Author: juedischeskomitee

When we first saw the call to action a few weeks before 8^th of March 2024, we were delighted: Finally there was a feminist position that criticised the selective feminism of the last months in relation to the massacre of 7th of October massacre.

In order to be in solidarity with the Palestinian civilian population, it is not necessary to relativise the violence of 7 October!

We – a small group of FLINTA*, part of the Jewish Revolutionary Committee – got the impression that this demonstration was not about taking sides on the Israel-Palestine issue, but about being humane and feminist in solidarity with the civilian victims of violence – with Jews and Palestinians, with Kurds, Yazidis, Afghans and many more.

Finally, five months after the 7^th of October, we had the feeling of being seen; the feeling that we were explicitly included at a left feminist event. This had rarely been the case in progressive left circles. On the contrary, the silence, relativisation and legitimisation of sexualised violence against Jewish people was the norm, not the exception. The lack of solidarity was justified by one side of the political spectrum with the argument that the massacres of the 7^th of October was a legitimate act of the Palestinian liberation struggle. At the same time, Jews were instrumentalised by the other side for rassist narratives. This is painful for us.

Several of our group members attended one of the biggest events on the 8^th of March last year: the antiracist demonstration of the Alliance of Internationalist Feminists. These visits were filled with insecurity and the feeling of not being included and not being welcome.

The Palestinian flag was the only flag flying at these demonstrations, placards celebrated Leila Khaled, who was involved in the hijacking of the Munich plane, as a feminist icon, and the Alliance’s website did not even mention anti-Semitism or solidarity with the Jewish FLINTA* in its list of forms of discrimination being fought against.

This year we read quotes like “Sexual assault as propaganda to facilitate genocide in Gaza” (https://www.instagram.com/p/C0kSxIpMwiO/?img_index=1) in Instagram posts by the Alliance of Internationalist Feminists. Participating in a demonstration that normalises and legitimises violence against Jewish people is impossible for us. The instrumentalisation of the conflict and the adoption of completely one-sided positions also leads to a polarisation that is dangerous for both Jews and Palestinians. We criticise such an instrumentalisation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – especially on Feminist Action Day.

In feminism_unlimited’s call, however, simultaneity was allowed. It sounded as if we would not have to choose between “Free Gaza” and “Bring them home”; as if there would be a left demo this year, which would take into account our own as well as other perspectives and experiences, and which would put the focus back on the feminist for the 8^th of March.

So we walked with our small group on this sunny 8^th of March to the feminism_unlimited demonstration. Disclaimer: Our participation in the demo was unfortunately not a pleasant experience and we would like to share our experiences with you.

Our criticism will focus on three aspects: firstly, the discrepancy between the call for the demonstration and its implementation; secondly, our impression as Jewish people of ultimately not being “part of the demonstration” and “not being included”; and thirdly, the fetishisation of Jewish people at the demonstration.

In several speeches at the opening rally, the 7^th of October, the sexualised violence, the continuing violence of the kidnappings, the silence of feminist organisations worldwide and the fact that the principle of not believing the victims did not apply because they were Jewish was talked about. The fact that this was said, and that there were several statements by Jewish people, is enormously important.

But as time went on, we began to feel uncomfortable.

We noticed the one-sidedness of the speeches of the mostly Jewish speakers. Sharon Adler from AVIVA Berlin, Ruth Halperin-Kaddari, Hashomer Hatzair and the group Vitka spoke. As much as we were happy to hear different speeches from a Jewish perspective, where were the different perspectives of the people who had called for the demonstration in Instagram videos for feminism_unlimited? Finally, what had been missing from the leftist discourse for so long was addressed, but the ongoing violence against Palestinian civilians, the war in Gaza, the sexualised violence against Palestinian women and the rassist treatment of Palestinians in Germany were not mentioned?

The impulse of the demonstration, that it should also be about Jewish FLINTA*, was now changed to it should only be about Jewish FLINTA*.

But whenever two groups – as in the case of Israel/Palestine – are so violently and regularly pitted against each other, it is all the less acceptable to describe the suffering of only one side. And the violence inflicted on people must not be hierarchised or equated – it is different and individually cruel.

Selective solidarity is unacceptable in both directions, and as Jews we do not trust anyone who speaks out against anti-Semitism and for Jewish women while ignoring or deeming less important the violence against other groups.

In the case of white-Christian socialised Germans (“wc-Germans”), we suspect “purely symbolic criticism of anti-Semitism” or “wc-Germans who want to be on the right side of history”. But Jews also reproduce selective solidarity. We find it important to critically engage with the effects of this practice.

