Sometimes I feel like the only non-zionist Jew

I can't be the only one, can I? I know there are fewer Jews in the world than some other religions, but there have to be other non-zionist Jews, right?

What am I even talking about? Palestine. How is it that even one person can look at what Israel is doing to the Palestinians—what they have been doing to the Palestinians since 1948—and say, "Yep, that's the way it's gotta be"? I've been on Tumblr throughout this and several other Israeli attacks on Gaza and the West Bank, and I've seen more about hospitals bombed flat, people being told to flee to a particular location so they can get bombed out, promises of seasonal truces that co-incide with American media events, dead children, and graphic descriptions of dismemberment, evisceration, and decapitation than I am ever going to be able to forget, even if I live for a thousand years.

Pretty much every world power stands united behind Israel in spite of all the reports from the bombing zones, finding some new way to dismiss it as "fake news" or "exaggeration". First, it was "prove to us that you are suffering." Then, when Palestine came with the proof, we Trumpishly started yelling "Photoshop! Photoshop! ChatGPT! Fake news!" And now, it's "have you ever considered that maybe you deserve to suffer?". Every possible tool in the propagandist toolbox has been used to discredit and finally dismiss the so-called "Israeli/Hamas War". And, just when South Africa came with the accusation of war crimes and the International Court of Justice was convened for the first time since Milosevic, America comes in and presses its Imperialism button again. Israel is told it has to stop bombing civilians, so all of a sudden, there are no more Palestinian civilians, they're all Hamas. From maternity wards full of decomposing premature babies to nursing homes full of octogenarians, they're all enemy combatants. Israel is left free to continue its holocaust and nothing has changed except a new document was written.

America is a land of dangerous binary absolutes, and this new crisis has done more for lagging recruitment in the Neo-nazis than a decade of "shadow government/lizard people" propaganda. To the American brain, there are only two options in all cases. You're either a democrat or a republican. It's either Pepsi or Coke. Burger King or McDonalds. With us or against us. How has this got any bearing on Palestine? Neo-nazis have seated themselves in the non-zionist camp, painting themselves as the one good option. I can't exaggerate when I say that this is perfect for their movement. Don't get me wrong, they hate Muslims and Jews, but Muslims less so. Obviously, their entire raison d'être is to bring about the extermination of Jews. Right? Neo-nazi, as in Hitler. On the other side of the issue, you have every single politician in every single legislative body in the country, calling for increased funding and weapons for Israel, aid and comfort for Israel, and news bureaux who eat that stuff up and regurgitate it into the public eye on a daily basis. These people's opinions of Jews is "oh, they need to get to Israel so they'll be safe". What neither side realises is that they're both working for a common goal: the removal of Jews from America. Joe Biden, himself, even said something to the effect of "without Israel, the Jewish people will never be safe". That tells me that his Catholic ass wants the Jews out his country yesterday, and if Israel somehow fails in its endeavour to exterminate the Palestinians, it's open season on American Jews. Regardless of which way it turns out, we lose. If Israel succeeds, we're evil and should be punished in kind. If Israel fails, we get scapegoated again.

I just feel like I'm the only one who sees this. Even my rabbi can't be convinced. I had to quit going to temple back in October because he kept condemning "Hamas" and refused my request to say mi shebeirach for the children who were being slowly starved to death. I mean, this is the least possible thing that anyone can do; pray for them. And he wouldn't even do the least possible thing. In his mind, they were getting some kind of retribution for something, so I just decided I couldn't take it anymore. It's not like I was a particularly religious person to begin with. Half my family are radical Christians who hated the fact I was practising Judaism again after the grandparents had done such a thorough job of erasing it back in the '50s. I was even confirmed as a Methodist back in junior high. It's all a lot of inane superstition and time-consuming ritual that it seemed like elderly people used to have an excuse to congregate in a place that wasn't a rest home. I still believe that; I think that's all Christianity and Orthodox Judaism is, is a reason to be with people. People think they have a connection to Jesus or to Adonais, but really they're just connecting with each other. I can do that down the indie coffeehouse well enough, and no one is going to expect me to sing "Bim-Bam Shabbat Shalom" (even though I can and I'm quite good at it). I still practised the ritual stuff myself; the Tashlich, fasting on Yom Kippur, the Passover seder; because I had my own reasons for doing it. But now...

I'm sort of on the edge of a schism with Judaism at this point. It would help me a lot if I could discover with any degree of certainty that I'm not the only non-zionist Jew in this city. Our congregation at temple had 75 people in it; it would be a great help to know that at least one other person out of those 75 didn't believe Israel deserves to expand all the way to the sea. That connection that people need out of religion: I need it now.

I still don't think I've said what I came here to say, but I'm tired of writing. I'm tired of this whole damn thing. I mean, "ceasefire" is the second-least possible thing that can be done. What does it mean? "Stop firing." Calling for a ceasefire doesn't mean you're demanding that Israel rebuild everything they destroyed or pay reparations or whatever, it just means you're saying "hey, knock that off". America can't even fucking do that. Of course not. "We hate Jews here, sir". They just want Israel to bring about the Rapture. Christian zionists are using Israel as a tool for their own ends. I just wonder what's going to happen afterwards. Obviously, the Rapture isn't going to happen. Once it doesn't turn out like a Hieronymus Bosch painting like all the Christians and Catholics expect it to, what's going to happen next?