I worked in Gaza and The West Bank as a Jewish Woman AMA

[Wflwer]

I worked with an education charity making the journey to Gaza once in 2019 and to The West Bank in 2018 and 2022.
I speak Hebrew and Arabic and we were groups of educators working in schools (group were about 5/6 teachers ranging from primary to secondary educators from Europe)

@Wflwer OP, thank you soo much for this threat.

you mentioned you attended some protests. did you witness any antisemitism or feel intimidated? if not, how do you think we can change the narrative around the protests?

I totally agree with you that the solution to antisemitism is NOT sending all jewish people to Israel.

that would be like sending all Muslims off back to Muslim countries due to islamophobia (especially difficult as there are so many reverts of european origin now)

there is definitely a lack of awareness of Jewish faith and culture in this country which needs to be improved.

You last post explains a lot as to why you are antizionist. But not all Israeli Jews are like your maternal grandparents, thankfully. I wonder what led them to settle in Israel 🤔

No, I’ve been in both the Jewish bloc with close friends and also just been amongst general protestors.

i personally haven’t heard or seen antisemitism at these protests nor do I feel intimidated majority of people are very friendly and considerate especially when I’ve had the pram and have had to manoeuvre through crowds to step away and feed baby little things like that. I am obviously only one person and cannot be everywhere so cannot speak for the entirety of the protests.

100% my mothers parents have very extreme views and I am aware of that. I have connections with Israeli nationals including those born and raised in Israel who hold nowhere near the same views as them.

The reason for their settling in Israel is steeped in racism actually and wanting to be surrounded by their own kind - they don’t believe in what they call “mixed breeding” so having children with people who are not Jewish.

Thank you for posting this. Such an interesting thread and so important! I have lived with and known a lot of Jewish people in my travels..and some I know have matched in the peace marches. So horrible the way everyone is encouraged to think of this in purely polarised terms. Thank you for sharing your experience

This thread makes me feel a little uneasy. It definitely seems to be attracting the type of person who says Jews are ok as long as .....

Thank you OP, great thread. We should hear from people of all perspectives, not only one-sided viewpoints.

Reverts?

can you give an example of what someone has said that equates to that kind of sentiment?

@quantumbutterfly sorry converts

No I won't. But if you read through I think it's fairly obvious.

it really isn't, hence my question. I've read every single post on this thread and find no anti Jewish attitude
the OP is Jewish, every one so far has asked reasonable questions

why do you feel uncomfortable pointing out examples? if you do feel there is anti semitism, surely we can report it and get it removed?

I don’t believe that it is and if you think that then you should back that up with evidence.

I'm not going to quote individual posts or posters.

But on a wider level within society what I object to the is the whole Jews are ok as long as they condemn Israel. Jews are ok as long as they agree with what I think. I don't mind Jews who protest for Palestine. I don't mind Jews who..etc etc

aSorry to derail the thread but Are you willing to disclose the organisation you work for (either on this thread or via pm)? I am an SEN teacher and this sounds like my dream role. I have volunteered in SEN provisions in Asia and Africa but in all cases the work I did was directly with students with a limited focus on training the teachers or other staff who would continue working with the children once I was gone and I didn’t feel it was a very sustainable way of improving SEN provision long term.

hang on are you saying we have to agree all jewish people even if we disagree with their views? such as the soldiers livestreaming going through Palestinian women's underwear drawer? im muslim and i find myself disagreeing with a LOT of muslims. what should i do about that?

I prefer to hang out with people of all religions who don't keep quiet when any innocent people are being killed.

I have a problem with ultraright wing corrupt politicians who shamelessly use the tragic losses of their people to secure their own position, no matter what their religion or race.

I have a massive problem with racists no matter what their religious background - jewish, Muslim, Christian etc. and all religions have their racists, i have met them. tbh any person of faith who is a racist is a massive hypocrite for a start.

of course there are antisemitic people out there and they should be opposed at every turn. but calling out jewish people whose political views i find abhorrent does not make me anti semitic just as thinking Kanye is a twat does not make me a racist.

hang on are you saying we have to agree all jewish people even if we disagree with their views?

Obviously not

Such as the soldiers livestreaming going through Palestinian women's underwear drawer?

What views do you think a Jewish person would have on this that you would disagree with? @therealcookiemonster

Would you be able to say what was antisemitic from the border guards?
When Gazan Muslims say 'not in my name' should I presume that includes hamas/hezbollah etc.?

you are turning the conversation around. you were the one saying that in this thread there is a vibe of jewish people are OK as long as they dont hold a position that is disagreeable. my post demonstrates why that is a problematic position as every group has its extremists and by default no one can be ok with ALL members of any religious group or ethnic community unconditionally.

in fact, it is a sign of acceptance and respect to hold all humans to a set of universal principles eg. murder bad, taking hostages bad, stealing land bad. and it is also racist in a different way to infantilise a community assuming that their political ideas should not be open to the same scrutiny as other communities.

ps: I think I have identified the problem you are reading different things to what the posts say. I never said decent British Jewish people would be ok with IDF atrocities? I just used as an example of unacceptable behaviour by a Jewish individual. give me enough time and I can produce a long list of unacceptable actions by people of all religions/atheists. my point was that calling out this one individual does not make anyone antisemitic.

My point is that as a Jewish person I feel absolutely no need to publicly condemn the Israeli government in order to prove that I'm 'alright'.

@Comedycook I feel this back and forth is derailing OPs lovely AMA, so won't be responding to you anymore.

I am very sorry that you feel that there is such dislike in this thread/I'm society. you may have had some awful experiences to feel that way and I am truly sorry if that is the case.

xxx

That is completely fine. definitely don't disagree on that. and I don't think this thread is saying that either

it's obviously not your personal responsibility!

and I totally get that. every time the twats in isis or taliban or hamas do something, we as Muslims feel an enormous presssure to apologise. and that kind of feeds into the racism and fear of all Muslims must be secretly extremist

What are they taught about Israel?

I wouldn’t say Hezbollah as that’s a Lebanese group but yes in terms of Hamas and PIJ.
Things along the lines of self hating jew/not a real Jew it was definitely more anti Arab than antisemitic claiming often that the Arabs would rape me and hated me and I wasn’t a real Jew if I was around them.
this did not come from all guards at checkpoints but a number of them acted this way with no reprimanding from superiors.

What are more popular for further study? Sciences, arts or humanities.