Thanks so much for reading Diana. I dream of a day when basic human decency is no longer considered radical, and I hope more Jews will choose to stop looking away and start speaking out against Israeli terrorism. Palestinians have endured so much pain and suffering, it’s unbelievable. The fact that Jews can continue to defend this shit is so sick
People like you give me hope, Han.. anyone that stays silent out of politeness, willful ignorance or some mistaken lofty principle is complicit and is providing political cover for the barbarians while they pull the trigger. Even if you raise your voice and only one person listens, you will have absolved yourself and chipped away at the decades long shield of lies and barbarity. I hear you, Han, and I love you for your courage ❤️
I applaud your ethics. It's not an easy thing to do, and yet, in some ways, I imagine it's been somewhat liberating.
In many ways, I believe that the atrocities committed by zionists toward ashkenazim (and later non-white jews) with the lie of zionism and the conflation of its racist tenets with the abrahamic religion of judaism itself is a crime.
As a Palestinian-American, I knew that religion was secondary to place, to origin, to shared culture. My Palestinian elders were christian and muslim, and their Palestinian neighbors were also jewish--Palestinian jewish. It made no difference, and that's how I grew up.
I also grew up around white jewish american people. Some would preach the usual zionist rhetoric about how they made our land bloom and that my people ate babies all the way to I don't exist (and some who were violent), and others (admittedly far fewer) who would become friends of my parents and we would be invited to celebrate jewish holidays with them.
That photo you posted of Golda Meir... I used to have nightmares about her. My Dad had one of her books, and I remember as a ten-year-old reading some of it, seeing the vitriolic racist hatred with which she wove her heinous lies, and I asked my Dad why he had the book. He said it's important to know how people think and what they stand for, and to observe--and critique--my own reaction, because it will help me, after examining it as objectively as possible, what is true and what is not.
I grew up being told not to conflate judaism with zionism. I believe that zionism is anti-jewish. I find it very difficult, however, to relate to white/ashkenazi jews. Mizrahi have a shared culture, place, and skin. Their judaism is different, if that makes any sense. Even those who've assimilated (or were forced through propaganda and manipulation) and have a history of being "tricked" into moving to Israel (I take this from eyewitness accounts of those still alive to tell their story, from mizrahi historians who lived this, and who can describe how this exodus was forced by israel), leaving their culture and people and arriving in a white-dominated place (and the rude awakening once they arrived, including being hosed down like animals before they were even allowed to enter), they have a different perspective. But, like many second-class citizens in an oppressive atmosphere, most assimilated with a vengeance, showing just how much they wanted to be ashkenazim.
Zionism wasn't constructed for people of color. It was constructed by white secular jews for white secular jews (or "religious" jews who were all too willing to pervert doctrine to meet the needs of the constructed narrative). Which means, when you take off the religious layer, it's just one more white settler-colonial project. Unlike white settler-colonialists who decimated north america under the pretext of seeking a safe haven from religious persecution, they didn't make up a convincing enough lie. Ah, progress!
Halafi, thanks so much for your testimony. I wanted to make sure I had time to sit down and give it my full attention before responding. I'm so sorry for everything you've gone through and how traumatic it must've been to read that book. I haven't read any of Golda's literature but I'm sure its full of horrifying, disgusting, dehumanizing lies. I'm so glad shes dead, what a truly heinous person she was. the fact that her words and sentiments are still being repeated to this day and used to justify such evil acts of terrorism and violence is utterly revolting.
you are such a wise, emotionally mature person and I envy you man. I think part of the reason why I'm unable to separate let alone distinguish Zionism from judaism is because I truly know very little about the religion APART from Zionism. like of course I know about the Holocaust and the high holy days but beyond that, I really couldn't tell you much about what it meant to be jewish prior to the illegal occupation of Palestine.
if you were to ask me what Judaism stood for I wouldn't know, beyond Zionist propaganda. I guess I need to do more research on what Mizrahi Jews believe as well as more research on how Ashkenazi Judaism came to be prior to 1948.
I am not surprised at all about the racism Mizrahi Jews faced when being forced to assimilate. I think another reason birthright pushes finding a partner so much is so that mizrahi jews will have children with ashkenazi Jews and the white Jews will justify their colonialism by claiming middle eastern ancestry that way. I think a lot of ashkenazi Jews live in denial about being white even when they find out where they're actually from, which is why they try to pretend Judaism is a race and not a religion. the entire world is watching israels war crimes and genocide in real time, and the Jewish religion will never be looked at the same way ever again. and its about time the truth came out.
Now we know why Biden who fell under Golda's lying spell and turned zionist which he admitted to, and supported Usraek's genocide unconditionally when he could have stopped it immediately by not supplying the tons of monstrous bombs but, no, he continued to send them as the deaths piled up, the injured increased and displacement followed displacement - that in itself was ayet another cruel form of torture.
There was a time when I had so much sympathy for Israeli's that I started researching their past, that's when I discovered that most of them had, nor have, any past heritage to the area they claim as their homeland. That so often their own expantionist actions caused their being kicked out of several Middle East countries the European ones, also their love of money, I suppose harks back to being money lenders in the temples kicked out there by Jesus. It's a neverending attitude which is always turned into victimhood.
The other thing about Jewish people that surprises me is their need to tell on first meetings that they are Jews, why? Is it to set off the sympathy gene in others by, you know; "don't upset me" or "be nice to me" I'm a poor victimised Jew? I Don't know any other religion whose people, except maybe "born agains" who feel the need to point out their religion on a first meeting, I certainly never have.
