world. When people hear the word “Jews,” they start to tremble, afraid of being accused of antisemitism. When I see Germany bragging about its guilt for the Holocaust, while at the same time giving some “compensatory money” to Namibia last year, it feels disgusting. Not even a real apology.
When we read that Germany exterminated 25% of the Namibians and brought their sadistic soldiers to rape their women, with a plan to keep raping until the babies became white, we must pause. These actions make you realize that these perpetrators see Jewish victims as far more valuable than Namibians. Why don’t these Western nations feel guilt about the human zoos they created or about keeping the skeletons of their colonized peoples as decorations? They treat them as souvenirs! How many genocides did the British commit in India? How many did the French perpetrate in Africa?
The reason the terror state of Jewish supremacy has been committing these crimes for 76 years, while the world applauds them, is that we have all accepted the supremacist narrative that Jews are a “superior” people. I see these liberal Arabs and Muslims calling Hamas terrorists. Wait, what? You call yourself a peace activist while denying the right of people in a massive open-air prison to resist? To resist because the terror state controls how many calories your children can eat? Because you don’t have an airport to fly from or a port to sail to? Meanwhile, criminal thugs jews from around the world are living in your stolen homes, because god is a real estate agent giving them your land, stealing your resources, and enjoying your beautiful beaches, seas, and mountains—food, culture ?
So yes, until we break this supremacist narrative about the Jews, no peace will be reached in the world. Just to give you an example: before LinkedIn restricted my account permanently, one “Israeli” man was adored by pro-Palestinians; he was treated like a “messiah”. When I confronted him about the hypocrisy of being pro-Palestinian while living in a stolen Palestinian home, he called me an antisemite, even though I am the Semite in the story.
Have the courage to tell Jews that they have a problem with their supremacist narrative. Africans, Indians, and even white people suffer as much as they do, if not more.
"...when it counts." Your readers sense and share in the holy trembling which must have presaged the gorgeous sureness of your writing, and this humility assuages doubts while building courage in us all: to be in awe and in solidarity. All that is Palestine. All who resist out of Love. For movement to keep passing through this godawful shame and grief. (Thank you, Amanda. You're many things, and a galvanizing comfort is one of them.)
Thank you for this brilliant article that somewhat revives the hope of seeing humanity get rid of its dystopian and dissonant vision when it comes to the implantation in Palestine of an evil colonial outgrowth.
Thank you also for pointing out the problematic behaviour of the «Jews [so-called] anti-Zionists», whose at least ambiguous and timid attitude constitutes, in the end, support for the ignoble policies of the aberration that constitutes this evil entity ...
'You are fundamentally more comfortable displaying mangled and murdered Palestinian corpses than you are supporting Palestinians who take up arms to resist their genocidaires.'
It's hard not to notice that this quite accurately reflects the censorship policies of the major social media platforms as well, which, although they mostly suppress news from and about Gaza as a whole, are much more likely to permit images of Palestinians suffering and dying than images of Palestinians fighting back (for an example, go to basically any Electronic Intifada resistance report on YouTube and you'll hear Jon Elmer discussing the hoops they have to jump through in order to avoid getting taken down for showing resistance footage). Until whistleblowers with knowledge of the discussions of these policies come foward it's hard to know just how much thought went into these decisions, but one cannot help but observe that permitting images of Palestinian death whilst censoring images of Palestinian military success does help to paint the genocidal powers as all-powerful whilst disempowering the Palestinians and all those standing with them.
Thank you for your words. This is an important point and it’s getting drowned out. You can add Ireland to your list of oppressed & murdered who broke free by every and ANY means possible. No one is more legally and morally entitled to armed resistance than the Palestinian people.
