Anti-Semitism is different from anti-Zionism. Zionism refers historically to the goal to turn the nation of Palestine into the nation of Israel and allow Jewish families to settle there, which did occur. Many Jewish people were against the Zionism movement at the time because the movement used harsh tactics and also possibly because many Jewish people preferred to live where-ever they were already living at the time and they didn’t want to move to Palestine. Some Jewish people at the time also preferred to continue working towards coexisting with other ethnic groups; as many Jewish people were being comfortably accepted within mixed communities at the time. These anti-Zionist Jewish people didn’t want the Jewish people as a group to be seen to be working towards becoming more exclusionary by seeking a separate nation for a religious group – as that is the opposite of becoming more accepted and fitting in within a culturally mixed nation.
Anti-Semitism refers to discrimination and hate crimes aimed at all people of Jewish background which became more prolific during World War II.
Currently in the United States there has been increased interest and support of the anti-Zionist movement to Boycott, Divest, Sanction (BDS) Israel for the maltreatment of Palestinian people. But there has also been an increase in anti-Semitic attacks of Jewish reporters and other Jewish people and Jewish topics in general which seems to have been brought out by the negative tone of the 2016 Presidential campaign.
This link discusses anti-semitism and anti-zionism: http://voxpoliticalonline.com/2016/10/03/why-are-we-discussing-fake-anti-semitism-when-the-real-thing-is-marching-around-in-jackboots-again/
And this link takes a closer look at the changes that have been seen during the 2016 political season: http://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2016/10/donald-trump-anti-semitism-young-jews-214314
I have a few posts on this website about anti-Zionism and the maltreatment of Palestinian people but It is not in support of anti-Semitism or in support of mistreatment of Jewish people simply because they are Jewish. That would be no better than mistreating Palestinian people just because they live in Palestine.
Here’s a link about a different group of people who have experienced both discrimination and the 2016 political season and they have some common sense to share with younger generations — no one, no candidate is perfect, and turning the clock backwards on civil rights would be worse than voting for someone who is just not perfect: http://fusion.net/story/352995/older-black-women-might-save-america-from-trump/
This is 2016 rather than 1945, we need to accept that people have differences and work together to share our planet’s resources instead of destroying the planet’s dwindling resources with bombs and pollutants. We as a species seem to be excelling at causing the extinction of other species; it would seem sensible to start worrying more about the longterm viability of our species and the planet and less about blowing each other up in the name of loving God. I don’t remember ever hearing that God said go forth and bomb but I do remember a line about going forth and procreating. Pouring poisonous chemicals on our planet is ruining the ability of many species to go forth and procreate — including our own. Eventually the policy writers will realize that money can’t really buy health or fertility — but will they discover it in time to save our species or other species from becoming extinct?
No one is perfect and that includes the policy writers — It’s time to rewrite how we’re doing things before the future arrives and we find out that it has been damaged in ways that we won’t be able to repair but will have to cope with anyway. Seven species of wild bees in Hawaii have been declared endangered. Hawaii has been used extensively for development of genetically modified crops that are resistant to herbicides. Citizens have been sickened by the large amounts of agribusiness chemicals that have been used on Hawaiian islands. Bees are a major group of pollinator’s for many types of wild plants and commercial crops. Rumor suggests that the agribusiness Monsanto has been working on creating genetically modified flying ants to become a replacement pollinator for the dying bees — wouldn’t not poisoning the original pollinator’s make more sense – especially as their health affects the health of the entire food chain — which we also depend on for our survival as a species.
Albert Einstein was Jewish and he was anti-Zionist and he cared about bees.
“If the bee disappeared off the surface of the globe, then man would have only four years of life left. No more bees, no more pollination, no more plants, no more animals, no more man.” – Albert Einstein [goodreads.com]
Quotes of letters Albert Einstein wrote regarding the goals of Zionism to create a nation for Jewish people are available here: [http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2014/08/einstein-warned-israeli-mistreatment-arabs.html] He supported working with the Arab people rather than making a separate nation for people of the Jewish faith and he condemned the mass murders that were committed by Jewish terrorist groups during the formation of Israel from the nation of Palestine.
I am strongly in support of equal rights for all people and against discrimination and unequal treatment of some groups by other groups. The United States is borrowing money and blowing it up in the form of drone bombs and/or giving it to Israel for them to blow up in the pursuit of taking other people’s homeland in the name of religion.
God didn’t say go forth and bomb — he said go forth and procreate – if I remember correctly. The search engine suggests that the phrase has been translated in two ways, “Be fruitful and multiply” or “Go forth and multiply.” (Genesis 1:28) The following discussion suggests that the word “multiply” is not referring to a math term but is instead referring to increasing family or community size or amount of agricultural cropland, as the study of mathematics was not as valued during early Christianity as it was valued and advanced during the history of Islam: https://www.laetusinpraesens.org/musings/multiply.php
Going forth and multiplying is a nice idea but at some point reality has to set in regarding the size of the planet and its supply of non-renewable resources — all living things can only grow as long as nutrients are available and toxins are removed. Humans are not above reality – if we don’t take care of our waste we will poison the ecosystem for all species trying to live within it not just our own. If the bees all become extinct and we are dependent on genetically modified flying ants that have to be purchased from Monsanto will we be obeying the command to “go forth and multiply” because we created GMO flying ants or will we have just killed off all the bees and put our own species and the rest of the food chain at great risk of also becoming extinct?