Last year (before 7 Oct), I met an Iraqi Jewish family in London. Their matriarch was 96 years old and very vibrant and present for her age. She insisted that she was Iraqi first and foremost and then Jewish and by force Israeli. In 1952, she was a young woman and along with her family, was forced out of Baghdad by the Zionists who had conspired with the Arab nationalists to kick the centuries old Iraqi Jews out of their homeland and to a fabricated land called Israel. She testified that they were sprayed with DDT upon arrival in Israel and had to sleep in tents. That they were second class citizens and she never felt Israeli, always Iraqi. Her Iraqi dialect was flawless as she refused to learn Hebrew and instead relocated to London with her late husband (she came from a line of prominent merchants and government officials in Baghdad and had to start all over again in exile - Israel and then London). All along, she said that her experience living in Baghdad and that of her ancestors was that they were well assimilated even though they were a minority and their Muslim and Christian neighbours and friends were more dear to them than family. She corroborated what Avi Shlaim recounted in his book. She and her children and grandchildren confirmed that Ashkenazi Jews were racist to the core and that that had been their experience since they set foot in Israel right after its creation. This family’s mannerisms were fully Iraqi and you could not tell them apart from any other Iraqi (although they spoke with an older Baghdadi dialect .. the food they served me was typical Baghdadi cuisine and their hospitality was second to none). They were ashamed of what their fellow Jews did in their name (the matriarch was a communist in her youth and her children were atheist and didn’t consider their ethnicity to be Jewish but Iraqi Arabs). On the other hand, I’ve met so many secular blue-eyed Jews from Eastern Europe who consider themselves to be descendants of Abraham (and all the Old Testament mumbo jumbo) that they seem to constitute the majority.. the secular European Jews have managed in only 2.5 generations to ethnically cleanse not only Arabs but Jewish Arabs as well (or at least absorb them into their supremacist project).
Oh, Diana. Thank you for sharing this. It brings tears and heartache to me, even though I know these stories exist, seeing each one brings me... I don't know how to describe it.
I feel the same way.. I cried tears of joy and sadness when I met that Iraqi Jewish woman as she cried over the extermination of a life that her and her ancestors enjoyed for generations.. (she showed me her one way travel card to Cyprus issued by Iraqi gov at the time along with a photo album of her life in Baghdad).. even at her advanced age, she never stopping mourning the loss, like Palestinians..
I find All these stories coming from the period “when an empire collapses”, as happened to the Ottoman Empire who ruled Palestine & Iraq for the 400 years (up to 20 generations) before WW1, interesting & fascinating, both the personal experience as well the historical significance. I’ve read similar heartfelt stories arising from the chaos when the British empire collapsed & the chaos in India, Kenya, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. that relates to minorities, new social contracts, changing social dynamics, etc, all within a regional & global context of the times.
I’ve been to towns in Iraq where the local citizens still maintain Jewish synagogues and cemeteries. And they immaculate. Even though the Iraqi Jews are long gone. How can this happen if Jews weren’t accepted in Iraqi society?
It’s remarkable that you have escaped this mindfuck called Israel/Judaism/zionism.. a testament to your humanity and strength of character because you are right; it is a cult (a vengeful death cult for that matter). We need more voices like yours. Thank you for sharing your humanity with us. You are not alone as most decent humans on earth share your sentiments and morality.
Dude, we bombed Germany into the Stone Age to save YOUR antecedents from the Nazi ovens; otherwise, you probably wouldn't be writing this now. My late Dad helped liberate them (MIA 1945). And we're not even Jewish. So, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that a) this article is AI generated on behalf of Hamas, or b) you're terminally ill with the woke mind-virus. It takes no courage to rebel against family upbringing and religious constraints (we all do it) but only a true coward perverts historical fact to gain the attention of like-minded idiots. And being gay, as you claim to be (ticks all the woke boxes), how long might you survive in any Muslim-ruled country, especially Gaza? As your response to other comments confirms, you haven't read any of Golda's writings and know relatively little about anything related to the Jewish state and its genesis. Maybe less time on Instagram and TikTok and more time actually reading history and listening to your elders?
Han, you have said everything that needs to be said right here. You are brave and fierce and truthful. Thank you for writing this. I will be sharing it far and wide. ❤️ Free Palestine 🇵🇸
Thanks so much for reading, Gina! I really appreciate it. I dream of a day when basic human decency is no longer considered radical. Genocide will never be okay, no matter what. From the river to the sea, Free Palestine <3
I admire you enormously for this piece and acknowledge it must have been a bitter pill to swallow to learn the history you were denied and the chasm created by the position you’ve taken within your own family and friend relationships. I can only wish that more young Israelis eventually learn and accept the truth. I know there are more like you, but it will take generations, if at all.
I look daily at what is going on with the full complicity of institutions we should be able to trust, and I feel like I am going mad.
I really hope so. The carefully curated manipulation of Israels public perception is finally being exposed, and I imagine gen alpha/ younger gen z will have more access to the truth than me and my peers did. it wasnt until last year that footage of Gaza was accessible on snapchat and TikTok and people could see for themselves what was really going on. Ultimately I hope more people will lift the proverbial veil from their eyes and run towards the truth instead of hiding from it. I think the hardest thing for me to reconcile with is wondering how many of my teachers knew if what they were telling us about Israel was bullshit. Maybe they were counting on us never finding out, maybe they were just repeating what they had been told. I guess I'll never know.
You're absolutely right, and shame on them for doing so. I don't understand how they can live with themselves. I'll never see Judaism the same way ever again, and I think most people won't. For that I am grateful, there are no words that can suffice for the war crimes, atrocities and genocides committed against the Palestinians the last 75+ years. Anyone who can defend such horrific violence is not a good person, no matter what they tell themselves.
This was very moving. I personally do not feel that I can divorce myself from my Jewishness, but I strongly denounce Zionism in every way. Zionists say that having a Jewish state gives them safety, but I say when that state is based on apartheid and genocide, you are creating an excellent excuse for antisemitism and the opposite of safety. Everything about Israel is wrong, and it needs to end.
Thanks for reading, Brucker. And thanks for opposing Israel and genocide, and actively voicing such an unpopular opinion within the Jewish community. Because my whole Jewish experience has been Zionist propaganda I would like to hear from you: what does Judaism look like to you without Zionism?
I don't know how to answer that, really. I remember as a child it was dogma that Jews support Israel, but the more I learned about Israel and its parasitic relationship to Palestine, the less it made sense to me. Really, I have never needed Israel, and neither does the rest of the world. Jews existed for nearly two millennia without Israel, so clearly it is not necessary.
