Feature image of Sarah McBride by Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Last Wednesday, as the reality of a second Trump term settled into our guts, queer people were understandably eager for good news. One such story oft-repeated was Delaware State Senator Sarah McBride becoming the first trans person in Congress. During an election cycle where trans people were one of the primary scapegoats for Republicans — and post-election for Democrats — there’s a comfort in knowing actual trans individuals are still breaking barriers and fighting for our rights.
But McBride is more than her trans identity. It’s possible to celebrate this milestone while not stopping at that celebration. As an elected official, McBride deserves a thorough examination of her beliefs and values. She is more than her first. She also, notably, believes healthcare is a human right. She advocates for universal coverage with guaranteed paid sick leave, paid medical leave, and paid family leave. Her healthcare advocacy also includes an important focus on reproductive care.
She lists the environment, criminal justice reform, gun safety, and worker’s rights among her other priorities — with various degrees of specificity and commitment. While her alignment with the Biden administration likely played well for her campaign in Delaware, it causes me concern. Will McBride be an exciting young voice in Congress or just another mainstream Democrat who lacks the urgency to meet the moment?
There is one issue on which McBride is eager to assert her commitment. That issue is Israel.
McBride is certainly not unique among Democrats — her beloved Biden administration has unequivocally aided Israel in its increased violence against Palestinians over the past 400+ days — but her beliefs are even more Zionist than the congresswoman she’s replacing. Representative Lisa Blunt Rochester called for a ceasefire in March, saying, “The ongoing death and destruction in Gaza shocks the conscience and is simply untenable. As the humanitarian crisis in Gaza worsens, we must move swiftly to end the violence and this war.”
Meanwhile, in April, McBride tweeted regarding an attack from Iran, “…President Biden is right to reinforce our collective commitment to support Israel’s self-defense, which, today, has resulted in nearly every missile being intercepted and countless lives saved.”
On October 7 of this year, she tweeted, “…We cannot waver in our efforts to bring the hostages home, including 7 American hostages that remain in brutal captivity by Hamas. May the memories of the victims be a blessing for all who knew them and a reminder of the urgent need for lasting peace and security.”
In an interview with Jewish Insider from August 2023, McBride “emphasized that federal law already contains protections to ensure that U.S. aid ‘shouldn’t be used in ways that contradict our values,’ and voiced ‘serious concerns about any policy that would single out Israel and treat it differently than other countries that we support through foreign aid’ or hold it “to a different standard.”’
She went on to espouse support for the 2016 Memorandum of Understanding for U.S. military aid to Israel, a document that included an $8 billion dollar increase of aid.
During the Delaware debate for Congress, McBride said, “There is a global struggle between authoritarianism and democracy that’s happening right now.” This was in reference to Ukraine and included the U.S., but seemingly did not include Netanyahu’s leadership in Israel. Instead, she asserted her support of Israel with only vague qualifiers about wanting peace.
“Well first off, I, like so many Americans, have been heartbroken by what we are seeing unfold in the Middle East over the last year and a half, in particular. The conflict as you mentioned is complex and is not new but the last year of the conflict has been particularly tragic from the October 7 terrorist attack that resulted in the murder of 1,200 innocent civilian Israelis — Jews and Muslims alike — to the unfolding hostage crisis to the war in Gaza to, as you mentioned, the war in the north against Hezbollah. And Israel without question has a right to defend itself against a terrorist attack like we saw on October 7, to protect its citizens — and, in fact, it has a responsibility to protect its citizens — but it also has a responsibility to do that in the context of all applicable laws.
I am desperate to not only see an end to the violence in its current form but also a lasting and durable peace which is why I’ve been so supportive of the U.S. led efforts to secure a ceasefire that stops the violence, releases the hostages, and creates a bridge to a more durable peace. Because let’s be clear any ceasefire is inherently temporary until and unless we have a permanent holistic solution. As a member of Congress, I would continue to speak out not just in support of the U.S./Israel relationship but for a two state solution that guarantees a safe and secure Israel and a safe and secure Palestine where Palestinians have both safety security, economic security, and the right to self-determination.”
It’s a testament to the activism of so many over the last year (and decades) that McBride, like the Biden administration, now feels the need to even say that last part. But when the moderator followed up to ask what this looked like in terms of actual funding, McBride did not waiver.
“So I absolutely think, now more than ever, the U.S. has to stand with its allies, and particularly its democratic allies, not just in the Middle East, but around the world. I believe right now we’re at an inflection point, a critical point, with the conflict in the Middle East where you have not only an emboldened Iran but emboldened proxies that are being funded by Iran that are inflicting harm on innocent civilians… Hamas, Hezbollah, and the Houthis. And I think if the United States were to turn its back, in this moment, on its allies, my concern among many, my main concern is it would be an open invitation for Iran to escalate its attacks on not only Israel but other U.S. allies in the region.”
With the death toll in Palestine since October 7, 2023 now over 40,000, this emphasis on Israeli safety, empty platitudes about peace, and the pivot to fear-mongering about Iran, is morally repugnant. There has never been an ethical justification for Zionism, but it’s especially blatant now, when many of McBride’s colleagues are being pushed beyond these Zionist talking points toward meaningful change in the U.S.’s unequivocal support of Israeli violence and genocide of Palestinians.
Sarah McBride’s memoir, Tomorrow Will Be Different, was released about a year after I came out and began transitioning. I read the book and was moved by her story — her lifelong commitment to public service, her t4t marriage with her husband who died from cancer. I also understood, even then, that McBride’s politics would be far more aligned with the mainstream Democratic Party than my own. But there’s a difference between being a pragmatist, a politician, and being an active voice encouraging one of the party’s greatest ongoing sins.
