Jewish Anti-Zionists Fight Slander Against Their Pro-Palestinian Advocacy

 

Those who claim pro-Palestinian Jews are not really Jewish are “by my definition, completely unhinged.”

Jewish activists across the world have attended pro-Palestinian protests for the past six months to stand against Israel’s war on Gaza, which is being examined at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as a “plausible” case of genocide.

Many of those Jewish activists face claims from some of Israel’s supporters that they are not really Jewish, or that they are “self-hating.” Activists say these insults erase a long history of Jewish solidarity in fighting against oppression and opposing Zionism.

David Mivasair, a retired rabbi living in Hamilton who served two different synagogues for about 23 years in Vancouver, told The Maple he has frequently received such allegations on social media and in the Jewish community because of his stand against genocide in Gaza.

“Zionist organizations and people try everything they can to discredit me,” Rabbi Mivasair explained. Some Hamiltonians wrote letters to the editor of a local newspaper claiming he is an antisemite.

“I became a rabbi, and I spent my entire life promoting Judaism,” he said. 

Rabbi Mivasair is not invited to any meetings or events held at Jewish schools, seniors’ homes, family service centres, or summer camps run by pro-Israel organizations because of his position on Israel. He said that he is a “persona non grata” among such groups.  (more...)

Jewish Anti-Zionists Fight Slander Against Their Pro-Palestinian Advocacy