Advertising Israeli Birthright

[TinyYellow]

I was upset to see Mumsnet advertising Isreal’s birthright tours.

Birthright is a Zionist practice that directly contributes to the illegal expansion of Israeli settlements in the Palestinian West Bank.

Why is MN ok with advertising something that could not only be seen as alienating to a minority ethnic group but that also supports international law being broken?

This argument is utter chaos, it's hard to even understand the point of it.

Palestinians didn't expel the Jews from those countries, and couldn't control if they wanted to return.

But yes if there were some group outside of Morocco that claimed ownership of it and expelled Jewish Moroccans living there, stole their houses and pretended their food and culture was in fact this new groups, and invited members of their group to come and visit calling it "Birthright", yes you are absolutely right that I wouldn't support that lol

The palestians didn't because they didn't really exist then but the Arab league did expel pretty much every Jew living in their countries number almost as many Jews as palastians who had to leave..

It seems to be if you're against the advertising of Israel as it might offend palastians who lived there 80 years ago (very few of which I'm sure are on Mumsnet then surely you should object to the advertising of any of these other countries where Jews were expelled from?

Or how about Germany or Poland or other European countries where Jewish people's homes were seized and their residents were murdered or expelled. Do you have any objections to people with historical ties to those countries visiting?

Or what about Pakistan and India?? Do you object to people with historical ties to.india doing tours in case it offends the Muslims or Hindus who were forced to leave their homes with the creation of Pakistan or how about the USA in case it offends native Americans??

Or is it one rule of Israel and none for anyone else??

Sorry, have I missed something? Is the ad or advertiser somehow dodgy?

If there’s no good reason to doubt the bona fides of the ad, why is MN banning material aimed at Jews?

On the face of it this looks like a disgraceful decision, but I’m open to being persuaded that there’s some good reason in the background.

Oh Palestinians didn't really exist? You continue to comfort yourself with this complete lie, and I will continue to raise my children with pictures of their grandparents homes in Palestine (homes ethnically cleansed and destroyed by Israelis so they could go on to say Palestinians didn't really exist), and their food and music and clothes and culture which is vividly and explicitly informed by the land and society of Palestine over hundreds and hundreds of years.

But sure, I don't like Birthright because I'm an anti Semite 🙄🙄🙄

Well the Jews certainly understand ethnic cleansing and being driven out of their homes.

Sorry- are you saying this should be a comfort to Palestinians who were driven out of theirs by Zionists?

The terminology referring to the people we now know as palastians didn't really exist in the 1940s no. That's the truth..you claim I refuse to tell the truth whilst you deny that 1. There were Jews in that area looooong before the creation of Israel and there has always been a Jewish presence 2. That much of Israeli culture is actually Sephardi culture which has always existed in the middle east rather than stolen from others and 3. That 800k Jews also lost their homes and were expelled from Arab and other Muslim nations, many of whom settled in Israel.

Oh and do you deny Jordan's right to exist? Cos was created the same time in the same way. I'm guessing probably not cos it's not a Jewish state.

@yazzi, no - why would it be a comfort to anyone?

You're just pulling wild talking points together that have no bearing on what I have actually said plus other "gotcha" points.

Falasteen as it is known in Arabic existed well before 1940. There are folk songs alone using the term from the 1800s. Its just a false narrative.

Anyway. I'm not wasting time arguing with those who need to use lies and deceptions to morally justify the unjustifiable. Enjoy calling me an anti Semite because I wish Israelis didn't steal MY children's birthright.

I'd like an answer to this too @LilyMumsnet .

And me @LilyMumsnet

Why?

And me.

@Yazzi time and time again throughout history Jews have had to start again in foreign land having been ethnically cleansed, driven out and lost everything. I’m not Jewish but I find it so amazing the vast majority are able to build positive lives and make such enormous contributions to societies around the world while also fully assimilating. They also don’t start wars.

Also want a response to this, on the face of it a patently antisemitic decision. Maybe time for me and other Jews to leave this platform.

There have been numerous concerns spanning over years by Jewish participants that Taglit is a right wing organisation (heavily funded by right wing Israeli parties) that seeks to erase the Arab history of the region, describing Israel as "an oasis between hostile neighbours". The occupation and suffering of Palestinians as a result of discriminative Israeli penal laws are completely ignored. The organisation's claim of the trip being "apolitical" has been contested.

I’d like to know why too. And while I’m here I want to share this quote from former UK chief Rabbi Jonathan Sacks:

One of the enduring facts of history is that most antisemites do not think of themselves as antisemites. We don’t hate Jews, they said in the Middle Ages, just their religion. We don’t hate Jews, they said in the nineteenth century, just their race. We don’t hate Jews, they say now, just their nation state.

I would, too, @LilyMumsnet

Thank you for having a look and blocking this, I appreciate it. I didn’t think to save the link, sorry. I thought a screenshot shot would be enough and thankfully it hasn’t come up again.

I didn’t post on site stuff to have a debate about Israeli birthright, it was just to bring an advert to MNHQ’s attention.

Hi all, thanks for your patience today. We sometimes block ads if we think they’re causing or likely to cause controversy on the boards and this was our initial thinking here. It's fair to say that the Birthright program has attracted some criticism and we'd fully expect that discussion to be played out on Mumsnet but in retrospect the ad doesn't break any guidelines, so we'll remove the block. Thanks for all the input and apologies for any angst caused.

Really? This is really something that you’re comfortable advertising?

I find that quite sickening considering that even if you leave everything else out of this debate, we know that more people taking up their ‘birthright’ is contributing to illegal land grabs resulting in the murder and displacement of other people.

It’s not advertising the birth right, this is not something that needs advertising amongst Jews. All jews are aware of aliyah - The law of return that was passed by the Israeli parliament in 1950 gives all diaspora Jews, as well as their children and grandchildren, the right to relocate to Israel and acquire israeli citizenship on the basis of connecting to their jewish identity. But this is something you are only realising and taking umbrage to now? Only after the oct 7th attack and following war, not prior? Why when it’s been enshrined in law since 1950?