I do not expect McBride to be the trans woman Congressperson of my dreams, because the federal government is so far from any dream I might have for our world. But there’s a line and, for me, she has crossed it.
Even if Sarah McBride accomplishes other positive changes in Congress, even if her presence as a trans woman counteracts the rising transphobia in our country and her party, this will be tainted by her stance on Israel and the violence against Palestinians.
I understand wanting a piece of good news after last week. But as long as McBride remains steadfast in her Zionism, I’ll be looking elsewhere.
Where’s her quote that says “I am a Zionist”?
well I think it’s her actions doing the talking
This article is darkly hilarious to me. This is one of the reasons Republicans swept the Democrats off the map this election season. From the hyperbolic information in this article it seems like if calling McBride a Zionist is true, then all Democrats who say anything supportive of Israel are apparently all Zionists now. Yay extremism!
“I do not expect McBride to be the trans woman Congressperson of my dreams, because the federal government is so far from any dream I might have for our world. But there’s a line and, for me, she has crossed it.”
Well, great for you I guess, you’re entitled to your opinion. As for me, I’d still prefer a Democrat elected over a Republican, because I prefer pragmatism over fantasy.
Thank you!
At last, someone other than me gets it. This is exactly why a convicted felon won.
To all those butt hurt about the injustices in life:
Have an opinion, yes, we all have that right (for now) just know what protest voting and the divisive tactics of forcing people into a box that suits you (I support Israel 100%, so I suppose I’m a Zionist too), will get you—the destruction of what makes America already great and the total annihilation of Gaza for Jared’s luxury real estate. But yeah, you’re big mad at Joe and Kamala and other Dems for the actions of another world leader. They didn’t authorize funding alone. Republicans gladly approved that spending. Where is your beef with them?
the fact that both major political parties in the U.S. back genocide should actually be deeply concerning lol
Liberal zionists are the worst oi vey
Perfectly said! So many here are blind….
Where is your beef with white women who overwhelmingly voted for Trump? What about the significant percent of white gay men who voted for him??? Trump didn’t win because of Gaza protest votes. Trump won because racism and money will always win out, especially when Dems have no spine to actually stand on the justice they say they’re about.
this article is being published after the election. this isn’t a post telling democrats not to vote their party into office, it’s saying okay this person is in the office and has been elected, and that’s good in some ways but also there are other things we need to push her on. when are we allowed to talk about the ways in which our elected officials fail us if not now?
exactly! LGBTQ ‘representation’ in Congress truly means nothing if we remain ignorantly uncritical of these politicians
Republicans swept Democrats because anti-trans hate is a great wedge issue, just like gay marriage was in 2004. Both were a great wedge issue exactly BECAUSE Dems were afraid of going “too liberal” with their support for marginalized people. The same with undocumented folks – the fear-mongering about “immigrants stealing jobs” only works when Dems don’t have the spine to say otherwise. Republicans win time and time again because they’re about what they say they’re about.
Dems say they’re about justice, and then can’t bother to call a genocide a genocide. They ride on the coattails of LGBTQ+ folks fighting and winning the culture wars about marriage to be considered the party of inclusivity, but all the sudden say we’re asking for too much when it comes to also being protected from gender discrimination AKA bathroom laws. Don’t even get me started on what Dems say they want to do for people of color, and then all they do to throw us under the bus when push comes to shove. Dems look weak because they aren’t honest – if they were honest, they’d just say they’re also in favor of billionaires, they just want a little cultural cache along with their money.
I, too , would prefer a Democrat elected over a Republican. If only Dems would play to actually win for US, not for people with $$$.
Is anyone else seeing an ad for a “Zion-15 rifle” made by “Israel Weapon Industries” on this article, WTF?! This is the 3rd gun ad I’ve seen on AS in a week (and refreshing this page brought up another different gun ad).
I am.
This is why we lose! We keep attacking our own, no one is ever good enough.
There are two political parties, the only way to win is to have massive collection of people, many of whom have opposing viewpoints.
Didn’t the dem just try that touting their support from the Cheney’s & various other republicans? Republicans didn’t actually increase their number of voters this elections, but dems did lower theirs. So, maybe it’s time for dems to stop acting like Bush Sr. era republicans & start acting more like you know dems(left of European center hopefully).
Much agreed with cannaqueers!
this post is being published after the election. seemingly this information about sarah mcbride is not new and could’ve been shared before hand, maybe your point would be valid then. but nobody is being told not to vote for her. instead the conversation is how to hold our leaders accountable now that they are in office.
And you are clearly an antisemite — possibly a self-hating one. This is at least the fourth article you’ve written where you rail against zionists without having a clue as to what that term means. Zionism is the Jewish right to self determination in their ancestral homeland. That’s it. You can believe in a two-state solution and be a Zionist. Two things can be true. Riese should be ashamed at how her site has been hijacked by someone with such vitriol against her people. PS — I agree with others that it’s this kind of uniformed rhetoric that lost us the election.
Yes! I can’t understand why AS has got so dogmatic. You can be a Zionist and sympathise hugely w the horrible suffering in Gaza, want a two state solution & Netanyahu booted out.. I love AS, but this dangerous demonising of Zionism per se plays into anti Semites’ hands & is making me consider cancelling my subscription seriously.
I’m not a “Zionist”, and believe that the creation of the modern State of Israel was a foolish tragedy (understandable, after the Holocaust, but still a tragedy)…
…BUT, the reality is that the State of Israel exists. There is ZERO chance it’s going to not exist for AT LEAST the next 50 years. There’s a chance of it being modified, Please Dear God/dess, let it be differently run. But exist, absolutely. And even if it didn’t, Jews demanding self-determination and safety in “That Place” “From The River to The Sea” will exist until humanity completely kills itself off (which, granted, may not last the next 50 years! 🙃).