While there are elements of this piece that I can agree with, I strenuously disagree with its central arguments. Most specifically, I disagree with the idea that criticism of pro-Palestine protestors is "throwing the resistance under the bus under the bus to assuage the liberal sensibilities of your members, donors, families, and followers in a way that suits your philosophical debates, fragile egos, guilt, and comfort as well as the empty darkness of your own conceits." People within the resistance disagree with one another, and when they do, these disagreements sometimes need to be aired. They need to be aired in ways that do not undermine the movement overall, but silencing dissent within the movement - or arguing that dissent is necesarily equivalent to "assuaging one's liberal sensibilities" - is simply a way of demanding silence in the face of both tactical and strategic errors as well as ethical missteps on the part of other factions. Insulting those who make such criticisms in this way is meant to shut down introspective tendencies within the movement, always in favor of those who prefer the most extreme actions. Let me say that there is a reason that police and intelligence units work to embed agent provocateurs into resistance movements, and it is because they seek to press organizations that into actions that will be counterproductive. Infiltrators often demand the "most radical" action on behalf of a cause lest one be a "liberal," yet the effectiveness of these police tactics relies on the fact that one can indeed take actions which push too hard and which are counter-productive. Demanding loyalty to the cause is a way of silencing those who might raise tactical and strategic concerns. In demanding unequivocal support for the "most radical" actions, the movement blinds itself to creative possibilities which might offer greater opportunities for success, even if they do not look "radical." I will not speak to the situation in Gaza or the West Bank, where people have a legal right to resist, but in the US, the forces of violence are so heavily weighted on the opposing side that it is clear that any efforts in that direction will not only be rapidly destroyed, but further used to justify greater repression against everyone. In the US - as in the West at large - the struggle must not follow the path of "left-wing adventurism," but must instead be waged as a struggle for ideological hegemony. This means that actions designed to win hearts and minds must be primary. If we wish to be successful in overturning student expulsions, or in obtaining the release of Mahmoud Khalil, we need more people power, and that means the actions we take need to be designed with the idea of winning people over. If we alone act only to "force the administration" to give in to our demands, we will lose - we do not have the power. If we act in concert with a far broader coalition, we may prevail. The strategy I am suggesting recognizes that we do not currently have the power to stop some of the actions that are being taken, just as we did not have the power to stop the brutal and ongoing devastation in Gaza, but it is the only way in which we might ultimately be successful. While the author claims that any failure to "support the resistance" is an act designed to sooth one's liberal conscience, it is in fact those who demand "radical" action who are soothing their consciences, pretending that they are ideological pure while others are not. This stance of moral purity is an illusion, and a dangerous one. It leads to counterproductive vanguardism while ignoring pathways to power which, while slow, stand a better chance of success. In short, while as an admin I approved this message and feel it is worthy of discussion, I strongly challenge the "moral righteousness" of this author as itself part of the problem, and disagree throughly with both its content and tone. Thank you for reading this extended comment. I know that by posting it here I am likely to find disagreement, which is fine.
Love this Amanda!!! So a question - some of my friends in Gaza speak negatively about the resistance and wish that they would go away “so that things will get better”. I’m not sure how to respond to them, so I don’t and just let them speak their minds. In my little silent head bubble, I think of the resistance in terms of Star Wars and how we applaud and root for the rebel alliance fighting the Empire and to me it feels this way. I don’t know their lived experience, but just wanted to point out that there are Palestinians who feel this way.
leaving aside the specifics of armed resistance and the argument of this piece, I think any of us outside Gaza it is a good impulse just to listen, to affirm your solidarity, and to ask in what practical ways you can be of assistance, regardless of what perspectives they may be sharing under unthinkable circumstances.
Another excellent piece from Amanda 🇵🇸✊🏽
“….to assuage the liberal sensibilities of your members, donors, families, and followers in a way that suits your philosophical debates, fragile egos, guilt, and comfort as well as the empty darkness of your own conceits.” DAAAAMN 👌🏻🔥
This piece is incredible. I've seen so many people who call themselves allies to Palestine condemn Hamas and not realize how they are passionately upholding white supremacy.
