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Dear anti-Zionist…

I have a question for you. Is this really about Israel? Are you anti-Zionist or just anti-Jew?
Kate Lewis
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Illustration of two poster boards, one with with a palestinian flag and the other with a star of david crossed out

Illustration: TJI

Published: 21 October 2024

Last updated: 21 October 2024

Dear anti-Zionist,

Yes you, living peacefully and freely here in Australia on stolen land.

You seem to really enjoy the freedoms afforded to you in this colonial country, while Indigenous people experience lower rates of health and education, and higher rates of incarceration and untimely death.

Dear anti-Zionist, your hypocrisy is palpable.

Your infographics and comment sections tell us to “Go back to Europe”. Does that mean you’ll be buying a one-way ticket to your ancestral homeland or is your white guilt adequately offset with an acknowledgement of country in your email signature?

Dear anti-Zionist, you say violence is “resistance”. After the genocide and displacement of European Jews in WWII, should my surviving grandparents have embarked on a barbaric uprising in the name of “freedom fighting”?

Dear anti-Zionist, you talk about the “right to return”. On my next trip back to Poland, should I be asking for the keys to my grandfather’s childhood home in Radom?

Against all odds, after their family trees were cut down by chainsaws of hate, after they’d been displaced and everything had been stripped from them, my grandparents came here as refugees. They sought peace. They rose above their devastation and loss. They rebuilt their communities and families.

Initially it was your silence that hurt. But the silence soon turned to noise.

Dear anti-Zionist, you take such an interest in Middle Eastern politics to the point that it’s become your entire online personality, yet you’ve never stepped foot in the region. A year ago, you likely couldn’t point to Rafah on a map.

Dear anti-Zionist, if you have such an issue with the current government in Israel, how come you said nothing to support the Israelis who had been protesting against Netanyahu for the months and years before October 7 even happened?

Dear anti-Zionist, if you care about humanity, why were you silent on October 7 when my auntie, uncle and cousins sat terrified in their shelters, as their friends on neighbouring kibbutzim and moshavim were butchered, tortured, raped and taken hostage.

Dear anti-Zionist, if you care about children dying, why have you shown no empathy as grief ripped through their beautiful community in the South of Israel. Everyone, including my 5-year-old twin cousins lost people they knew and loved. Their kindergarten on Kibbutz Nir Oz was destroyed, many of their classmates and teachers killed. Their best friends, another set of 5-year-old twins, huddled together with their brother and parents as they were murdered in their own shelter – the Siman Tov family.

Dear anti-Zionist, if you feel the need to voice your devastation on social media, how come you’ve said nothing at all about the Israeli civilian victims of this war?

Initially it was your silence that hurt.

But the silence soon turned to noise.

Noise from you, who have posted maps showing a non-existent Israel, while accusing Israelis of “ethnic cleansing”.

You, with the audacity to tell me that a sign with the text “Death Star” above a Magen David isn’t antisemitic.

You, who uses the word “trauma” to describe your upper-middle-class childhood, but disregards my actual lived experience of intergenerational trauma.

You, anti-Zionist who I once called my friend. Who had the privilege of sitting at my dinner table, eating food prepared by my Holocaust-surviving grandparents.

You, anti-Zionist who I once lovingly introduced to my Israeli family and friends. People whose lives are now on the line, who are fighting this war. You, who fire insults at their army from your iPhone, as they have shots and rockets fired at them on the ground.

You, who march for a “ceasefire”, but show no concern for my family who continue to live a broken life in this ongoing war.

You, who muted me, unfollowed me, grew tired of my posts about rising antisemitism.

Who stopped inviting me to events and celebrations. Who has tried to one-up me at every stage of my grief, with your “what-about-ism”, throwing casualty numbers in a competition of pain.

You, who said “at least they have a school to go to” when I expressed concern over the “Jew Die” graffiti on a Jewish school. You who told me I was being dramatic when lists of Jews were circulated and shared, when my friends’ businesses were vandalised and boycotted, when they chanted “*** the Jews”.