Zion is mentioned 152 times in the Torah, Jerusalem about 700 times. Then there’s the practice of praying facing Jerusalem. As well as breaking glass at weddings to remember the destruction of the temple.
Holidays on the Jewish calendar are based on the agricultural cycles of Israel. The concept of an ancestral homeland, Jews having self determination in Eretz Yisrael, and living there freely and openly as Jews, are integral parts of Judaism going back a millennia. The Shema and most of Jewish songs and prayers make a reference to Israel long before it became what it is today.
I view Zionism as an integral part of Judaism because even prior to the occupation of an established Jewish homeland the Torah posits that was the hope, that was the goal.
Because there were Jews living in harmony with christian’s and Muslims prior to the nakba, it can be said that many Jews believed it didn’t have to become a strictly, or even predominantly Jewish homeland. And I think that after 1948 that’s when Zionism really took hold and Judaism devolved into what we know today, which is something completely different.
I don’t think all aspects of the Jewish religion itself are necessarily bad, and the sense of belonging and community can be really beautiful. I like that the Jewish religion doesn’t require believing in god and is accepting of gay and trans people. But I don’t think I’ll ever be able to see it the same way ever again, knowing what I know now.
Yeah, you make some good points. However, things like the Shema were supposedly written before "Israel" was ever a country. I think of these things as being directed at the religious group rather than a country. Definitely there are far too many Zionists withon the group, religious or ethnic. (I think it's ridiculous that atheist Jews are Zionists, but clearly none of this has to make sense.)
Judaism is an ethnicity. In fact, Jews were an ethnic group *before* the religion came into being. I identify ethnically with Jews because I was born to Jewish parents, but I reject Zionism.
No it’s a religion and one with bad tenants. Saying Judaism is an ethnicity is as nonsensical as saying Christianity is an ethnicity. Do better and reclaim your humanity by leaving the cult like this author has done.
No, it's entirely different. Christianity started among Jews, but quickly spread throughout the Roman Empire and beyond, because its adherents believe it should be spread to all people. Judaism, on the other hand, is pretty much just handed down to children. As I said already, Jews were an ethnic group before the religion was founded, whether you accept the Biblical record (which suggests Jews were the descendants of 70 people who migrated to Egypt before the Law was given to Moses) or the anthropological perspective (which suggests Jews were a Semitic people who were polytheistic before their priests codified monotheism in what is now Judaism).
Bullshit, the genetic relationship between Ashkenazi Jews and Ethiopian Jews is negligible. Get over your racial supremacist child murdering death cult, and join the rest of humanity.
I have more in common with Ethiopian Jews than Ethiopian non-Jews because we share more DNA. We also believe in the Hebrew scripture. Culturally, I may have more in common with Coptic Ethiopians, since my practiced religion is Christianity, but I honestly don't know much about the Coptic church. I know their Bible doesn't look like the Protestant Bible, so there may be significant differences.
So you are literally a racist who think you belong to a race of “chosen people?” Do better! A religion is not a race that is a fundamental category error.
Of course we're all related, although I think you have to go back a lot further than 3,000 years; it's more like 300,000 years, I think.
My ancestors were not from Poland, they came from Austria to the US in the late 19th century.
Of course Jews all over the world have interbred with people from the places they settled. While I have more DNA in common with Ethiopian Jews than non-Jews from Ethiopia, those Ethiopian Jews probably have more in common with other Ethiopians than they do with me. That's part of the reason that Israeli Jews are disgusting; they consider themselves to be *real* Jews when they're more European than anything, and they look down on non-white Jews. After the settler colony of Israel was established, actual Jews from Ethiopia came to settle there. The Israeli Jews sterilized them against their will.
That's the bitter irony of Israel: they're the descendants of people who white supremacists tried to kill off, so they started their own country where *they* could be white supremacists.
I've read it til the end. Thank you for being loyal to your own humanity and sanity Han. I have come across so many real human like you. I'm glad you can survived the crazy brainwashing. I just say you are liberated from the cult brainwashing. Yup. It is a cult. Blindly believe in something without using your own critical thinking = cultish mindset.
I completely agree and none of them can pretend like they have no idea what's going on because the truth is everywhere and the whole world is watching. the Jews can close their eyes and ears and further entrench themselves in denial, racism and settler-colonialist apologia if they choose, but they will be remembered for their crimes against humanity and yet ANOTHER genocide of the innocent Palestinian people. times are different now. no one can claim this is about antisemitism. there is absolutely ZERO excuse for what Israel is doing and the jewish people should be completely fucking ashamed of themselves. their moral corruption knows no bounds.
Yep, that is so true Toma. And sadly I think even if most of my family members knew the truth they would still be indifferent to human suffering. It makes a lot of sense why my childhood was so traumatic now and why it was so easy for my relatives to turn a blind eye, just as they’re doing now. Pathetic honestly
We did choose our family. What often is the biggest influence on earth isn’t an accident. But we are sent to be truth tellers and to help things heal and be better and more wise than those that preceded us. This is how the cycle of abuse is supposed to be broken...
And the “gene theory “ aka bs remover of freedom to choose was disproven decades ago. Big money maker for big farma though which why it persists. We each are born free.
Thank you for sharing this. I have read so much about this subject during these last 14 months but every time I find a text like this it gives me hope for a better future.
Absolutely, Lidija. Thanks for being here (: I do think the future will look different as no one in good conscience can continue to deny and defend the genocide being shown to the world. I think at very least we can expect less people to be raising their kids Jewish and more people leaving the religion, even if they’re not ready to talk about it yet.