Because this one-sided discourse does not help Jewish people! On the contrary, it is a danger for us! A one-sided discourse on the Middle East conflict always harms Jewish people and therefore cannot be an anti-Semitic protest!

In the end, there was again the feeling of being instrumentalised for the need for binary thinking: the event of the Alliance of Internationalist Feminists on the one hand and that of feminism_unlimited on the other.

Throughout the entire duration of the kick-off rally, there were repeated references to violence against Jewish people and to Jewish people being left alone. This is violence that still continues. The 7^th of October is not over for us. The kidnappings and the rocket attacks are not over. We have not come to terms with it. Shock, fear and trauma are still with us.

During the rally, we kept close to our Jewish friends, we chatted, we couldn’t stand listening the whole time and yet what we heard seeped into us. And while we stood on this sunny afternoon at the demonstration, which wanted to stand in solidarity with us, we suddenly felt alone and no longer part of the large crowd around us.

The event was organised by various people, including some Jewish people and BiPoCs. Nevertheless, it was a predominantly white Christian event. White Germans can denounce violence against Jews, be outraged and sympathetic, but they do so from a safe inner distance. We, on the other hand, know and feel constantly that we are explicitly included in the hatred of Jews that drives this violence. The speeches triggered a sense of being affected and a pain that left us isolated and lonely.

The situation did not feel like an empowering feminist march for us.

Could it be that the organisers had not thought of us? That this demonstration was not meant for the victims of the violence mentioned here?

The fact that we were photographed again and again from the moment we arrived at the meeting point speaks for this. The demonstration was full of cameras: Large cameras, small cameras, reflex cameras, mobile cameras, cameras with mini lenses and cameras with lenses that were almost as long as an arm. And they were all aimed at our small Jewish group.

It was not clear to us whether the photographers were part of the demonstration or for which medium they were photographing. Sometimes we were asked for our permission, sometimes people took photos of us without asking – with our placards on which we positioned ourselves as Jewish. If we hesitated, we were asked again, or we were given instructions as to which posters and people should be in the picture, or at what angle to the sun we should stand. It felt as if we, as visible jewish FLINTA*, we were rare exhibits whose presence was so exciting and exotic that people wanted to get hold of us by photographing us. As if people had a right to these images of us. We were exposed without protection, we were alone with it, and we were made different by it. Nothing about it was empowering for us.

In the end, we were approached so often, or simply photographed, that we began to disguise ourselves, to hold the placards in our faces and, after a while, to turn the placards over so that we could have a moment’s peace. Not only was this extremely unpleasant, but we wondered what these people were trying to achieve when they appeared with their cameras. A political protest is not a photo competition. And it’s not right to photograph people at left-wing protests (especially without being asked!) and then publish these photos on Instagram and the like. Why not? Because “public” means “everyone can see these photos”, and in a country with rising AFD poll numbers and thousands of hidden Nazis, this can be very dangerous for people who took part in a left-wing demonstration and are also Jewish.

After two hours of rallying and demonstrating, we were exhausted and gave up. Although we had been particularly looking forward to the contributions of Hengameh and Latkes*. In the end, we were left with the feeling that “this demo is not for us either”. And why had we dared to expect anything else?

We would have liked to have heard from the organisers that the demonstrators were not to be photographed – or, if they were, that the photos were to be put online in a blurred form. Now many of the photos are on Instagram with clearly recognisable faces, and @feminism.unlimited has been tagged. The sheer number of cameras was also striking. Next time, point your cameras at the police violence at the protests and not at the protesters!

Furthermore, we would have liked to see the protest also talk about the suffering of the civil society in Gaza. At least the call spoke of universal feminist solidarity. Raising the issue of sexualised violence against Palestinian women does not relativise the violence against Israeli women.

We can not only mention both, we must do so!

written by three FLINTA* of the Jewish Revolutionary Committee

Berlin, November 2023

More than two years after the last outbreak of conflict in Palestine-Israel in 2021, the repercussion for Jews around the world is back – stronger than in previous years. Our voices and perspectives on this are diverse, we are a left-wing group of migrant Jews of Bukharian, Mizrahi and Ashkenazi origin in Germany.

What unites us is the bewilderment with which we look at the horror that took place in Israel on October 7th. Simultaneously, we must observe the right-wing extremist Israeli leadership disregarding the relatives of the hostages. Deploying their military force onto the Gaza Strip, causing the deaths of thousands of people.