Dear anti-Zionist, I have a question for you.

Is this really about Israel?

Are you anti-Zionist?

Or just anti-Jew?

Because from where I stand, I see no difference.

About the author

Kate Lewis

Kate Lewis is a full-time mother of two, part-time interior architect and occasional writer.

Comments19

  • Avatar of Cathie E

    Cathie E25 October at 12:33 am

    What a heartfelt piece about the lived experience of a young Jewish woman in Australia. It has given me insight into her hurt when betrayed by someone you believed was a close friend. While she may be directing this to a particular person, I think there may others who have also experienced a similar experience with distancing from so-called friends. Kate has every right to express her lived experience it is hers alone. No one should be questioning or asking why she has “not written something factual and named people”, “resorted to a rhetoric of fear, division, and victimisation”, “mentioning the words “Gaza or Palestinian even once” and that her piece “amplifies fear and division without meaningfully addressing the realities at hand”. Get real people this is a piece about Kate’s lived experience. There is no need for her to mention anything else about Gaza or how many people have lost their lives or how many Israelis are still held captive in Gaza! What I got from this article is that Kate has not only experienced a betrayal from a person she had thought was a close friend but perhaps an anti-Semite?

  • Avatar of Bernard Kohn

    Bernard Kohn24 October at 01:43 am

    Why must Jewish authors HAVE to mention Gaza and Palestinians every time they express hurt or grief? Do you expect Chinese-Australian writers to acknowledge the persecution of Uyghur people in every expression of dismay about racism towards them?

  • Avatar of Michael Edwards

    Michael Edwards23 October at 12:06 am

    Others have already pointed out how baffling it is that TJI — which aspires to be a “source for thoughtful analysis, intelligent debate and new ideas” — runs a stream of pieces like this one. More depressing and telling, though, is that Lewis can write, and TJI can publish, a piece like this without mentioning the words “Gaza” or “Palestinian” even once. As if we needed any more evidence of how fully some parts of our community have dehumanised Palestinians, refusing to acknowledge their suffering even in passing.

    Everyone, or at least anyone who’s chosen not to look away, has, for over a year, seen near daily footage of the bodies of Palestinian kids dragged from rubble, among other horrors. If Lewis wants to focus instead on the “hurt” caused by the actions of a former friend—actions which include protesting for a ceasefire and unfollowing Lewis on social media—that’s her right. Just as it’s TJI’s right to publish article after article along these lines, prioritising hurt feelings over the lives of murdered children. But how we each respond to this moment, and where we choose to direct our attention and our energy, as Jews and as humans, will stay with us for a long time to come.

  • Avatar of Ayelet Rinon

    Ayelet Rinon22 October at 09:54 pm

    This was a great article which articulated many of the challenges and issues faced by both Jews and Israelis in Australia, thank you Kate. As hard as it is to navigate this current situation we are all trying to stay united and strong, keep our heads above the water and advocate for Israel and it’s mission , a SAFE Jewish Homeland there is only ONE!!!

  • Avatar of Annamarie Cohen

    Annamarie Cohen22 October at 11:28 am

    Beautifully and honestly written. Thank you for sharing.

  • Avatar of Wesley Parish

    Wesley Parish22 October at 10:01 am

    I have some questions, Kate – do you recognize the difference between the Jewish people, whether or not they are religiously observant or not, and the political program called Zionism? Do you recognize that some quite antisemitic people, including the doofus of doofuses, Donald Trump, are also fervent Zionists? Do you recognize the intergenerational trauma the Yishuv, and later the State of Israel, inflicted on Palestinians – who in many instances, were trying to simply get on with their lives, until those Hitler-loving Jewish fascists the Stern Gang and the Irgun, aided and abetted by Haganah, massacred, raped and expelled them?

  • Avatar of Max

    Max22 October at 09:20 am

    another terrible article that does absolutely nothing to improve the tenor of discussion in the jewish community. why does TJI just churn out dross like this?