Is endangering all of the species of the planet worth allowing one ethnic group (European Jewish ancestry) to take the land of other people and to harass and murder them whether they are of Muslim, Christian, or non-European (the actual Semites are the people who were native to the area where Palestine is located and some of them are Jewish and others are Muslim or Christian) Jewish background? This is a he said/she said type of story with different versions of history being emphasized by different groups — Jewish version suggests the increased economy created by the settlement of Palestine by Jewish settlers brought more Muslim immigrants to the area who hadn’t been native. See this link for more information: http://www.israeladvocacy.net/knowledge/the-truth-about-palestinian-refugees/did-european-jews-displace-palestinians/#sthash.zgxJoOt6.dpbs
History is as clear as mud but the future is ours to write — let’s write one that has fewer bombs and more cooperation (and hopefully that future will end up having more wild bees and fewer genetically modified flying ants – that part is likely as the GMO flying ant story was a fake news story that got picked as real [link].)
Never fear – some Harvard researchers have been working on robotic bees to take over pollination if we do manage to kill off all the natural bee species. [link] — I still fear the loss of our planet’s natural species.
I would rather have an ecosystem that supports life rather than have an agricultural industry that supports mini robots and kills life (the purpose of food is to support life of living creatures, not robots, so a food supply that is deadly to small organisms seems like a food supply that might not be ideal for the supporting the health of larger organisms either. An industry funded study that looks at the health consequences of a food used for a few months in an animal based study is not really proof that it is safe for the health of someone who might be eating the food throughout an eighty year life span.).
Anti-Semitism is a term that generally refers to hate crimes and discrimination of Jewish people in general while anti-Zionism refers to a political movement that was against the takeover of Palestine by Israel.
Hate crimes are wrong. Genocide is wrong. Genocide of bees is not conducive to the health of most other species living on the planet including the human race. Religion does not make it right to kill other species or ethnic groups. Fear of people who are not the same as yourself does not make it right to harass or kill people who are different from yourself.
Fear of change is not a good excuse to continue ignoring the fact that human practices are killing many other species and poisoning the long term health or our planet’s oceans, soil and air. We only have one planet, if we poison it then we are not only poisoning ourselves we are poisoning every other living thins as well — and that is not just or right — The Bible does not say that God said go forth and multiply exponentially. Species including humans have instincts to live sustainably within the environment and to not harvest all of a species so that it will continue to flourish in future seasons.
Sharks are an example of a natural predator that tends to only take the older, weaker members of group leaving the other species as a healthier group with greater odds of survival. http://www.sharksavers.org/en/education/the-value-of-sharks/sharks-role-in-the-ocean/
By allowing groups of humans the right to pollute for profit or to bomb for territory disputes we are also providing ourselves and all the species on the planet with the right to increased rates of cancer, chronic and acute illness, and increased amounts of birth defects and infertility.
Bombing other people or building a wall will not prevent pollutants from vaporizing in warm regions and drifting on the breeze and condensing out over cooler regions. Bombing the Middle East adds pollution to the whole planet not just the Middle East. Is Zionism really worth poisoning our planet’s future?
The United States gives more money to Israel than any other nation and has pledged even more over the next ten years — is supporting Zionism more important than our own country’s or our own children’s future?
–Not to the 81% of Americans surveyed who opposed the $38 billion dollar promise to Israel: http://original.antiwar.com/smith-grant/2016/09/19/81-americans-oppose-38-billion-pledge-israel/
It’s time to try some new strategies instead of continuing to blow up money in the pursuit of increased global pollution (and support of Zionism). All Jewish people are not to blame for the crimes that some caused anymore than all Americans are to blame for the drone bombing of civilians throughout many areas of the Middle East — but if we aren’t to blame than who is? It is our military industrial complex and our tax dollars and borrowed debt that is being blown up and causing an increased rate of birth defects — so as someone who has paid a fair amount of taxes over the course of my working life I do feel that we are all to blame for how our nation is spending that money — poisoning children and poisoning bees is not something I’m proud of, it’s not humane or sensible or sustainable — it costs a lot of money to build a bomb and blow it up — ignoring the cost of lost lives, clean up and repair — because that doesn’t seem to be important to anyone but the survivors.
Empathy exercise — think about the 9/11 bombing of the Twin Towers — now multiply that by bombings going on for many years in many cities — seems kind of a lot worse when you go forth and multiply the terror over decades, over an entire region.
/Disclaimer: This information is provided for educational purposes within the guidelines of fair use. While I am a Registered Dietitian this information is not intended to provide individual health guidance. Please see a health professional for individual health care purposes./