Thank you so much for your comment Re, that means alot. I feel like finding out the truth about my ancestry is probably similar to how people feel when they find out they were adopted.. disappointed I was lied to, definitely immense confusion cause I have curly hair and green eyes, and I tan easily but besides that I don't look middle eastern. And neither did most Jews in Hebrew school. But ultimately I do feel liberated, and I feel a responsibility to share the truth and spread awareness. That's what writers are supposed to do. I feel angry at my Hebrew school teachers for continuing to perpetuate lies and racism at the expense of innocent genocide victims. And in a strange way, I feel kind of validated.. my mother was so abusive growing up and my family members all preached poisonous pedagogy, that I should love her no matter what and blamed me for her actions. Honor your parents is one of the 10 commandments so seeing the world agree that yes, the Jewish religion DOES encourage victim blaming, justifies lies violence and abuse and then acts like it's okay.. in a way it feels like I'm finally being heard. There's so much generational trauma in Judaism and I rarely see it talked about. My aunts and uncles all gaslit me and did nothing, and realizing that these behaviors are a part of Jewish culture makes me feel somewhat reassured.
Yes. Bollocks to the whole Jewish thing. It's aassove crock of shite. I'm not so sure it's so easy this just declare yourself non Jewish but good luck trying. Notice there is still a demon in there. Always watch it and maybe you can be non Jewish.
I definitely understand where you're coming from and I think some Jews will denounce their Judaism now for no reason other than the fact that its become extremely unpopular to be Jewish, and not because they actually give a shit about the ethnic cleansing theyre doing or the racism they've ignored and actively taken part in throughout their whole lives.
I believe everyone has good and evil within them but a truly good person will actively fight against it and always stand up for what is right, even and ESPECIALLY when its unpopular to do so.
“Everything was in Hebrew, and although we learned to write it and a few basic words, most of us couldn’t speak it fluently let alone understand almost any of it. Judaism is unique in that sense.”
It may surprise you then, that tens of millions of non-Arabic-speaking Muslims around the world have been praying in the classical Arabic language they don’t understand for at least a thousand years now. Thus, Judaism is not unique in that sense.
My mother’s family were all Jews, but in no way observant. In fact, all my mother’s aunts married Italians and had Christmas parties each year. Nevertheless, they were every bit as Zionist as your family. I had been proud of having their blood in my veins until this past year. I now wish I could rinse that demon bloodline away.
Thanks Han, I can highly recommend reading up on Abigail Abarbanel she is a bit further down the road from you leaving Israel when she was young and has some very revealing insights into the Israel Cult that tried to indoctrinate her as well.
Han - this is immensely powerful convincing writing, I assume somewhat cathartic for you, not to mention difficult when one has to self-de-cultify such as what you have described. Kudos! Ari Goldberg and Alon Mizrahi are somewhat similar to your story. The late great Bobby Fischer is another one - who - amongst all of them (assuming he was jewish; he wrote a letter once saying he was not) - broke entirely free and not just renounced his religion but denounced it!
That said, your reference to ancestral misery - what you term "generational trauma" is somewhat difficult to appreciate from the outside and mostly strikes one as collectively delusional. OTOH, most of us can easily see the overtones of visible narcissism - which also you refer to -from Israelis and Jews today - thanks to their own self-pity videos and constant imaginary allusions to anti-semitism.
Finally, jews successfully deprogramming themselves is rare and strenuous - one has to get out of the "chosen race" mindset; it's analogous to a Brahmin (India's caste system?) seeking to break free of his/her belief they are the "most superior caste among them all". Finding an Brahmin ready to shed that belief - at least as it comes to human dignity and humanness - through a rational thoughtful intentional process is perhaps even rarer than what you've done. So again, hats off to you. Bravo.
I want to be clear here, I am not a Holocaust denier whatsoever. Nor do I want to be mistaken for one or associated with Holocaust denial. The website you shared is rife with transphobia and conspiracy theories, and has nothing to do with my article. It is true that the establishment of Israel was created largely in part by weaponizing the Holocaust- but it very much happened, as did Nazi Germany. It can also be said that the term antisemitism has been rebranded and used as a defense of Zionism, as true antisemitism is rare nowadays. But I'm a communist, and I will not be following you down your far right fascist pipeline.
Great article, but I hope you continue your search for truth.
October 7 was an inside job, and there was NO Holocaust.
As a Jew myself, it was an incredibly large pill to swallow, but I found the courage to examine this subject…
As you know, most Jews are not religious; our actual religion has two components: Holocaust and Israel.
We have a long tradition of being persecuted, hence, the Victimology aspect.
But how much of our “history” is objectively accurate?
Whether it be the 2020 election, 9-11, the JFK assassination or the Plandemic,
truth seekers have used their investigative skills to penetrate through the disinformation/propaganda to obtain the actual facts.
In accepting that the “News is fake” or
“history is written by the victors” and objecting to “the science is settled,” we have asserted our intellectual independence.
Nobody wants to be called an ignorant sheep.
If you challenge “Climate Change”, you are labeled a “denier” or a “conspiracy theorist” to marginalize your argument.
Similarly, if you question the “Holocaust,”
you are also labeled a “denier.”
Should all topics be subjected to our scrutiny, or should some be taboo?
This is the argument, but it almost always falls on deaf ears.
Not only Jews, but most people are unwilling to seriously reexamine their worldview. The intellectual effort along with the inevitable discomfort of dissenting views are huge roadblocks.
“‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.’”
Thanks so much for reading Diana. I dream of a day when basic human decency is no longer considered radical, and I hope more Jews will choose to stop looking away and start speaking out against Israeli terrorism. Palestinians have endured so much pain and suffering, it’s unbelievable. The fact that Jews can continue to defend this shit is so sick
People like you give me hope, Han.. anyone that stays silent out of politeness, willful ignorance or some mistaken lofty principle is complicit and is providing political cover for the barbarians while they pull the trigger. Even if you raise your voice and only one person listens, you will have absolved yourself and chipped away at the decades long shield of lies and barbarity. I hear you, Han, and I love you for your courage ❤️
I applaud your ethics. It's not an easy thing to do, and yet, in some ways, I imagine it's been somewhat liberating.
In many ways, I believe that the atrocities committed by zionists toward ashkenazim (and later non-white jews) with the lie of zionism and the conflation of its racist tenets with the abrahamic religion of judaism itself is a crime.
As a Palestinian-American, I knew that religion was secondary to place, to origin, to shared culture. My Palestinian elders were christian and muslim, and their Palestinian neighbors were also jewish--Palestinian jewish. It made no difference, and that's how I grew up.