As friends and family in Israel mourn their losses and the people in Gaza, overlooked by the world, lay their dead to rest, the struggle with the narrative still persists.
From the right and left, we are confronted with loud cries devoid of humanity and compassion or we’re met with an unsettling silence: the revealing silence of our political allies and friends, coupled with our own apprehensive silence. It seems that especially polarizing voices from people who have no personal connection to Palestine-Israel tend to escalate the situation and fuel it for their own purposes.
Peace initiatives within civil society on the ground have been striving for decades to shift from the war logic “us or them” toward an attitude of “us with them”. However, the polarizing discourse here is destroying these de-escalative efforts. We hear the same loud positions over and over again, entrenched behind a discursive front line.

The majority of the German society isn’t assisting Jewish individuals by endorsing racist and inhumane deportation policies, attempting to legitimize them through ‘imported antisemitism’. Germany’s and the EU’s racist migration policy has demonstrated very impressively for years that this society is still focused on excluding “foreigners” from Germany and Europe and not allowing them to reach German soil in the first place. It is outrageous how the German mainstream talks in unison about “imported antisemitism” – and over 90% of all antisemitic acts of violence are still committed by Germans! A society that boldly promotes falsehoods, offers no assurance for our security; relying on racism will not shield us from antisemitism!

German politicians should cease deflecting responsibilities onto minorities for the actions of their parents and grandparents generation and instead prioritize addressing issues within their own house. It would be ridiculous to claim that Germany has come to terms with its antisemitism or its Nazi continuities and has adopted a respectful attitude towards us Jews. Antisemitism is firmly anchored in the center of German society and the ever-present philosemitic excesses are superficial attempts to whitewash the failure to come to terms with Nazi structures and the actual tolerance towards Nazis, while ‘youth sin’ Nazis (such as Aiwanger) meet with great approval in ministerial posts and Nazi structures are tolerated and promoted in the German domestic intelligence services and the police.

This is precisely why we should not leave it to these (pseudo-enlightened) Germans to criticize antisemitism in our migrant ranks. But instead, the left migrants and anti-Zionist Jews close their eyes to the undeniable antisemitism in “our” ranks. While the left migrants adopts anti-Zionist positions, anti-Zionist Jews often find themselves in a token role. For the majority of these left individuals, Israel is seen as a colonial state founded by white settlers.

In Germany, Jews are not seen as part of a migrant community and are directly or indirectly excluded from it. They are ascribed privileges and denied that they are affected. In many places, the discourse of left migrants succumbs to the philosemitic German narrative about itself.
The narrative of Ashkenazi, Euro-American Jews, the focus on their experiences excludes our realities and our perspectives, leaving us alone with our pain and grief.

We rarely hear about the expulsion of ancient Jewish communities from the so-called MENA region with the rise of Arab nationalism. The Mizrahim and later also the Jewish people from Ethiopia (Beit Israel) and many other Jewish communities such as the Jewish community from Cochin (India) or the Jewish communities from China etc. represent more than half of Israel’s Jewish population and they have had a profound impact on Israel’s culture, politics and religion then and now.
Accordingly, labelling Israel entirely as a European colonial project of white Jews not only negates the antisemitic violence in the West, it also negates our non-ashkenazi history of expulsion from the Global South in a racist way.

Our impression of many prominent anti-Zionist Jews is that, after an initial Zionist socialization, they make a 180° turn – and ultimately entrench themselves in a “Zionist-Guilt” attitude.
As correct and valuable as their analysis of “Jewish supremacy in Palestine-Israel” may be at times, this Jewish anti-Zionist position fails to consider the reality of our lives, being socialized in antisemitic, even non-European, societies.

Therefore, we find it unacceptable to remain silent about the undeniable antisemitism within our migrant ranks, as some anti-Zionist Jews do. It is the silence about it that speaks particularly loudly.

In this context, an abstruse, selective and authoritarian reference to identity categories is very often found within the left migrants: all possible substantive positions are justified with the oppression of one’s own identity; all possible statements and actions – such as even the Hamas massacres – are categorized under the banner of anti-colonialism simply because it is (undoubtedly) oppressed people who are acting here. It is bizarre when criticism of BIPOCs is dismissed across the board as racist – even if it is other BIPOCs or Jewish Blacks and Jews of Colour who formulate this criticism. When criticism is voiced by BIPOCs, we see that the critical BIPOCs themselves are denied their identity – they are too assimilated, not real migrants at all; if you speak out against anti-Semitism as a migrant, you are immediately an anti-D – regardless of whether you are a migrant or a Jew.

In order to ultimately shield themselves from criticism, those anti-Zionist Jews are often brought out: people even have Jews as comrades, so they can’t be antisemitic themselves. Just as all men who have women as comrades cannot be sexist. Logically.