Ergo, ANY solution, ANY process for a Just Peace In That Place MUST take the above Reality into account. Virtually all those who scream “Genocide!!!” seem to not understand this FACT (tragic fact, but fact regardless).
Cutting Bibi off, booting Bibi out, locking Bibi up? Yes, PLEASE!!!
…but I’m betting Sarah McBride is Right Here, too. However, just as much as a Just Peace Process needs to take in the (tragic) Reality of the State of Israel, so also must those in the USA who want to see a Just Peace in That Place understand that it’s a delicate process to help whomever governs us Get There, too. Branding every American who accepts the Reality of the State of Israel as a “Zionist” who has “gone over the line” is deeply hurtful . . . to the __cause of Palestinians__ for a just, safe state of their own. You CANNOT get to a free and independent Palestine, without taking into account the (tragic) Reality of the State of Israel. You just can’t. You might as well try to make the Sun revolve around the Earth…
AMEN! Autostraddle should stop beating around the bush and just say outright that Israel should be wiped out the map… Because what the heck is wrong with being a Zionist? That does not automatically mean that you want to kill Palestinians.
Speaking of – has Autostraddle actually ever published an article about how Hamas is using Palestinians as human shields and how it needlessly attacked Israelis who tend to be more leftwing and pro-Palestinian?
To assume that all Israelis by definition are evil is …. racist.
You’re clearly mentally ill.
Sweetpea, Jews HAVE no singular ”ancestral homeland”. Palestine is the ancestral homeland of the Palestinian people, not of some mythical ”THE Jewish people”. Prior to Zionism, Palestine was only about 3% Jewish, and those Jews only made up about 0.3% of all Jews in the world! It has been majority Arab and majority Muslim for longer than it has been majority anything else at all, during all the time that it’s been inhabited by humans. During that time, Jewish people overwhelmingly lived in Europe, with only a minority living in the parts of Asia and Africa defined as ”the Middle East” — and only a minority of THEM specifically living in Palestine!
The Palestinian people are the indigenous population of that land; being made up of a mix of all different peoples who have ever lived on that land. Palestine — a majority Muslim Arab country — was only able to become Israel — a majority Jewish Hebrew-speaking country — through many decades of racist settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing. Zionist Jews with NO connection to the land STOLE it from the people who had ACTUALLY been living there for millennia! You are SO brainwashed, it’s just downright tragic…
You are so historically inaccurate it’s not worth the time debating you. You do realize that Jews predate Muslims by about 2000 years right? Or are you one of those geniuses who think Mary of Arimathea was Palestinian, not Jewish? What is the Palestinian language? It’s Arabic — just like that of the Arabians who colonized the region in 600 AD (after the Romans). You don’t have a clue what colonialism actually means, and you don’t know jack about world history. Jews returning to Israel is actually one of the only examples of De-colonization on the world. The chutzpah of calling the most multicultural and LGBTQ-friendly nation in the Middle East racist! The only one brainwashed here is you. You’re the real tragedy. You appear to be a Jordanian straight dude posting on a lesbian site to spread Jew hate and historical fallacies. I’m glad I was able to get under your skin.
That McBride considers Israel a democratic ally is funny. This is more or less the same stance that Kamala had, and I wouldn’t call either of them a Zionist. Maybe colonizer is a better term here? Can non-Jews even be Zionists?
It literally is a democratic ally, it is a democracy which just happens to be ruled by a douche such as Orban, Trump or Erdogan.
Soon the US is also going to be ruled by a douche, however that does not make me say that the US is a country full of evil people per se because Americans still think the US should exist as a country.
Believe it or not, Israel is just as divided as the US, France or Poland – it’s called populism.
Yes, I’m Polish & I hate PIS- thank God they got booted out. But if someone told me that meant that supporting the existence of Poland was evil…
Israel is only democratic if you’re Jewish, not if you’re Palestinian. Every prime minister that Israel has ever had or ever WILL have is a ”douche”.
Emoly, the US has 90 million christian zionists. All evangelical Christianity is inherently zionist. 90 million, in the US alone. The biggest zionist lobby in the world is christian, christian zionist support for Israel is the ONLY reason that Israel sustains itself. Your comment reveals that when y’all gentiles say ‘zionists’ you really do equate it to Jews. Antizionism isn’t always antisemitism, but your antizionism certainly is antisemitism.
It is fair to critique the position of folks serving the public. It is unhelpful to resort to the shorthand of namecalling (yes, the author is assigning a label to the legislator instead of identifying the statements/actions as problematic). That kind of behavior is about feeling your feelings, not educating folks, so pick your goal: is it venting? Or is it calling attention to a problem?
It is also unhelpful to paint an incomplete picture of what has happened in Israel. I know people love to throw back to before 1948 and talk about how peaceful things were before the post-WW2 decision to reassign land to the remaining Jewish people. Nobody wants to talk about 1) the original Jewish diaspora from Israel (before it was inhabited by Palestinians) which came about also because Jewish people were being killed and chased from the land OR 2) the continued antisemitism in post-WW2 Europe which was the result of the Nazi propaganda machine and which encouraged world leaders to find a solution OUTSIDE of European lands. Nor do folks ever bring up the fact that Palestine has been in the hands of many different empires and inhabited by many different groups.
I have an explicitly anti-genocide stance. Under no circumstances is it okay to try to exterminate people. The US should not be supporting Israel with military aid. It is horrific to this cultural Jew that other Jews are shouting “Never again” as a justification for doing THE VERY THING that should never happen again.
All of this outlined, the situation is far more complex than the reductive discussions I see on the internet over and over again.
People are 100% entitled to their opinions, but the lack of nuance, the one-sided presentation of facts, and the absolute disinterest in learning is exactly why this country is where it is. We cannot continue to draw lines in the sand on every issue because guess what: almost every issue does affect at least some people’s lives. We don’t have the luxury of entertaining divisions right now because this country is riddled with fascists and a bunch of people who can’t tell the difference and think this is a purely political battle.
