I am a Jew who opposes the international law violating the rights of Palestinian people in the so-called territories. Those should not be "owned" by Israel, they should be a 100% sovereign Palestinian state and should probably receive reparations at the very least for what they have been through. There is nothing intellectually dishonest about Jewish self-determination.
Again, here you are tokenizing one anti-Zionist Jewish perspective about Zionism and what it is or isn't and trying to tell me, a Jewish person about why it's "wrong." As if Theodore Herzl spoke for all of the underpinnings of Zionism ever; I'm assuming you're Latinx and familiar with many of the migrations across Latin America, often driven by American/Canadian colonialism/imperialism. For generations people are driven from their homes, displaced, and to suggest that 18th century Jews "were not interested" in returning to Israel is again A) a total bastardization and misunderstanding of our culture and faith, and B) a gross reduction of human experience in the event of traumatic displacement and the hopelessness of statelessness and alienation in the generations that follow. Many Ethiopian immigrants who fled war haven't been home in generations now, and it might not be safe for some of them to even consider returning for hundreds of years (I hope not). If over the course of generations some lose "hope" of return due to geopolitical conflict but retain many elements of their distinct Ethiopian culture and pride, has it not still been their "home" this whole time?
It's complicated. The very concept of belonging and connection to land is very complex, and one which many Indigenous peoples will understand. You don't get to selectively choose the words of one slanderous anti-Zionist organization and presume that all Jews haven't yearned to come home OR to erase the many non-European Jews who came home even before the European-style Zionist movement gained traction, and especially the Jews who remained in Israel in perpetuity, in spite of horrific conditions throughout several antisemitic empires that relegated them to such horrific states as being "dhimmi" status.
Every border is inherently colonial in the modern world. Israel was not the only state created through the Balfour Declaration, and many other conflicts throughout the region are largely ignored on a global scale. The notion that only the Jewish state is the one that should--of all colonial/imperialist countries and borders in this world--be DESTROYED is fundamentally antisemitic. This is our land, our heritage, our home. It is also the home of Palestinians who deserve to live in peace and with dignity.
The actions of the American government don't justify the notion that America should be destroyed and all non-Indigenous and possibly non-Black residents should be forced to leave any more than whatever colonial aspects of Israel's government (which there are many to be sure) would justify the notion that Israel should be erased--and that is with the STARK contrast where white people with no history or connection whatsoever to this continent set foot here and mass murdered people. I've written an essay here which you are welcome to read as to why calling Israel's actions "genocidal" (among other things) is a fallacious projection of the situation:
I don't doubt you'll disagree with it, but you'll note even in this article that I gladly refer to many of the Israeli government's actions as abominations, atrocities and human rights violations. I concede in that. But if we're not suggesting that any and every other country in which governments/peoples commit human rights violations should be dismantled (which would be every country on earth, but especially USA, China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Turkey, India and Mexico among many others) then there's no reason to do so for the sole Jewish country that exists in our cherished homeland -- after repeated attempts, some quite successful-- to cleanse us and genocide us into oblivion in most of the countries around the world, and continued threats to fulfill that same agenda.
I'll say it again: you are tokenizing Jews that you agree with. You can agree with the politics of Israel and make every rightful attempt to hold the Israeli government accountable while also recognizing that whether you like it or not, this is the Jewish homeland, it's been around now for longer than even some American states have (and many, many countries' borders/statehoods around the world), and that calling for its demise will be a reflection of your own willful, selective picking on Jews and undermining our history and autonomy, no matter how many times a few token assimilated Jews and other social justice warriors validate that you are right. You're not, and you sound like an antisemite, though most people who are as voraciously anti-Israel as I'm gathering you are tend to take that as a compliment or badge of honor at this point.
