#Paelstine / When 'progressive' politics masks colonial hierarchies…

Israeli-Palestinian graduate student Jiwara Badr confronts Israeli attitudes toward Palestinians in a startling essay he titled “Let's talk about this village that you're so eager to burn”.

It opens with Badr's firsthand experience in #Jerusalem (al-Quds), where he hears drunk bar patrons enthusiastically singing "Let Your Village Burn" - a moment that crystallizes what he sees as mainstream Israeli attitudes toward Palestinian communities. This scene is immediately juxtaposed with his late-night encounter with Palestinian workers repairing streets in Tel Aviv, highlighting the stark irony at the heart of his argument: the same people some Israelis gleefully speak of harming are essential to building and maintaining Israeli society.

The echoes of Kristallnacht in these calls for burning villages are chilling, but equally striking is Badr's critique of Israel's liberal left.

[…] Don't misunderstand me. I don't operate on the principle of 'the enemy of my enemy is my friend.' To the other part of the nation, the 'Kaplanists,' champions of democracy and supporters of the regular protests, I have a few words for you too. You who stood in the squares for almost two full years in freezing cold and scorching heat, in rain and sun, waving flags and shouting slogans empty of any real content, listen carefully to what I have to say.

Put aside your naive fantasies about 'the good old Israel.' Because we, the Arabs - just like all those you love to call 'Bibists' with obvious contempt - have no intention of allowing you to 'restore former glory.' For you, 'Jewish and democratic state' is just another worn-out slogan; for us, it's one big paradox - another mechanism of oppression disguised as fake 'equality.' And if you don't align with us and internalize the new political reality, where your status is losing height, don't expect to see us standing behind you and certainly not beside you - not in Kaplan Square and not in Neve Shalom.

The equation is very simple: if you're not with us, we're not with you.

———

This is a powerful commentary that resonates deeply with me as a Jewish Israeli. The truth is that Israel's left was comfortably [part of the] establishment until it found itself on the outside. It never formed genuine partnerships with most Israelis, let alone with Palestinians. Instead, it maintained a position of privileged criticism while benefiting from the very systems it claimed to oppose… being so afraid to speak out, let alone demonstrate against the genocide in Gaza, is really the end of the story for Israel’s left in that respect (or whatever is left of it).

Hebrew https://www.mekomit.co.il/%d7%91%d7%95%d7%90%d7%95-%d7%a0%d7%a0%d7%91%d7%a8-%d7%a2%d7%9c-%d7%94%d7%9b%d7%a4%d7%a8-%d7%94%d7%96%d7%94-%d7%a9%d7%90%d7%aa%d7%9d-%d7%9b%d7%9c-%d7%9b%d7%9a-%d7%9c%d7%94%d7%95%d7%98%d7%99%d7%9d/

@israel
@palestine
#IsraelOccupation
#IsraelWarCrimes
#GazaGenocide