Please, I know we are all feeling pain from this situation, and from many others. I encourage folks to pay attention to what is happening within our own borders and in our own communities, and not be manipulated into putting their energy elsewhere.
This take is profoundly ahistorical… Seems u have soley been getting ur history from the oppressor and not the oppressed
Which part do you contest?
Jews were there in the first century AD. Romans were there in the fourth century BC. Arabs didn’t show up in Israel until around the seventh century AD except in very small numbers.
For clarity, it was the Roman Empire’s doing that Jews became unwelcome, resulting in the diaspora. They were the unidentified villain many times, so I’m not sure who you think the oppressor is, but it looks more like you’re applying a statute of limitations to cultural trauma. I could be wrong.
KC, not that this is relevant to the McBride stuff in any way or form, but I’m genuinely so curious why and how you’ve been taught that Romans were in Ancient Israel before Jews, i.e Am Yisrael (the people of Israel)? Jews have lived in the land we call I/P today since at least 1000 BCE, whereas the Roman Empire was created in 27 BCE. Like what? Saying that Romans “were there first” is like saying Europeans inhabited New Zealand/Aotearoa before Maori people did lmao.
Also I’m laughing at the beautifying language in “for clarity, it was the Roman Empire’s doing that Jews became unwelcome, resulting in the diaspora” – oh, you mean around 70CE when they enslaved 200,000 Jews and took us to Rome and forced us to build the colosseum and arch of titus? Yeah, I guess that was us becoming “unwelcome” in ancient Israel, due to their “doing”.
Amused and Terrified, apologies, that was my mistake, thank you for the correction. I do know that Jews were in Israel well before the Romans. Jews were in Israel as far back as the 13th century BC. Romans got there in the first century BC.
As for “being unwelcome”, yes, it is deliberately washed language, but you’ll see in my original post that I describe it as “Jewish people were being killed and chased from the land.” I didn’t bring up destruction of the 2nd temple, or the burning of Jerusalem, but that was the main impetus.
The Romans did the same to the Jews that they did to all peoples subject to the Roman Empire – perhaps the sting of it is that the Jews have been subject to enslavement many times over. In truth, I should have gone back further to the Babylonians to talk about the origin of the diaspora.
Appreciate the notes.
“a two state solution that guarantees a safe and secure Israel and a safe and secure Palestine where Palestinians have both safety security, economic security, and the right to self-determination.”
For decades, I’ve been attacked for this position by the Bibi-Can-Do-No-Wrong Right (In the 90s, I once argued for this in a public forum on the Upper West Side: you can only imagine how that went over like a lead balloon there).
If I have to spend my remaining trips around the sun being attacked as a “Zionist” (hardly) by the Hamas-is-entitled-to-do-WHATEVER Left (?), so be it.
I’m for a Just Peace with dignity for both (all) peoples, as I have always been. Hurl your opprobrium; I’m SO used to it by now…
Your article misses the mark by distorting the meaning of Zionism and attacking Sarah McBride for her support of Israel’s sovereignty. Zionism, at its core, is the belief in the right of Israel to exist as a Jewish state, and reducing it to a moral failure is part of a larger, manufactured propaganda agenda to twist its meaning. By painting Zionism as a singular, villainous force, you feed into a narrative that plays directly into the hands of anti-Semites, who have long weaponized the term to discredit and delegitimize the very existence of Israel.
This is a dangerous, oversimplified approach that hurts the future of trans rights and tolerance. Instead of acknowledging McBride’s important role in advocating for marginalized communities, you reduce her to a single issue, ignoring the larger context. The reality is, we need more nuanced voices in politics, not purity tests that force people to choose between their identity and their beliefs. Attacking McBride for supporting Israel’s right to exist is a destructive path, one that ultimately undermines the pluralistic, imperfect reality we should be striving for.
Lol this take is a joke… Chalk full of circular reasoning
Well, some people avoid thinking because it’s easier to cling to ignorance – but that’s exactly how intolerance thrives. After a magical float, bubbles go pop-pop.
Lmfao not you reading yourself 😭🙃😭 … Zionist would be hilarious if they weren’t u know backing a whole ass genocide
i’m a zionist and a lesbian and a butch latina. so many of us are zionists because it’s the right thing to do. hamas and the PA are 1000x more sexist and homophobic and anti liberation than any Us or Israeli government. how has gazas population grown 500% since 1948?!? that’s the worst genocide ever. perhaps lay some blame and autonomy on horrible MENA leaders.
i stand with the brave Dalia Ziada, Zuhdi Jasser, Asra Nomani, Ayana Hirsi Ali, and Matthew Nouriel
Drew! You’re literally so privileged it’s amazing!!!!! you need to speak to Ethiopian and Yemeni Jews and Persian Jews-the white appearing wealthy ashki american privilege in this article and many others is insane.
Thank you for your honest writing, Drew! I hope Autostraddle can look past the loud minority reflected in these comments
no autostraddle is a very small bubble that is increasingly smaller yet claims to represent all queer people? ask a factory dyke in pittsburgh or a mechanic dyke in flint what they think. ask anyone outside your incredibly small and difficult and judgemental bubble. for all the talk of collective liberation you frequently shame people for diverting slightly from your apparatchik talking points. autostraddle was fun and now it’s an oroboros. 2009 autostraddle would be praising this woman and be excited a professional esteemed and pro democracy trans woman made it to congress
*Yawn* I’d read this blame the oppressed tactic to filth but it clear its would go over ur head.. AS don’t feed into this bs….
You’re clearly mentally ill.