I also grew up around white jewish american people. Some would preach the usual zionist rhetoric about how they made our land bloom and that my people ate babies all the way to I don't exist (and some who were violent), and others (admittedly far fewer) who would become friends of my parents and we would be invited to celebrate jewish holidays with them.
That photo you posted of Golda Meir... I used to have nightmares about her. My Dad had one of her books, and I remember as a ten-year-old reading some of it, seeing the vitriolic racist hatred with which she wove her heinous lies, and I asked my Dad why he had the book. He said it's important to know how people think and what they stand for, and to observe--and critique--my own reaction, because it will help me, after examining it as objectively as possible, what is true and what is not.
I grew up being told not to conflate judaism with zionism. I believe that zionism is anti-jewish. I find it very difficult, however, to relate to white/ashkenazi jews. Mizrahi have a shared culture, place, and skin. Their judaism is different, if that makes any sense. Even those who've assimilated (or were forced through propaganda and manipulation) and have a history of being "tricked" into moving to Israel (I take this from eyewitness accounts of those still alive to tell their story, from mizrahi historians who lived this, and who can describe how this exodus was forced by israel), leaving their culture and people and arriving in a white-dominated place (and the rude awakening once they arrived, including being hosed down like animals before they were even allowed to enter), they have a different perspective. But, like many second-class citizens in an oppressive atmosphere, most assimilated with a vengeance, showing just how much they wanted to be ashkenazim.
Zionism wasn't constructed for people of color. It was constructed by white secular jews for white secular jews (or "religious" jews who were all too willing to pervert doctrine to meet the needs of the constructed narrative). Which means, when you take off the religious layer, it's just one more white settler-colonial project. Unlike white settler-colonialists who decimated north america under the pretext of seeking a safe haven from religious persecution, they didn't make up a convincing enough lie. Ah, progress!
Halafi, thanks so much for your testimony. I wanted to make sure I had time to sit down and give it my full attention before responding. I'm so sorry for everything you've gone through and how traumatic it must've been to read that book. I haven't read any of Golda's literature but I'm sure its full of horrifying, disgusting, dehumanizing lies. I'm so glad shes dead, what a truly heinous person she was. the fact that her words and sentiments are still being repeated to this day and used to justify such evil acts of terrorism and violence is utterly revolting.
you are such a wise, emotionally mature person and I envy you man. I think part of the reason why I'm unable to separate let alone distinguish Zionism from judaism is because I truly know very little about the religion APART from Zionism. like of course I know about the Holocaust and the high holy days but beyond that, I really couldn't tell you much about what it meant to be jewish prior to the illegal occupation of Palestine.
if you were to ask me what Judaism stood for I wouldn't know, beyond Zionist propaganda. I guess I need to do more research on what Mizrahi Jews believe as well as more research on how Ashkenazi Judaism came to be prior to 1948.
I am not surprised at all about the racism Mizrahi Jews faced when being forced to assimilate. I think another reason birthright pushes finding a partner so much is so that mizrahi jews will have children with ashkenazi Jews and the white Jews will justify their colonialism by claiming middle eastern ancestry that way. I think a lot of ashkenazi Jews live in denial about being white even when they find out where they're actually from, which is why they try to pretend Judaism is a race and not a religion. the entire world is watching israels war crimes and genocide in real time, and the Jewish religion will never be looked at the same way ever again. and its about time the truth came out.
Now we know why Biden who fell under Golda's lying spell and turned zionist which he admitted to, and supported Usraek's genocide unconditionally when he could have stopped it immediately by not supplying the tons of monstrous bombs but, no, he continued to send them as the deaths piled up, the injured increased and displacement followed displacement - that in itself was ayet another cruel form of torture.
There was a time when I had so much sympathy for Israeli's that I started researching their past, that's when I discovered that most of them had, nor have, any past heritage to the area they claim as their homeland. That so often their own expantionist actions caused their being kicked out of several Middle East countries the European ones, also their love of money, I suppose harks back to being money lenders in the temples kicked out there by Jesus. It's a neverending attitude which is always turned into victimhood.
The other thing about Jewish people that surprises me is their need to tell on first meetings that they are Jews, why? Is it to set off the sympathy gene in others by, you know; "don't upset me" or "be nice to me" I'm a poor victimised Jew? I Don't know any other religion whose people, except maybe "born agains" who feel the need to point out their religion on a first meeting, I certainly never have.
Last year (before 7 Oct), I met an Iraqi Jewish family in London. Their matriarch was 96 years old and very vibrant and present for her age. She insisted that she was Iraqi first and foremost and then Jewish and by force Israeli. In 1952, she was a young woman and along with her family, was forced out of Baghdad by the Zionists who had conspired with the Arab nationalists to kick the centuries old Iraqi Jews out of their homeland and to a fabricated land called Israel. She testified that they were sprayed with DDT upon arrival in Israel and had to sleep in tents. That they were second class citizens and she never felt Israeli, always Iraqi. Her Iraqi dialect was flawless as she refused to learn Hebrew and instead relocated to London with her late husband (she came from a line of prominent merchants and government officials in Baghdad and had to start all over again in exile - Israel and then London). All along, she said that her experience living in Baghdad and that of her ancestors was that they were well assimilated even though they were a minority and their Muslim and Christian neighbours and friends were more dear to them than family. She corroborated what Avi Shlaim recounted in his book. She and her children and grandchildren confirmed that Ashkenazi Jews were racist to the core and that that had been their experience since they set foot in Israel right after its creation. This family’s mannerisms were fully Iraqi and you could not tell them apart from any other Iraqi (although they spoke with an older Baghdadi dialect .. the food they served me was typical Baghdadi cuisine and their hospitality was second to none). They were ashamed of what their fellow Jews did in their name (the matriarch was a communist in her youth and her children were atheist and didn’t consider their ethnicity to be Jewish but Iraqi Arabs). On the other hand, I’ve met so many secular blue-eyed Jews from Eastern Europe who consider themselves to be descendants of Abraham (and all the Old Testament mumbo jumbo) that they seem to constitute the majority.. the secular European Jews have managed in only 2.5 generations to ethnically cleanse not only Arabs but Jewish Arabs as well (or at least absorb them into their supremacist project).