First, we need to break the Jewish supremacist narrative in the world. When people hear the word “Jews,” they start to tremble, afraid of being accused of antisemitism. When I see Germany bragging about its guilt for the Holocaust, while at the same time giving some “compensatory money” to Namibia last year, it feels disgusting. Not even a real apology.
When we read that Germany exterminated 25% of the Namibians and brought their sadistic soldiers to rape their women, with a plan to keep raping until the babies became white, we must pause. These actions make you realize that these perpetrators see Jewish victims as far more valuable than Namibians. Why don’t these Western nations feel guilt about the human zoos they created or about keeping the skeletons of their colonized peoples as decorations? They treat them as souvenirs! How many genocides did the British commit in India? How many did the French perpetrate in Africa?
The reason the terror state of Jewish supremacy has been committing these crimes for 76 years, while the world applauds them, is that we have all accepted the supremacist narrative that Jews are a “superior” people. I see these liberal Arabs and Muslims calling Hamas terrorists. Wait, what? You call yourself a peace activist while denying the right of people in a massive open-air prison to resist? To resist because the terror state controls how many calories your children can eat? Because you don’t have an airport to fly from or a port to sail to? Meanwhile, criminal thugs jews from around the world are living in your stolen homes, because god is a real estate agent giving them your land, stealing your resources, and enjoying your beautiful beaches, seas, and mountains—food, culture ?
So yes, until we break this supremacist narrative about the Jews, no peace will be reached in the world. Just to give you an example: before LinkedIn restricted my account permanently, one “Israeli” man was adored by pro-Palestinians; he was treated like a “messiah”. When I confronted him about the hypocrisy of being pro-Palestinian while living in a stolen Palestinian home, he called me an antisemite, even though I am the Semite in the story.
Have the courage to tell Jews that they have a problem with their supremacist narrative. Africans, Indians, and even white people suffer as much as they do, if not more.
Thank you for a great article ✌🏼🔻
Wow! What an *incredible* expression of solidarity for Palestinian armed resistance and disdain for Zionism. Thank you!
"...when it counts." Your readers sense and share in the holy trembling which must have presaged the gorgeous sureness of your writing, and this humility assuages doubts while building courage in us all: to be in awe and in solidarity. All that is Palestine. All who resist out of Love. For movement to keep passing through this godawful shame and grief. (Thank you, Amanda. You're many things, and a galvanizing comfort is one of them.)
Bravo!
Full power in your words 🔥
Absolutely brilliant
Simply put, this was brilliant! As always, I thank you for your voice.
Thank you for this brilliant article that somewhat revives the hope of seeing humanity get rid of its dystopian and dissonant vision when it comes to the implantation in Palestine of an evil colonial outgrowth.
Thank you also for pointing out the problematic behaviour of the «Jews [so-called] anti-Zionists», whose at least ambiguous and timid attitude constitutes, in the end, support for the ignoble policies of the aberration that constitutes this evil entity ...
'You are fundamentally more comfortable displaying mangled and murdered Palestinian corpses than you are supporting Palestinians who take up arms to resist their genocidaires.'
It's hard not to notice that this quite accurately reflects the censorship policies of the major social media platforms as well, which, although they mostly suppress news from and about Gaza as a whole, are much more likely to permit images of Palestinians suffering and dying than images of Palestinians fighting back (for an example, go to basically any Electronic Intifada resistance report on YouTube and you'll hear Jon Elmer discussing the hoops they have to jump through in order to avoid getting taken down for showing resistance footage). Until whistleblowers with knowledge of the discussions of these policies come foward it's hard to know just how much thought went into these decisions, but one cannot help but observe that permitting images of Palestinian death whilst censoring images of Palestinian military success does help to paint the genocidal powers as all-powerful whilst disempowering the Palestinians and all those standing with them.