Jesus this comment section is completely full of bloodthirsty jackals and drooling neanderthals. Are all americans this same combination of stupid and evil? Don’t answer that I already know
Ngl, everytime I see a headline that makes me roll my eyes (because I know it’s gonna be full of anti-community anti-liberatory anti-abolitionist middle-class privileged “hot takes”) it is literally always written by DGB. I’m starting to think it’s on purpose to increase readership and engagement at autostraddle.
Would love to know what this article would’ve looked like if it was written by a working class brown native/indigenous jew from a mizrahi/sephardi background who actively works for community liberation and abolitionism; dismantling christian carceral logic (carceral logic as in saying outright or implying that people who are colonizers deserve to be unalived, re-education and compassion not an option) and centering internationalist working class solidarity in their transfeminist authorship… but anyway… we wouldn’t see that type of authorship at autostraddle because it probably wouldn’t be financially beneficial.
When will AS listen? I know several people in real life, & many more online, who used to subscribe but now don’t even read any more bc of these issues w the content. The editors talk about reading all the comments but they sure don’t seem to take these kinds of board… I love AS despite all this & I want them to keep going, there’s nothing else like them out there. But are they going to pull themselves together & take a long hard look at the path they are going down? Time will tell… I really hope they see sense.
Exactly—enragement equals engagement. There’s so much wrong here: a lack of courage, intellectual curiosity, proper research, and critical thinking. It’s disappointing that this is one of the go-to gay newspapers, publishing articles like this. The author seems to be following the same tech-bro credo of ‘move fast and break things,’ a Facebook-era approach that values disruption over depth and accountability. By doing so, they’re walking the same path as the very monsters they claim to critique.
The queer community has historically been a source of radical ideas, but this issue highlights how shallow and uninformed the next generation can be.
No, I hope my generation won’t all be shallow. I think often people can simplify things dangerously. There’s lots of similarities w how the atrocities of Vietnam War made a lot younger people idolise Ho Chi Minh & ignore his atrocities. I trust we’ll come through this..
I wish AS would wake up.
Hi Grace, i didn’t remember this about the Vietnam war, it is actually a very good explanation for what is going on at the moment. Thank you for posting this!
Drew/AS Good on y’all for clearly stating the truth of the matter especially given who ur audience is! It clear that some folks are trying to be complacent in the violence that Isreal has been inflicting on the Palestinians since it’s inception, but now more than ever we have to interrogate the root of how we get to the point of genocide at this scale and that starts with this ridiculous colonizer mentality that Israel deserves to exist at all cost😒.
Also commend y’all ✋🏻 people calling each other in on this, because another reason we are where we are is because y’all have not been checking each other on the bs. As well as push thru the smoke screen that being Jewish means u have to be committed to and amplify Zionism. What that man say? “Religion is the sigh of the oppressed creature, the heart of a heartless world, and the soul of soulless conditions. It is the opium of the people”.
Need I remind some of the ridiculous folks in this comment section that Jewish Voices for Peace have been leading the largest Pro-Palestinian protest this country has ever seen! In the spirit of the teachings of their faith, going beyond treating being Jewish as some sports team ur blindly committed to.
I hope u remain steadfast in ur commitment to calling out Zionism and the autorcites of this genocide and it ties to all liberation movements. I hope that we see more Queer and Trans folks writing about how these horrors tie into our own.
Your comment shows a fundamental misunderstanding of Zionism and its history. Claiming Israel doesn’t deserve to exist ignores why Zionism arose in the first place—centuries of persecution and events like the Dreyfus Affair proved the dangers of relying on diaspora life in a hostile world. Jewish Voice for Peace, for all its peaceful branding, advocates dissolving Israel in favor of a permanent Jewish diaspora. This isn’t just historically ignorant; it risks serving as a Trojan horse for antisemitic agendas.
You might want to take a step back and look into people like Sarah McBride. She’s a trans member of Congress who balances her identity, moral values, and the need to work with others who hold different views—for the greater good. That’s what meaningful progress looks like, not moral posturing or erasing the complexities of history and identity.
Lmfao u sound absolutely ridiculous dude… Free Palestine. Oppressors cannot dictate the resistance of the oppressed… Zionism is a violent and frankly dumb hill to die on.. Free 🇵🇸 till it’s backwards. Shout out to JVP!
wow, i’m so sorry that you’re getting these horrendous comments on your insightful piece, drew. please keep up the good work – it’s always a pleasure to read your writing, and i agree wholeheartedly with everything you’ve said here. if rightfully calling out zionist politicians is “infighting”, then i want no part of the “in”. from the river to the sea, palestine will be free 🇵🇸 🇵🇸 🇵🇸
Deepa, I honestly wish and hope for us all to get to a point where people realise that simply calling folks zionists when they don’t believe Jews should be mass-deported to Europe*** so that we can create a Palestinian capitalist nation-state in its stead isn’t brave nor is it productive. Do we actually want to decolonise I/P (i.e remove the military complex and nation states on the land, so that all peoples in the region can live in right relationship w the land and with full human rights and autonomy and sovereignty) or do we want to sit in a room declaring ourselves The Most Anti-zionist And Good Person ad nauseam? God forbid someone suggests that something is done for actual material ceasefire so that people can stop being murdered and both peoples can get some time to recover (physically and psychologically) and begin Truth and Reconcilliation processes, both with each other and with Europe. But I suppose that’s not very exciting for a western voyeur, is it? Much more fun to watch the oppressed (onto whom we project ourselves in a deeply dehumanising way) revolt in armed struggle, so that we can experience the catharsis of imagined justice without having to experience being on the receiving end ourselves, right? I deeply wish for you to familiarise yourself with the work of Hadar Cohen, Elia J. Ayoub (, Amira Mohammed and Ibrahim Abu Ahmad (Third Narrative), as well as Leftrenewal.net.
