Ruven PomeranceDec 27, 2022
@hebrewbyinbal I'm sorry you have to see that. I guess those "warriors" feel they are helping Palestianians by taking 5 seconds to write something nasty. I think the beginning of the end for me on Twitter was when former Rep Gabby Giffords who nearly died in an assassination attempt achieved the incredible goal of becoming a Bat Mitzvah (given that she had suffered brain damage in the shooting). The comments were filled with so much hate.
Show threadJeremy (יעקב) 🇺🇦Dec 28, 2022

@pomerance @hebrewbyinbal

》Feel like they are helping #Palestinians
To be honest, I used to believe that too. But I have recently become despondent realizing it was the other way around. Because it made me realize fewer are interested in either harmed group.

Show threadRuven PomeranceDec 28, 2022
@imstilljeremy @hebrewbyinbal It’s possible that they are dedicated to their cause irl. But I’m sure they are just into finding any Jew and yelling at them.
Show threadsheepchaseDec 28, 2022

@pomerance @imstilljeremy @hebrewbyinbal I found David Hirsh’s book very eye opening on how ‘liberal’ (‘left’ in the UK) can be, in fact often are, really antisemitic.

I don’t agree with everything in the book but I recommend it as some thinking material.

https://www.routledge.com/Contemporary-Left-Antisemitism/Hirsh/p/book/9781138235311
#antisemitism

Contemporary Left Antisemitism

Today’s antisemitism is difficult to recognize because it does not come dressed in a Nazi uniform and it does not openly proclaim its hatred or fear of Jews. This book looks at the kind of antisemitism which is tolerated or which goes unacknowledged in apparently democratic spaces: trade unions, churches, left-wing and liberal politics, social gatherings of the chattering classes and the seminars and journals of radical intellectuals. It analyses how criticism of Israel can mushroom into antis

Routledge & CRC Press
Show threadRuven PomeranceDec 28, 2022
@sheepchase @hebrewbyinbal @imstilljeremy I will put it on my list. I agree. Advocating for Jews to leave the one country where they have self determination is the same as advocating for genocide.
Show threadRuven PomeranceDec 28, 2022
@sheepchase @hebrewbyinbal @imstilljeremy If you think of it “River to the Sea” means sending Jews where? To try to reclaim their homes in the countries they were expelled from? That sounds like sending people to sure extermination. “River to the Sea” is a disgusting slogan
Show threadRabbi Gabriel Kanter-WebberDec 28, 2022
@pomerance It doesn't *necessarily* mean sending Jews anywhere. Palestinians being free - the second half of the sentence - doesn't in any way depend on an absence of Jews.
Undoubtedly the chant is often used by antisemites (and its inverse is often used by anti-Palestinian racists) but I don't think labelling it in absolutes is either accurate or helpful.
Show threadSerge from BabkaDec 28, 2022

@rabbigabriel @pomerance

You are mistaken Rabbi.

https://www.ajc.org/translatehate/From-the-River-to-the-Sea
https://www.adl.org/resources/glossary-term/allegation-river-sea-palestine-will-be-free

It is directly a call for the destruction of Israel, and thus for the protections of the state of Israel on the Jews in the MENA. As the governments in the MENA have expelled their Jews, and Jews presence (like LGBTQ+ presence), there is no reason to believe that this call is anything but a call for Jewish death or expulsion, as has happened in the recent past.

“From the River to the Sea” | #TranslateHate

What does From the River to the Sea mean and why are anti-Israel protestors chanting From the River to the Sea, Palestine Will be Free? See how “From the River to the Sea” is antisemitic.

AJC
Show threadRabbi Gabriel Kanter-WebberDec 28, 2022
@serge @pomerance Respectfully, I don’t think you mean that I’m mistaken. I think you mean that you disagree.
The page you linked says that the chant is a call to “erase the State of Israel and its people”. My point is that that interpretation simply is not reflected by the language of the chant. That may be the intention underlying it, in many or even most cases, but that isn’t the same as concluding that it’s the actual meaning of the actual words.
Show threadRuven PomeranceDec 28, 2022
@rabbigabriel @serge Well if we go down this road one could say it is free from the River to the sea now for women and queer people vs what it would be under Hamas or Fatah rule. I think enough of the chanters so mean the expulsion of Jews. But of course there are no real numbers so there’s no proof of either way.
Show threadRabbi Gabriel Kanter-WebberDec 28, 2022
@pomerance @serge We could definitely say that (subject to accepting that queer people are unable to marry in Israel). But again: is there any reason in principle why however many states there are between the river and the sea can’t be safe for Jews, Palestinians, women, queer people, etc etc etc? No.
Show threadRuven PomeranceDec 28, 2022
@rabbigabriel @serge Not in principle but I just don’t believe that’s what they mean. As the old punchline goes “In theory we have two million dollars. In practice we live with a couple of wh0res.”
Show threadRabbi Gabriel Kanter-WebberDec 28, 2022
@pomerance @serge No doubt it is what they mean. But there are Palestinian voices explaining that they don’t mean that (happy to share some links if helpful).
Show threadRuven PomeranceDec 28, 2022
@serge @rabbigabriel I’m sure any individual would say that. If you ask someone chanting “Gd hates fags” they are going to say “oh I have nothing against gay people as long as long as they don’t shove it down our throats.” Speaking of rhetorical devices: I think the allusion to the “sea” is no accident as it echoes the alleged Nassar statement of pushing Jews into the sea.
Show threadRabbi Gabriel Kanter-Webber
@pomerance @serge Quite hard to argue that that line doesn’t explicitly and literally evince a hatred of homosexuality.
Dec 28, 2022 at 5:00pmWeb
Show threadRuven PomeranceDec 28, 2022
@rabbigabriel @serge I apologize that the analogy doesn’t work. I was just saying that when you ask an individual they might not be honest