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 threadKetzirah LesserDec 28, 2022

@rabbigabriel @serge @pomerance but the meaning of the words is their context. That’s what language is all about.

What I agree with is that some do not intend “death to jews” but it is clearly a call for the destruction of the state of Israel.

Show threadRabbi Gabriel Kanter-WebberDec 28, 2022
@devotaj @serge @pomerance Does freedom for Palestinians necessarily and intrinsically mean destruction of the State of Israel? I don’t think it does.
Show threadRuven PomeranceDec 28, 2022
@serge @devotaj @rabbigabriel You don’t but I think they do.
Show threadRabbi Gabriel Kanter-WebberDec 28, 2022
@pomerance @serge @devotaj I think that’s an unhelpful racial stereotype.
Show threadRuven PomeranceDec 28, 2022
@devotaj @rabbigabriel @serge Racist to whom? The Palestinian race? There is no such race. It’s not like we don’t have examples of areas controlled by Palestinians and description by their leadership. I’m basing my comment on that, and not their race. I find it strange that you would even bring up race in this discussion.
Show threadRabbi Gabriel Kanter-WebberDec 28, 2022
@pomerance @devotaj @serge Denial of the existence of the Palestinians as a racial/ ethnic group earns you a block. Sorry.
Show threadKetzirah Lesser

@rabbigabriel @pomerance @serge he was denying that they are a “race” not an ethnic group.

The two are not synonymous.

Dec 28, 2022 at 10:57pmWeb
Show threadRabbi Gabriel Kanter-WebberDec 28, 2022
@devotaj According to the law of my country, the two are synonymous: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/2010/15/section/9
Equality Act 2010

An Act to make provision to require Ministers of the Crown and others when making strategic decisions about the exercise of their functions to have regard to the desirability of reducing socio-economic inequalities; to reform and harmonise equality law and restate the greater part of the enactments relating to discrimination and harassment related to certain personal characteristics; to enable certain employers to be required to publish information about the differences in pay between male and female employees; to prohibit victimisation in certain circumstances; to require the exercise of certain functions to be with regard to the need to eliminate discrimination and other prohibited conduct; to enable duties to be imposed in relation to the exercise of public procurement functions; to increase equality of opportunity; to amend the law relating to rights and responsibilities in family relationships; and for connected purposes.

Show threadKetzirah LesserDec 29, 2022
@rabbigabriel in the US, they are very different. I’m betting @pomerance was coming from a US perspective.
Show threadRuven PomeranceDec 29, 2022
@rabbigabriel @devotaj Thank you. You’re right of course. Im a well-read and well-travelled New Yorker. I’ve heard of having pizza for tea but I’ve never heard of this. As far as I know we don’t have a governmental body which redefines words.
Show threadRuven PomeranceDec 29, 2022
@devotaj @rabbigabriel So are Scots a different race to the Welch or the Cornish?
Show threadJDSBlueDevlDec 29, 2022
@pomerance @devotaj @rabbigabriel He’ll never answer the question, because to say they are all “White” would be admitting that northern Palestinians are no different from Jordanians, Lebanese, and Syrians and that southern Palestinians are no different from Egyptians.
Show threadRuven PomeranceDec 29, 2022
@JDSBlueDevl @devotaj @rabbigabriel Well they are different they just aren’t another race.