***50% of Israel is brown middle eastern Jews with 0% connection and heritage to Europe but pop off I guess
I have a question to you all which I am asking in good faith and with a desire to learn.
First of all, I am so horrified of what Israel is doing to Palestinians that I cannot begin to put it in words.
Since you’re all debating what Zionism means and what it doesn’t, my questions is mostly for US-American readers I guess? What do you consider the difference between the existence of the state of Israel and the United States? The US is build on genocide and slavery, and the approximately 350 million people currently living inside of the US who are not Indigenous aren’t going anywhere (and Indigenous people are a small minority precisely because of the genocide).
I am well aware of the historical differences, as the Nakba 1947-1949 took place after the industrialized genocide of Nazi Germany, and due to this genocide, Jews were attempting to find a safe place where they would not be persecuted and killed. But the consequence in how this was done was by violent displacement, dispossession and massacres, and that roughly 80% of Palestinians became refugees from the place that is Israel today.
So I guess what I am asking is: what do US people who say “From the river to the sea” regarding Palestine think about the US and the people in it? What do you think about the parallels?
Again, I am not here to attack anyone! I sincerely want to learn.
Thank you for the article, Drew. I always appreciate your perspectives, may it be about movies or political issues.
Hi Robin, The difference is that Jews are indigenous to the region, and despite millennia of being murdered and exiled, have managed to stay in the region throughout time. Your analogy is a false parallel. Jews are the “native Americans” in your scenario. :) The Romans colonized the region. Then the Arabs conquered and colonized the land in 600 AD. Multiple empires followed suit.
Moreover, the Nabka narrative is a one-sided spin on what was another attempt to annihilate Jews. The UN proposed a two-state solution that Arabs rejected. Instead, five Arab nations attacked Israel, but Israel won. People were displaced because of a war the Arab nations started.
Israel is the only Jewish majority country in the world, much less in the Middle East. Yet, Jews still make up only 0.2% of the world’s population. Despite this, Israel is still the only democratic and pluralistic country in the region, where people of all faiths hold equal citizenship and can serve in government. There are over 400 mosques in Israel. In Israel, queer and trans people can live freely. Bibi sucks, but I’d take him over Haniyeh any day.
The war in Gaza is horrible. But so was October 7th. I will never forget the image of Shani Louk’s raped, murdered and mutilated body paraded around Gaza while indoctrinated Gazans — including children — cheered and spit on her. That’s real. Hamas filmed it all.
This war could have ended with the release of the hostages. In fact, it didn’t need to start at all. It was the product of a corrupt and terrorist Hamas regime that cares more about killing Jews (and the West) than advancing its people. Hamas leaders make millions while Palestinians suffer. As a proxy of Iran, Hamas has done a great job of spinning a colonizer/genocide narrative while killing, raping and kidnapping innocent Israeli civilians — and subjugating Palestinians themselves.
I believe strongly in a two-state solution, but before that can happen both governments— Hamas and Bibi — need to go.
Exactly! Why are AS, & DBG in particular, so blind?
Thank you for your response. I can see the differences you pointed out historically. The way that I understand the Nakba, however, is that even the two-state resolution proposed by the UN would have displaced so many Arab people from the lands they owned and lived in. Arabs made up 2/3 of the population and owned 90% of the land in the 1940s, whereas Jews were 1/4 or 1/3 of the population and owned 7% of the land. According to the UN’s plans, Israel would have made up 55% of the land to a minority, thus displacing the people who lived there. I can see that this did not seem like a good deal for the Arab people who had their lives there at the time, and they resisted these plans.
Your comment is so utterly full of ahistorical Zionist propaganda nonsense that it is actively PAINFUL to read.
1. European Jews are NOT ”indigenous to the region”, sorry! The only exceptions are Sephardic Jews who moved there after the Catholics took back Spain, and MAYBE Ashkenazi Haredim who peacefully emigrated to Palestine in the early 19th century.
2. The Palestinian people are the Native Americans in their scenario.
3. The people of Palestine are the same ones who have lived there throughout Roman as well as Arab conquests. There never was any mass exodus or mass replacement of the people of that land (prior to the Nakba, that is).
4. ”The Nakba narrative” (it’s ”Nakba”, not ”Nabka”) is the truth. The Zionists ethnically cleansed the country to achieve an Jewish ethnic majority. That was how Israel was formed.
5. ”The Arabs” never even had the chance to accept OR reject the (utterly unacceptable) UN partition plan before the Zionist terror gangs began their attacks.
6. None of the five Arab armies that attacked the Zionist entity in 1948 was Palestinian. The Palestinians had no army and no sovereign state. The Jordanians and the Egyptians did, among others.
7. People were displaced because the Zionists intentionally displaced them.
8. Israel only became a majority Jewish country by way of settler colonialism and ethnic cleansing.
9. Israel is an apartheid state, not a democracy.
10. The Palestinian resistance didn’t rape anyone on October 7th. Israel, however, rapes Palestinian prisoners CONSTANTLY.
11. Hamas has tried desperately and repeatedly to end the ”war” (really a genocide) by trading the remaining hostages for a permanent ceasefire. Israel has refused every time because they want to continue slaughtering Palestinians!
12. ”Killing Jews” (which really means ”fighting Israel”) IS how to advance the Palestinian people, unfortunately. It’s Israel that has created that reality. The Palestinians didn’t choose to have Jews be the ones to colonize and murder them.