We all know that there is a certain amount of anti-Black, anti-Kurdish or anti-Arab racism in POC communities – as well as other forms of oppression, such as antisemitism. We should not continue to ignore this, but grow through solidarity and criticism to counter these forms of oppression in our ranks.

Jews are universally ascribed the attributes of being white and privileged – many Goyish migrants are completely ignorant of the antisemitic oppression that we experience both here and in our countries of origin. Ultimately, ignoring these experiences is a form of antisemitism that is both palpable and yet difficult to name.

Experiences of antisemitism from our countries of origin, some of which were post-Soviet, were often not directly verbalized by our parents and grandparents. The next generation was told: “Don’t tell anyone you’re Jewish. Don’t wear a star of David openly .” We learnt this as their children, we were taught from an early age onwards. These concerns have lost little of their justification in this country; in fact, they are more relevant today than ever. There is a painful lack of left migrant solidarity regarding antisemitic attacks and assaults in Germany these days.

The Shoah survivors living in Germany were robbed of their family members, a happy childhood, their health, and their family’s possessions. Low or very late compensation payments under the ‘reparations agreement’ do not prevent 93% of Shoah survivors from post-Soviet states living on basic income support and in poverty.
Contingent refugees, who make up the majority of Jews living in Germany, were comparatively less harassed by the immigration authorities and generally did not have to fear for their residence status. Apart from this, they are exposed to the structural racism in Germany that continues unabated today, the redistribution according to federal states, communal accommodation and precarization. The educational qualifications of quota refugees were generally not recognized. Many have toiled under precarious and exploitative conditions in German factories and care homes. The attribution of alleged Jewish privileges is tantamount to making these stories invisible.

We are aware of how anti-Palestinian and anti-Muslim racism flares up in times of a renewed outbreak of war. We clearly criticize the one-sidedness of many pro-Israeli voices and stand in solidarity against the undeniable massive oppression of Palestinians – here and now, in Palestine-Israel and in Germany. In these “our ranks”, too, we are currently experiencing a flare-up of “friend-enemy” thinking and open anti-Arab racism; we are witnessing a blanket demonization of Palestinian voices, Palestinian flags, Kūfiyyāt – all in the name of supposedly protecting us Jews. We are experiencing a silence in our Jewish ranks regarding the warmongering in Palestine-Israel, a hesitation to clearly reject it.

Yes, Israel should defend itself – and Israel has all the means to do so. But how many more wars (2008, 2012, 2014, 2021) are to take place, none of which have brought peace or security? How many more of our relatives and friends should die in these “wars on terror”, which have already failed to bring peace to other countries (Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, Syria…)? It is always the same solution: violence against as well as harassment of Palestinians, supposedly in defense of one’s own security – these supposed “solutions” have not brought security for anyone for decades, neither for Jews nor for Palestinians. We do not want mantra-like solidarity with Israel.

At Arab-Palestinian demonstrations in Neukölln, we see the sad and horrified faces that fear and worry for their siblings in Palestine. We show solidarity with the demonstrators who are exercising their basic right to demonstrate despite a repressive state, a political establishment, and a violent police force.
But the demonstrations and the slogans being shouted there, as well as the acceptance of Islamofascist elements, also remind us of the stories of our families who had to flee from brutal pogroms (by the Muslim majority communities) in Yemen and Syria.

We want civil society peace initiatives in Palestine-Israel in particular, to take ‘Oasis of Peace’ as an example, to be heard. We join their voices and are in favor of the immediate release of all hostages held by Hamas. In the short term the protection of civilians can only be achieved through a ceasefire. In the long term that can only be achieved by peace negotiations.

We are fighting for a common critical and solidary Jewish left migrant that stands on the side of civilians in Palestine-Israel and firmly rejects the extremist leaderships of both sides.

In joint force such as “Palestinians and Jews for Peace” in Cologne and many other initiatives in Palestine-Israel show that solidarity between Jews and Palestinians is possible. That we can listen to each other, discuss and be active together.

We agree with the statement from Palestine-Israel and its core statements:
“There is no contradiction between the firm rejection of Israeli subjugation and occupation of the Palestinians and the unequivocal condemnation of brutal acts of violence against innocent civilians. In fact, any consistent person from the radical left must hold both positions simultaneously.”

https://portside.org/2023-10-17/statement-behalf-israel-based-progressives-and-peace-activists-regarding-debates-over

Berlin, November 2023

written by three members of the Jüdisches Revolutionskomitee