Oh, Diana. Thank you for sharing this. It brings tears and heartache to me, even though I know these stories exist, seeing each one brings me... I don't know how to describe it.
I feel the same way.. I cried tears of joy and sadness when I met that Iraqi Jewish woman as she cried over the extermination of a life that her and her ancestors enjoyed for generations.. (she showed me her one way travel card to Cyprus issued by Iraqi gov at the time along with a photo album of her life in Baghdad).. even at her advanced age, she never stopping mourning the loss, like Palestinians..
I find All these stories coming from the period “when an empire collapses”, as happened to the Ottoman Empire who ruled Palestine & Iraq for the 400 years (up to 20 generations) before WW1, interesting & fascinating, both the personal experience as well the historical significance. I’ve read similar heartfelt stories arising from the chaos when the British empire collapsed & the chaos in India, Kenya, Pakistan, Bangladesh, etc. that relates to minorities, new social contracts, changing social dynamics, etc, all within a regional & global context of the times.
I’ve been to towns in Iraq where the local citizens still maintain Jewish synagogues and cemeteries. And they immaculate. Even though the Iraqi Jews are long gone. How can this happen if Jews weren’t accepted in Iraqi society?
It’s remarkable that you have escaped this mindfuck called Israel/Judaism/zionism.. a testament to your humanity and strength of character because you are right; it is a cult (a vengeful death cult for that matter). We need more voices like yours. Thank you for sharing your humanity with us. You are not alone as most decent humans on earth share your sentiments and morality.
Dude, we bombed Germany into the Stone Age to save YOUR antecedents from the Nazi ovens; otherwise, you probably wouldn't be writing this now. My late Dad helped liberate them (MIA 1945). And we're not even Jewish. So, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and assume that a) this article is AI generated on behalf of Hamas, or b) you're terminally ill with the woke mind-virus. It takes no courage to rebel against family upbringing and religious constraints (we all do it) but only a true coward perverts historical fact to gain the attention of like-minded idiots. And being gay, as you claim to be (ticks all the woke boxes), how long might you survive in any Muslim-ruled country, especially Gaza? As your response to other comments confirms, you haven't read any of Golda's writings and know relatively little about anything related to the Jewish state and its genesis. Maybe less time on Instagram and TikTok and more time actually reading history and listening to your elders?
I was also wondering if that post and all these atrocious comments that came in waves after the post itself were not all generated by AI .
Han, you have said everything that needs to be said right here. You are brave and fierce and truthful. Thank you for writing this. I will be sharing it far and wide. ❤️ Free Palestine 🇵🇸
Thanks so much for reading, Gina! I really appreciate it. I dream of a day when basic human decency is no longer considered radical. Genocide will never be okay, no matter what. From the river to the sea, Free Palestine <3
I admire you enormously for this piece and acknowledge it must have been a bitter pill to swallow to learn the history you were denied and the chasm created by the position you’ve taken within your own family and friend relationships. I can only wish that more young Israelis eventually learn and accept the truth. I know there are more like you, but it will take generations, if at all.
I look daily at what is going on with the full complicity of institutions we should be able to trust, and I feel like I am going mad.
I really hope so. The carefully curated manipulation of Israels public perception is finally being exposed, and I imagine gen alpha/ younger gen z will have more access to the truth than me and my peers did. it wasnt until last year that footage of Gaza was accessible on snapchat and TikTok and people could see for themselves what was really going on. Ultimately I hope more people will lift the proverbial veil from their eyes and run towards the truth instead of hiding from it. I think the hardest thing for me to reconcile with is wondering how many of my teachers knew if what they were telling us about Israel was bullshit. Maybe they were counting on us never finding out, maybe they were just repeating what they had been told. I guess I'll never know.
Unfortunately, so many are still hiding from the truth, lest they be forced to act.
You're absolutely right, and shame on them for doing so. I don't understand how they can live with themselves. I'll never see Judaism the same way ever again, and I think most people won't. For that I am grateful, there are no words that can suffice for the war crimes, atrocities and genocides committed against the Palestinians the last 75+ years. Anyone who can defend such horrific violence is not a good person, no matter what they tell themselves.
This was very moving. I personally do not feel that I can divorce myself from my Jewishness, but I strongly denounce Zionism in every way. Zionists say that having a Jewish state gives them safety, but I say when that state is based on apartheid and genocide, you are creating an excellent excuse for antisemitism and the opposite of safety. Everything about Israel is wrong, and it needs to end.
Thanks for reading, Brucker. And thanks for opposing Israel and genocide, and actively voicing such an unpopular opinion within the Jewish community. Because my whole Jewish experience has been Zionist propaganda I would like to hear from you: what does Judaism look like to you without Zionism?
I don't know how to answer that, really. I remember as a child it was dogma that Jews support Israel, but the more I learned about Israel and its parasitic relationship to Palestine, the less it made sense to me. Really, I have never needed Israel, and neither does the rest of the world. Jews existed for nearly two millennia without Israel, so clearly it is not necessary.
The way I see it is this..
Zion is mentioned 152 times in the Torah, Jerusalem about 700 times. Then there’s the practice of praying facing Jerusalem. As well as breaking glass at weddings to remember the destruction of the temple.
Holidays on the Jewish calendar are based on the agricultural cycles of Israel. The concept of an ancestral homeland, Jews having self determination in Eretz Yisrael, and living there freely and openly as Jews, are integral parts of Judaism going back a millennia. The Shema and most of Jewish songs and prayers make a reference to Israel long before it became what it is today.
I view Zionism as an integral part of Judaism because even prior to the occupation of an established Jewish homeland the Torah posits that was the hope, that was the goal.
Because there were Jews living in harmony with christian’s and Muslims prior to the nakba, it can be said that many Jews believed it didn’t have to become a strictly, or even predominantly Jewish homeland. And I think that after 1948 that’s when Zionism really took hold and Judaism devolved into what we know today, which is something completely different.