13. Bibi needs to go (to prison for life), true, but not Hamas.
14. A one state solution is the only solution.
Well, you certainly showed your true colors didn’t you. You’ve not only erased 3,000 years of Jewish identity, history and persecution (including October 7 rapes), but also admitted that the only solution to this conflict is eradicating Jews. Congrats on outing yourself as ignorant and hateful. When you start denying archeological evidence of Jewish existence dating back 3,000 years, the debate is over. I’m sorry you don’t respect Jewish sovereignty as much as I respect Palestinian sovereignty. I have never denied the flaws of the Israeli government, or Palestine’s right to exist. Multiple things can true. Just like you can be a Jordanian straight boy posting on a wlw website. This conflict is not black and white.
There are differing opinions on what an ethical future looks like for Palestine but, personally, I think the first step is full civilian rights for Palestinians, guaranteed representation in government, and some sort of reparations for Palestinian families whose land was stolen/who experienced persecution. Every country is different with its own unique circumstances but I do think South Africa is a reasonable comparison — there are still white people in a post-apartheid South Africa and there will still be Jewish people in Palestine.
And, for what it’s worth, I also believe the United States government owes people — especially, but not limited to, Black and Indigenous people — reparations as well. I don’t think Israel is the only evil country and I would never consider myself (as an American citizen!) in a position to judge Jewish people born in Israel who disagree with their government. In fact, I came to anti-Zionism because I met Jewish Israelis who had served in the IDF and disavowed that service. They still live in Israel where they are protesting their government.
the hamas charter calls for the annihilation of all jews. islamic theocracies preach about eradicating all jews from earth. who’s land was stolen? why did Jordan and Syria and Gaza Arabs destroy historic synogagues and create pogroms and massacres against the indigenous jewish population? 622–627: ethnic cleansing of Jews from Mecca and Medina, (Jewish boys were publicly inspected for pubic hair and executed if they had any)
▪ 624: after the victory of Badr, beginning of the elimination of the Jews
▪ 625: expulsion of the Jewish clan of Al Nadir
▪ 626: massacre of the Beni Khazradj Jews and division of families and loot
▪ 626? : expedition against the Jews beni Qoraizha, insulted by Mohammed: “O you, monkeys and pigs…”
▪ 626? : massacre of 700 Beni Qoraïzha Jews, bound for three days, then slaughtered above a ditch, with the young boys
▪ 626: murder of the Jew Kab, leader of the Beni Nadhir and satirist poet, and of his wife who had made fun of Mohammed
▪ 626: expedition against the Jews of Kaihbar
▪ 626: murder on the orders of Muhammad of the Jew Sallam abu Rafi
▪ 626: Mohammed had the palm trees of the Jewish oasis Beni Nadhir cut down
▪ 627: elimination of the Jewish Qurayza clan in Medina
▪ 627: massacre of the Jews of Medina; sharing of families and property
▪ 628? : attack on the Jews of Khaibar, and torture of prisoners
▪ 628? : taking of the Jewish oasis of Fadak as Mohammed’s personal property
▪ 628: submission of the Jews of Wadil Qora
▪ 628: Mohammed to the Jews beni Qainoqa: “if you do not embrace Islam, I declare war on
you”
▪ 629: first massacres in Alexandria, Egypt
▪ 622–634: extermination of the 14 Arab Jewish tribes
▪ 630: submission of the Jews and Christians of Makna, Eilat, Jerba
▪ 638: expulsion of the Jews from Jerusalem
▪ 640: expulsion of Jews from Hedjez
▪ 643: expulsion of the Jews from Khaibar by Omar
▪ 822–861: the Islamic empire adopts a law requiring Jews to wear yellow stars (a bit like
Nazi Germany), caliph al-Mutawakkil
▪ 940: beheading of the Jewish exilarch of Baghdad for having sullied the name of Mohammed
▪ 945: assassination by a crowd of fanatics of the last Jewish exilarch of Baghdad
▪ 948: closure of the Jewish theological school of Baghdad “Sora”
▪ 1004: Jews and Christians must wear a black turban and sash in Egypt
▪ 1009: Jews and Christians in Egypt must wear a cross or bells in the baths
▪ 1009: destruction of the Holy Sepulcher of Jerusalem by the Fatimids
▪ 1010–1013: start of massacre of hundreds of Jews around Cordoba
▪ 1016: Jews are persecuted and driven out of Kairouan
▪ 1010: persecution of Christians, Jews and Sunnis by the Fatimid caliph Al Hakim
▪ 1032: 5 to 6,000 Jews killed in a riot in Fez and expulsion of survivors
▪ 1040: beheading of the Jewish theologian Gaon Chizkiya, head of a Talmudic school
▪ 1106: Ali Ibn Yousef Ibn Tashifin of Marrakech decrees the death penalty for any local Jew, including his Jewish doctor, and his military general.
▪ 1148: the Almohads of Morocco give Jews the choice of converting to Islam or being expelled
▪ 1057: capture and pillage of Kairouan by the Hilalian tribes; expulsion of Jews and certain Muslims
▪ 1066: Massacre of thousands of Jews in Granada in Muslim-occupied Spain
▪ 1073: start of persecution against Jews and Christians by the Turks in Jerusalem
▪ 1127: in Morocco, after the failure of the prophetic movement of the Jewish messiah Moshe Dhery, wave of persecutions and forced conversions
▪ 1142: start of persecution against the Jews by the Almohads; massacre in Tlemcen, Bougie, Oran
▪ 1145: the Jews of Tunis must choose between conversion and exile
▪ 1146: capture of Meknes by the Almohads; persecution of the Jews
▪ 1147: capture of Tlemcen by the Almohads; persecution of the Jews
▪ 1147: Almohad invasion of Spain: expulsion of Jews or forced conversions
▪ 1147: capture of Marrakech by the Almohads; persecution of the Jews
▪ 1147: start of Almohad persecutions against the Jews of North Africa
▪ 1148: start of the exodus of Maimonides fleeing the intolerance of the Almohads
▪ 1148: Almohadin of Morocco gives Jews the choice of converting to Islam or being expelled.
