A few days ago I was in a voice chat with some friends. I don’t quite remember how we got to it, but at some point we started discussing Israel and the war currently happening in Gaza, which led to me and an Israeli friend of mine complaining relentlessly - about our government, the islamophobic rhetoric that’s been normalized in the country, the sheer scale of destruction, etc. Some of our other friends had complaints too, but their complaining was a little different; they seemed fairly hesitant to say pretty much anything, constantly policing their tone and wording, with one of them constantly asking whether what he was saying was anti-semitic or not.

I understand this concern on some level both because they don’t want to offend us, but also due to how badly the discussion has devolved around this country; it’s absolutely nothing but buzzwords. It’s been like that for years - John Stewart even made fun of it a decade ago and the entire skit is still relevant, down to the joke about Ukraine at the end - but considering what’s going on right now is the most brutal and blood-fueled war in Israel’s history, clearing this up seems more pertinent than ever.

So, as an Israeli who’s been spending the past year or so protesting relentlessly criticizing his government, I’d like to introduce you to this series of pointers on how to criticize a nation with a Star of David in its flag without making all the Jews in your vicinity start eyeing the nearest exit doors.

Tip 1 - Avoid Conspiracism

This tip likely sounds pretty obvious and will have resulted in some of you rolling your eyes into the back of your skulls, but trust me this is important to mention.

It’s been said there’s only two types of conspiracies: Antisemitism, and stuff the CIA admitted to in the 90’s, and I tend to agree with this quote. The modern conspiracy theory - the one where a named yet still nebulous group is responsible for all the world’s ills, rather than a claim of a specific group people causing a specific event - originated in 20th century Russia with The Protocols of The Elders of Zion. The reason most conspiracy theories sound like reskinned antisemitism is because that’s what they are.

You’d think that this would be an easy tip to follow, but I’ve seen people claiming Israel (or “the Zionists”¹) had control over when Spotify Wrapped was published and treating it as a serious issue that had to be shouted from the rooftops. Fundamentally none of us are safe from conspiratorial thought, and all it takes is one conspiracy that tugs at something you have issue with. The best propaganda is the one you are already primed to agree with.

If you see someone claiming a powerful group of individuals is controlling the universities/media/culture from the shadows to advance their nefarious schemes, and discovering whether or not someone belongs to said group is either confusing or something you are expected to discover on your own? That’s a conspiracy. Triple-check anything that person is saying.

Tip 2 - Avoid Dehumanization

Again - you’d be surprised at how many people fail this one. If you see someone calling any group of people “not human”, “animals”, “monsters” or anything of the sort, they’re trying to push you towards justifying any actions taken against this group, and I assure you that’s never a good thing. Regardless of how evil the actions someone takes are - they still are human. You must be able to hold in your head these two truths: this person is awful, and this is a person. If you cannot, you’ll be unable to see the same behavior repeated in people you deem as “righteous.”

However I actually bring this up to point out another, less discussed facet of dehumanization: Infantilization. No one “has” to take an action, they choose to take it. You can argue that this action was moral, or justified, or the only logical choice, but no one forced them to do it. They chose to take that action under their circumstances, and therefore should also be subject to the repercussions and criticism. Neither Hamas nor Israel “had” to do what they did, they chose to.

Tip 3 - Avoid Western-Centric Views on Race

Many people have been trying to slot the general shape of the geopolitical situation in Israel into a more familiar shape, (understandably; we try to learn new topics through the lens of stuff we already know to not have to reinvent the wheel in our heads,) and ended up smashing a circle into a square hole.

I’ve seen people describing the Israeli Government or Zionists in general as white supremacists, despite Jews having been historically massacred by actual white supremacists², and many of them still not being remotely “white-passing”. I’ve seen people saying that Israel is merely a proxy agent of the US, despite the US having had nothing of relation to Israel’s founding and only joining the party much later on.

Yes, there is a major issue of racism in this place, I’ve written about it before, but it’s not identical to American racism.

Tip 4 - Understand a Jewish View on Israel

I say a Jewish view here, and not the Jewish view, because (much like everything else in Judaism) there are many contradicting yet equally valid outlooks. For example, some Jews believe that returning to the land of Israel without the return of the Messiah is sacrilege, and so they refuse to acknowledge Israel’s legitimacy.

However, all of these outlooks have one thing in common - a historical connection to the land where Israel currently stands. Many people speak of removing Israel and decolonizing palestine, but for many Jews, Israel is the decolonial project - a state formed by an indigenous people with a historical and cultural connection to the land, after long years of resistance against empires which had violently taken control over the area.

This is not to say that the Palestineans don’t have a connection to this land, they most certainly do, but I say this because I’ve seen a concerning amount of people discussing Israelis as if we’re all white Europeans who decided to hop here out of convenience, and so we can just “go back to where [we] came from.” Both people have a connection to this land, and as Rami Elhanan said: “you cannot expect [the palestineans] to go away; they will not ‘go away.’ We [the Israelis] will not ‘go away.’ We are doomed to live here together and we have to choose whether to share this land or to share the graveyard under it.”

And that’s pretty much it. I know that in retrospect this all seems obvious, but when an issue is so emotionally charged and politicized, it’s easy to lose your north and start falling into violent rhetoric. Trust me, it really is this easy, and I can tell you from experience that it’s hard to run out of things to criticize this government for.

If you wanna ask me anything about either Judaism or Israel feel free to shoot me an email, I won’t judge and am happy to answer.