I don’t think all aspects of the Jewish religion itself are necessarily bad, and the sense of belonging and community can be really beautiful. I like that the Jewish religion doesn’t require believing in god and is accepting of gay and trans people. But I don’t think I’ll ever be able to see it the same way ever again, knowing what I know now.
Yeah, you make some good points. However, things like the Shema were supposedly written before "Israel" was ever a country. I think of these things as being directed at the religious group rather than a country. Definitely there are far too many Zionists withon the group, religious or ethnic. (I think it's ridiculous that atheist Jews are Zionists, but clearly none of this has to make sense.)
Forgive me for butting in...but I'm very interested in learning - What does that mean that to be Jewish doesn't necessarily mean believing in God?
You mean Zionist behavior. There are anti-Zionist Jews who are quite moral.
Judaism is an ethnicity. In fact, Jews were an ethnic group *before* the religion came into being. I identify ethnically with Jews because I was born to Jewish parents, but I reject Zionism.
No it’s a religion and one with bad tenants. Saying Judaism is an ethnicity is as nonsensical as saying Christianity is an ethnicity. Do better and reclaim your humanity by leaving the cult like this author has done.
No, it's entirely different. Christianity started among Jews, but quickly spread throughout the Roman Empire and beyond, because its adherents believe it should be spread to all people. Judaism, on the other hand, is pretty much just handed down to children. As I said already, Jews were an ethnic group before the religion was founded, whether you accept the Biblical record (which suggests Jews were the descendants of 70 people who migrated to Egypt before the Law was given to Moses) or the anthropological perspective (which suggests Jews were a Semitic people who were polytheistic before their priests codified monotheism in what is now Judaism).
Bullshit, the genetic relationship between Ashkenazi Jews and Ethiopian Jews is negligible. Get over your racial supremacist child murdering death cult, and join the rest of humanity.
I'm not a Jewish supremacist, I just happen to believe, as most people do, that Jews are an ethnicity.
How can you say Jews are an ethnic group when it is based on Judaism, a religion , and white people join in droves?
It’s a religion based on a holy book.
I have more in common with Ethiopian Jews than Ethiopian non-Jews because we share more DNA. We also believe in the Hebrew scripture. Culturally, I may have more in common with Coptic Ethiopians, since my practiced religion is Christianity, but I honestly don't know much about the Coptic church. I know their Bible doesn't look like the Protestant Bible, so there may be significant differences.
So you are literally a racist who think you belong to a race of “chosen people?” Do better! A religion is not a race that is a fundamental category error.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic_religion
Of course we're all related, although I think you have to go back a lot further than 3,000 years; it's more like 300,000 years, I think.
My ancestors were not from Poland, they came from Austria to the US in the late 19th century.
Of course Jews all over the world have interbred with people from the places they settled. While I have more DNA in common with Ethiopian Jews than non-Jews from Ethiopia, those Ethiopian Jews probably have more in common with other Ethiopians than they do with me. That's part of the reason that Israeli Jews are disgusting; they consider themselves to be *real* Jews when they're more European than anything, and they look down on non-white Jews. After the settler colony of Israel was established, actual Jews from Ethiopia came to settle there. The Israeli Jews sterilized them against their will.
That's the bitter irony of Israel: they're the descendants of people who white supremacists tried to kill off, so they started their own country where *they* could be white supremacists.
I've read it til the end. Thank you for being loyal to your own humanity and sanity Han. I have come across so many real human like you. I'm glad you can survived the crazy brainwashing. I just say you are liberated from the cult brainwashing. Yup. It is a cult. Blindly believe in something without using your own critical thinking = cultish mindset.
I completely agree and none of them can pretend like they have no idea what's going on because the truth is everywhere and the whole world is watching. the Jews can close their eyes and ears and further entrench themselves in denial, racism and settler-colonialist apologia if they choose, but they will be remembered for their crimes against humanity and yet ANOTHER genocide of the innocent Palestinian people. times are different now. no one can claim this is about antisemitism. there is absolutely ZERO excuse for what Israel is doing and the jewish people should be completely fucking ashamed of themselves. their moral corruption knows no bounds.
You can choose your friends, but you can't choose your family.
Yep, that is so true Toma. And sadly I think even if most of my family members knew the truth they would still be indifferent to human suffering. It makes a lot of sense why my childhood was so traumatic now and why it was so easy for my relatives to turn a blind eye, just as they’re doing now. Pathetic honestly
We did choose our family. What often is the biggest influence on earth isn’t an accident. But we are sent to be truth tellers and to help things heal and be better and more wise than those that preceded us. This is how the cycle of abuse is supposed to be broken...
And the “gene theory “ aka bs remover of freedom to choose was disproven decades ago. Big money maker for big farma though which why it persists. We each are born free.
Thank you for sharing this. I have read so much about this subject during these last 14 months but every time I find a text like this it gives me hope for a better future.
Absolutely, Lidija. Thanks for being here (: I do think the future will look different as no one in good conscience can continue to deny and defend the genocide being shown to the world. I think at very least we can expect less people to be raising their kids Jewish and more people leaving the religion, even if they’re not ready to talk about it yet.
These processes are slow. But I live in the hope that the young generations have had enough of our shit.
I can imagine you have gone through quite some pain, confusion but probably also liberation. I hope you are doing well now.
Thank you so much for your comment Re, that means alot. I feel like finding out the truth about my ancestry is probably similar to how people feel when they find out they were adopted.. disappointed I was lied to, definitely immense confusion cause I have curly hair and green eyes, and I tan easily but besides that I don't look middle eastern. And neither did most Jews in Hebrew school. But ultimately I do feel liberated, and I feel a responsibility to share the truth and spread awareness. That's what writers are supposed to do. I feel angry at my Hebrew school teachers for continuing to perpetuate lies and racism at the expense of innocent genocide victims. And in a strange way, I feel kind of validated.. my mother was so abusive growing up and my family members all preached poisonous pedagogy, that I should love her no matter what and blamed me for her actions. Honor your parents is one of the 10 commandments so seeing the world agree that yes, the Jewish religion DOES encourage victim blaming, justifies lies violence and abuse and then acts like it's okay.. in a way it feels like I'm finally being heard. There's so much generational trauma in Judaism and I rarely see it talked about. My aunts and uncles all gaslit me and did nothing, and realizing that these behaviors are a part of Jewish culture makes me feel somewhat reassured.
