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There is a verse in the Talmud (Shavuot 39a) that states kol yisrael arevim zeh bazeh, or “all Jews are responsible for one
another.” Because my activism for Palestine takes place in the form of mutual aid work, I have been contemplating the notion of collective responsibility in terms of correcting material harms committed by the Jewish community. The Talmud is the primary source of Jewish religious law. The slogan “Not in our Name” has become ubiquitous with the views of the organized anti-Zionist Jewish community, in protest of the genocide in Gaza. This call desperately needs to be elevated to a material level. As anti-Zionist Jews publicly reckon with the reality of Zionist Jewish institutions, and the insidious propaganda they perpetuate, it is crucial to remember that diaspora Jews, mainly in North America, have sent over five billion New Israeli Shekels (NIS) since October 7. This is nearly two billion US dollars – an amount that has very likely increased since the source’s publication in March. While this, of course, pales in comparison to the billions of dollars that the US government has sent to Israel this year alone, there is a valuable inter-Jewish community conversation that needs to take place, especially among Jews in opposition to the ongoing genocide of Palestinians in their homeland. The material harm caused by the surge in donations and grassroots crowd funding from the North American Jewish community cannot be overlooked or brushed away. Wartime tourism to the Zionist state has surged since October 7, 2023, as Jewish organizations pour hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Zionist entity. People on these trips come back ready to regurgitate widely debunked propaganda in order to continually manufacture consent for genocide under the guise of “fighting anti-Semitism.” Are Jews not responsible for countering this harm caused by members of our religious community? A hallmark of Yom Kippur liturgy, the viddui prayer, engages congregants in an ancient, collective reckoning with the transgressions committed by all members of the Jewish community. There are many ways to reckon with the harm of Zionism, such as directly engaging members of one’s community or family and challenging the Zionist norms of Jewish institutions. However, because the material harm caused by members of our religious community is significant – whether through donations, Israel Occupying Force (IOF) service, or furthering the hysteria around “anti-Zionism is anti-Semitism” – anti-Zionist Jews of principle must work to ensure Palestinians struggling to survive genocide can have their very basic needs met. In the fall of 2023, it was common discourse amongst anti-Zionist Jews to express outrage at former childhood friends posting grassroots crowdfunds for the IOF – which have re-emerged in the wake of Israel’s assault on Lebanon – but little has been done by the organized anti-Zionist Jewish community to materially correct these harms. In fact, prominent Jewish anti-Zionists have financially benefitted from the genocide by hosting courses on “undoing Zionism” and upping their rates for speaking engagements as their social media followings surge. I do not want to discount the transformative power of education; Jewish Voice for Peace’s resources were life changing for me when I began to unlearn deeply ingrained Zionist propaganda in college. However, education and group processing needs to be put on hold as Gazans are bombed and starved on an unprecedented level for an entire year. Jewish North Americans in solidarity with Palestine need to be redirecting any profits gained from their public persona to those directly impacted by this genocide, especially if they gained prominence after October 7, 2023 due to their anti-Zionist views. This is a call for anti-Zionist Jewish North Americans to take stock of their solidarity and engage in crowd funding efforts. If we are serious about our solidarity, we must lift the burden of crowd funding off the shoulders of the Palestinians and Arabs who are leading the charge to help Gazans afford their basic needs for food, water, and shelter. The Sanabel Team is a Palestinian-led initiative that distributes food across Gaza and supports Gazan refugees in Egypt. Mutual aid is a bandaid fix to relentless bombing, starvation, and disease, but it is resistance to systemic genocide nonetheless. People of conscience, regardless of their religion, should be exhausting their resources and social networks for those living through genocide. This is especially true for people who went on so-called Birthright, have spent time or money in occupied Palestine, or have participated in the programming of tax-deductible organizations that fund and/or endorse the genocide perpetuated by the Zionist entity with American backing. When I have broached the need for Jewish anti-Zionists to give reparations, especially if they have traveled to occupied Palestine, I have been met with defensiveness. “I could never quantify how much money I have spent there!” “Why am I personally responsible for giving reparations?” Others have made the case that because there are no anti-Zionist Jewish institutions that are flush with endowments like their Zionist counterparts, trying to fiscally counter the harm they cause is useless. All such speculation is irrelevant. I invite fellow anti-Zionist Jews to do teshuvah and reflect on what they are doing for Palestine at this moment, and to determine if a shift in tactics is needed. Crowd funding is the result of the free world’s failure to stop the genocide in Gaza. Organizations like Resource Generation have made quizzes to guide one’s given capacity for wealth redistribution. There are also many crowd funding networks, like Dahnoun Mutual Aid and Operation Olive Branch, that are actively looking for people to help the many families they support. Calling elected officials and protesting for months on end did not end the genocide. We must follow the rich traditions of Jewish radicalism by not looking to the state to meet our demands, and instead, providing lifesaving support to people in Gaza living under incomprehensible conditions. The US dollar has power, and it’s time for Jewish Americans to proclaim “Not In Our Name” as they mobilize their communities to materially support Gazans living through genocide. Do not only mourn the murdered; fight for the living too. Lilli is a Bay Area transplant, mutual aid organizer & former Jewish educator from the Midwest. You can read her work at substack.com/@lillichka.
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