  • Avatar of Kea Cranko

    Kea Cranko22 October at 09:05 am

    Kate, this response is an inadequate and reductive attempt at engaging with the complexities of anti-Zionism. Your analysis does not serve to build understanding; rather, it amplifies fear and division without meaningfully addressing the realities at hand. While there are certainly elements within the anti-Zionist movement that I find challenging and uncomfortable, these deserve critical engagement, not dismissal. Instead, you’ve resorted to a rhetoric of fear, division, and victimisation without acknowledging the immense suffering of Palestinians or the reasons why anti-Zionism has gained so much traction. If we are to create space for genuine Jewish and Israeli perspectives within the Palestine movement, we must approach this conversation with humility, recognising the breadth and depth of Palestinian suffering alongside it.

  • Avatar of gary

    gary22 October at 09:00 am

    It’s true that not all anti-Zionists are antisemitic or despise most Jews for their Zionism or for other prejudices, but enough of them are to think it’s the default, and those who aren’t are a small exception.

  • Avatar of Paul Carrington

    Paul Carrington22 October at 08:35 am

    You said that so well, Kate, thank you.

  • Avatar of Beverley Dight

    Beverley Dight22 October at 08:21 am

    I would like to point out to Kate Lewis that not all anti-Zionists are anti-Jews. Also I avoid social media as it seems to attract some very negative people. My mother was Jewish, but i could be described as an anti-Zionist, as I believe it is barbaric to destroy another people because you covet their land, which Israel has been doing since 1948. This was acknowledged by the first Prime Minister of Israel, David Ben Gurion, when he famously said “Let us recognize the truth amongst ourselves. We are the political aggressors. They defend themselves. It is their land because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come and settle here.”

    Best wishes,
    Beverley

  • Avatar of Larry Stillman

    Larry Stillman22 October at 07:47 am

    If the writer had actually written something factual and named people and exactly identified what they had said and done and demonstrated that it was generalizable I could take this seriously.

    This is like one of Donald Trumps fictions about ‘immigrants’ and crime which include made up quotes. There might be a tiny element of truth buried somewhere, but the fiction is actually taken as true, amplified and passed on to the frightened and gullible.

    As a generic picture of antizionists=antisemites, I can’t take this seriously at all, much as I have issues with the politics of certain antizionists and groups who don’t know much about Jews in general and particularly about the fate of Israeli Jews. But I think that is a minority of people concerned about Israel’s actions against Palestinians.

    To what purpose is has been published, other than to engage in self-righteousness and refusal to acknowledge that actually, there is a reason for people being angry with Israel or those who support what is going on?

    Aside from the minority of idiots, there are a lot of serious and sober people, sickened by what Hamas did and sickened by the Israeli response. That is what the write absolutely fails to deal with.

  • Avatar of Ruth Rosen

    Ruth Rosen22 October at 06:36 am

    Thank you, Kate for a thoughtful and well-expressed response to the anti-Israel /anti-Jewish words and actions that are so difficult for us to come to terms with.

  • Avatar of Suzanne Wolf

    Suzanne Wolf22 October at 06:33 am

    Well said Kate. And your comments are equally relevant and important for the anti-Zionists in our own community.

  • Avatar of Kerri Schwarze

    Kerri Schwarze22 October at 06:01 am

    Straight from the heart, a powerful statement that should be read by many more people. Well said Kate

  • Avatar of Ann Rudowski

    Ann Rudowski22 October at 04:09 am

    A clearly stated and powerful response.

  • Avatar of Penny

    Penny21 October at 10:47 am

    Well said Kate!

  • Avatar of michelle tamala

    michelle tamala21 October at 10:05 am

    This is so well written, so logical and rational. Sadly this probably means that the people who need to read it, understand it and do some house cleaning of their dangerous stupidity will neither read or understand it . “What about ….?” Needs to be banned.

  • Avatar of Veronica Sumegi

    Veronica Sumegi21 October at 07:41 am

    Well said.

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