Yes. Bollocks to the whole Jewish thing. It's aassove crock of shite. I'm not so sure it's so easy this just declare yourself non Jewish but good luck trying. Notice there is still a demon in there. Always watch it and maybe you can be non Jewish.
I definitely understand where you're coming from and I think some Jews will denounce their Judaism now for no reason other than the fact that its become extremely unpopular to be Jewish, and not because they actually give a shit about the ethnic cleansing theyre doing or the racism they've ignored and actively taken part in throughout their whole lives.
I believe everyone has good and evil within them but a truly good person will actively fight against it and always stand up for what is right, even and ESPECIALLY when its unpopular to do so.
“Everything was in Hebrew, and although we learned to write it and a few basic words, most of us couldn’t speak it fluently let alone understand almost any of it. Judaism is unique in that sense.”
It may surprise you then, that tens of millions of non-Arabic-speaking Muslims around the world have been praying in the classical Arabic language they don’t understand for at least a thousand years now. Thus, Judaism is not unique in that sense.
My mother’s family were all Jews, but in no way observant. In fact, all my mother’s aunts married Italians and had Christmas parties each year. Nevertheless, they were every bit as Zionist as your family. I had been proud of having their blood in my veins until this past year. I now wish I could rinse that demon bloodline away.
Thanks Han, I can highly recommend reading up on Abigail Abarbanel she is a bit further down the road from you leaving Israel when she was young and has some very revealing insights into the Israel Cult that tried to indoctrinate her as well.
https://open.substack.com/pub/avigail/p/israel-the-legacy-of-a-perpetrator?r=3pd49j&utm_medium=ios
Also check out Alon Mizrahi who only left Israel this year just before the current invasion of Lebanon began.
He also has very detailed and profound insights into Israel.
https://open.substack.com/pub/alonmizrahi/p/its-not-about-how-evil-israelis-are?r=3pd49j&utm_medium=ios
Alon’s first video on Substack on domination is profound. Incredible insight into the Zionist colonial settler mentality.
Finally, check out Chris Hedges and Gabor Mate in their video blog The Trauma of Genocide.
We all need this talk of raw human emotion and madness watching a live streamed genocide for 14 months.
https://open.substack.com/pub/chrishedges/p/enduring-the-trauma-of-genocide-w?r=3pd49j&utm_medium=ios
You’re in good company with these very sane and aware people. I am so glad you have joined us. Welcome.
Han - this is immensely powerful convincing writing, I assume somewhat cathartic for you, not to mention difficult when one has to self-de-cultify such as what you have described. Kudos! Ari Goldberg and Alon Mizrahi are somewhat similar to your story. The late great Bobby Fischer is another one - who - amongst all of them (assuming he was jewish; he wrote a letter once saying he was not) - broke entirely free and not just renounced his religion but denounced it!
That said, your reference to ancestral misery - what you term "generational trauma" is somewhat difficult to appreciate from the outside and mostly strikes one as collectively delusional. OTOH, most of us can easily see the overtones of visible narcissism - which also you refer to -from Israelis and Jews today - thanks to their own self-pity videos and constant imaginary allusions to anti-semitism.
I must appreciate that you didn't write a single word about the "Holocaust". In case, you're still on your journey please take a couple of weeks to deep dive here - and you can focus on the link titled "Jews, Nazis, and the Holocaust" https://www.unz.com/runz/the-bibliography-for-an-alternative-historical-narrative/
Finally, jews successfully deprogramming themselves is rare and strenuous - one has to get out of the "chosen race" mindset; it's analogous to a Brahmin (India's caste system?) seeking to break free of his/her belief they are the "most superior caste among them all". Finding an Brahmin ready to shed that belief - at least as it comes to human dignity and humanness - through a rational thoughtful intentional process is perhaps even rarer than what you've done. So again, hats off to you. Bravo.
I want to be clear here, I am not a Holocaust denier whatsoever. Nor do I want to be mistaken for one or associated with Holocaust denial. The website you shared is rife with transphobia and conspiracy theories, and has nothing to do with my article. It is true that the establishment of Israel was created largely in part by weaponizing the Holocaust- but it very much happened, as did Nazi Germany. It can also be said that the term antisemitism has been rebranded and used as a defense of Zionism, as true antisemitism is rare nowadays. But I'm a communist, and I will not be following you down your far right fascist pipeline.
Great article, but I hope you continue your search for truth.
October 7 was an inside job, and there was NO Holocaust.
As a Jew myself, it was an incredibly large pill to swallow, but I found the courage to examine this subject…
As you know, most Jews are not religious; our actual religion has two components: Holocaust and Israel.
We have a long tradition of being persecuted, hence, the Victimology aspect.
But how much of our “history” is objectively accurate?
Whether it be the 2020 election, 9-11, the JFK assassination or the Plandemic,
truth seekers have used their investigative skills to penetrate through the disinformation/propaganda to obtain the actual facts.
In accepting that the “News is fake” or
“history is written by the victors” and objecting to “the science is settled,” we have asserted our intellectual independence.
Nobody wants to be called an ignorant sheep.
If you challenge “Climate Change”, you are labeled a “denier” or a “conspiracy theorist” to marginalize your argument.
Similarly, if you question the “Holocaust,”
you are also labeled a “denier.”
Should all topics be subjected to our scrutiny, or should some be taboo?
This is the argument, but it almost always falls on deaf ears.
Not only Jews, but most people are unwilling to seriously reexamine their worldview. The intellectual effort along with the inevitable discomfort of dissenting views are huge roadblocks.
“‘Who controls the past,’ ran the Party slogan, ‘controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.’”
https://odysee.com/@Slammdcrxx:8/Probing-the-Holocaust-The-Horror-Explained:7
We don’t need or want you.