Thank you for your words. This is an important point and it’s getting drowned out. You can add Ireland to your list of oppressed & murdered who broke free by every and ANY means possible. No one is more legally and morally entitled to armed resistance than the Palestinian people.
While there are elements of this piece that I can agree with, I strenuously disagree with its central arguments. Most specifically, I disagree with the idea that criticism of pro-Palestine protestors is "throwing the resistance under the bus under the bus to assuage the liberal sensibilities of your members, donors, families, and followers in a way that suits your philosophical debates, fragile egos, guilt, and comfort as well as the empty darkness of your own conceits." People within the resistance disagree with one another, and when they do, these disagreements sometimes need to be aired. They need to be aired in ways that do not undermine the movement overall, but silencing dissent within the movement - or arguing that dissent is necesarily equivalent to "assuaging one's liberal sensibilities" - is simply a way of demanding silence in the face of both tactical and strategic errors as well as ethical missteps on the part of other factions. Insulting those who make such criticisms in this way is meant to shut down introspective tendencies within the movement, always in favor of those who prefer the most extreme actions. Let me say that there is a reason that police and intelligence units work to embed agent provocateurs into resistance movements, and it is because they seek to press organizations that into actions that will be counterproductive. Infiltrators often demand the "most radical" action on behalf of a cause lest one be a "liberal," yet the effectiveness of these police tactics relies on the fact that one can indeed take actions which push too hard and which are counter-productive. Demanding loyalty to the cause is a way of silencing those who might raise tactical and strategic concerns. In demanding unequivocal support for the "most radical" actions, the movement blinds itself to creative possibilities which might offer greater opportunities for success, even if they do not look "radical." I will not speak to the situation in Gaza or the West Bank, where people have a legal right to resist, but in the US, the forces of violence are so heavily weighted on the opposing side that it is clear that any efforts in that direction will not only be rapidly destroyed, but further used to justify greater repression against everyone. In the US - as in the West at large - the struggle must not follow the path of "left-wing adventurism," but must instead be waged as a struggle for ideological hegemony. This means that actions designed to win hearts and minds must be primary. If we wish to be successful in overturning student expulsions, or in obtaining the release of Mahmoud Khalil, we need more people power, and that means the actions we take need to be designed with the idea of winning people over. If we alone act only to "force the administration" to give in to our demands, we will lose - we do not have the power. If we act in concert with a far broader coalition, we may prevail. The strategy I am suggesting recognizes that we do not currently have the power to stop some of the actions that are being taken, just as we did not have the power to stop the brutal and ongoing devastation in Gaza, but it is the only way in which we might ultimately be successful. While the author claims that any failure to "support the resistance" is an act designed to sooth one's liberal conscience, it is in fact those who demand "radical" action who are soothing their consciences, pretending that they are ideological pure while others are not. This stance of moral purity is an illusion, and a dangerous one. It leads to counterproductive vanguardism while ignoring pathways to power which, while slow, stand a better chance of success. In short, while as an admin I approved this message and feel it is worthy of discussion, I strongly challenge the "moral righteousness" of this author as itself part of the problem, and disagree throughly with both its content and tone. Thank you for reading this extended comment. I know that by posting it here I am likely to find disagreement, which is fine.
Love this Amanda!!! So a question - some of my friends in Gaza speak negatively about the resistance and wish that they would go away “so that things will get better”. I’m not sure how to respond to them, so I don’t and just let them speak their minds. In my little silent head bubble, I think of the resistance in terms of Star Wars and how we applaud and root for the rebel alliance fighting the Empire and to me it feels this way. I don’t know their lived experience, but just wanted to point out that there are Palestinians who feel this way.
leaving aside the specifics of armed resistance and the argument of this piece, I think any of us outside Gaza it is a good impulse just to listen, to affirm your solidarity, and to ask in what practical ways you can be of assistance, regardless of what perspectives they may be sharing under unthinkable circumstances.
Yep exactly, I just listen!