▪ 1152: advent of Abd el Moumin in Morocco; choice for Christians and Jews between conversion or death
▪ 1159: controversy between Maimonides and the rabbi of Fez on the attitude towards forcible converts
▪ 1160: capture of Ifriqiya by the Moroccans of Abd el Moumen; Jews and Christians must choose between death and conversion; Jews are converted by force and superficially.
▪ 1165–1178: Yemen: Jews throughout the country were given the choice (under the new constitution) to convert to Islam or die
▪ 1165: chief rabbi of the Maghreb burned alive. The Rambam fled to Egypt.
▪ 1165: flight of Maimonides to Egypt to escape the Almohads
▪ 1171: in Egypt, decree recalling obedience to ordinances concerning the submission of Jewish and Christian infidels under penalty of death
▪ 1184: the Almohads impose distinctive signs on Christians and Jews in Spain
▪ 1198: forced conversion of the Jews of Aden
▪ 1220: tens of thousands of Jews killed by Muslims after being blamed for the Mongol invasion, Turkey, Iraq, Syria, Egypt
▪ 1232: massacre of the Jews of Marrakech
▪ 1266: the tomb of the Patriarchs of Hebron is converted into a mosque and closed to Jews and Christians
▪ 1267: Mamluk Sultan Baybars forbids Jews from entering the vault of the Patriarchs in Hebron; the ban ended exactly five centuries later in 1967
▪ 1270: Sultan Baibars of Egypt resolved to burn all the Jews, a ditch having been dug for this purpose; but at the last moment he repented and instead demanded a heavy tribute, in which many perished.
▪ 1270: widespread segregation of Jews in Andalusia
▪ 1276: 2nd pogrom of Fez, Morocco
▪ 1284: In Baghdad, the Jewish doctor Ibn Kammuna died locked in a trunk after writing “a book in which he showed irreverence towards the prophecies”; he escapes a lynching and is threatened with the stake
▪ 1291: death of the converted Jew Sad al Dawla, grand vizier of Argun Khan in Iran, a rank which provoked the anger of the Muslim court
▪ 1291: forced conversion of the Jews of Tabriz in Persia
▪ 1301: start of the persecution of the Jews in Egypt
▪ 1318: beheading of Rashid aldin Tabid, historian and Persian minister, Jewish convert who provoked the anger of Muslim elites
▪ 1318: forced conversion of the Jews of Tabriz in Persia
▪ 1333: forced conversion of the Jews of Baghdad
▪ 1333: the traveler Ibn Battuta complains that Djenkchi Khan djagataï allows Jews and Christians to repair their places of worship
▪ 1334: forced conversion of the Jews of Baghdad
▪ 1344: forced conversion of the Jews of Baghdad
▪ 1351: trial of Jews (in Cairo?) accused of desecration, who must choose between conversion or death
▪ 1385 : Massacres du Khorasan, Iran
▪ 1390: foundation of the first Jewish ghetto in Fez
▪ 1391: in Morocco, persecution of Jews from Spain
▪ 1438: creation of ghettos for Jews in the cities of Morocco, under the name “mellah”
▪ 1438: 1st massacres in the Mellah ghetto, North Africa
▪ 1448: in Egypt, decree recalling obedience to ordinances concerning the submission of Jewish and Christian infidels under penalty of death
▪ 1450: trial of Jews accused of having written the name of Mohammed in their synagogue in Fustat; they are converted by force
▪ 1465: In Fez, pogroms after the discovery in the Jewish quarter of the tomb of the city’s founder, a descendant of Mohammed…; Jews are forced to move to the ghetto (11 Jews left alive)
▪ 1492: Jewish community of Touat in Morocco is massacred; synagogues destroyed
▪ 1516: Algerian Jews receive the official status of dhimmi from the Ottomans; certain colors are forbidden to them (red and green); they are not allowed to ride horses or carry weapons; they must pay the discriminatory tax; their representative is ritually slapped during the delivery of tribute to the authorities
▪ 1517: 1st pogrom in Safed, Ottoman Palestine
▪ 1517: 1st pogrom of Hebron, Ottoman Palestine
▪ Massacre of Marsa ibn Ghazi, Ottoman Libya
▪ 1521: expulsion of Jews from Belgrade by the Ottomans
▪ 1524: expulsion of Jews from Buda in Hungary by the Ottomans
▪ 1535: pogrom then expulsion of Jews from Tunisia
▪ 1554: looting and persecution against the Jewish population of Marrakech by the Turks who took the city
▪ 1574: civil war in Morocco between three claimants; Jews are victims of all camps
▪ 1577: Passover massacre, Ottoman Empire
▪ 1588–1629 : pogroms of Mahalay, Iran
▪ 1604: start of a period of famine, violence and forced conversions of the Jewish population of Fez: 2000 conversions in 2 years
▪ 1608: persecution for two years of the Jews of Taroudat by the Berbers
▪ 1622: forced conversion of the Jews of Persia
▪ 1630–1700: Yemenite Jews were considered “impure” and therefore forbidden to touch a Muslim or a Muslim’s food. They were obliged to humble themselves before a Muslim, walk on the left side and greet him first. They could not build houses taller than those of a Muslim or ride a camel or horse, and when riding a mule or donkey, they had to sit on the side. When entering the Muslim quarter, a Jew had to take off his shoes and walk barefoot. If attacked with stones or fists by Muslim youths, a Jew was not allowed to defend himself.
▪ 1650: Jews from Tunisia are deported to special neighborhoods called “hara”
▪ 1650: forced conversion of the Jews of Persia, under Shah Abbas II
▪ 1656: Jews expelled from Isfahan in Iran
▪ 1660: 2 pogroms in Safed and Tiberias, Ottoman Palestine
▪ 1670: Expulsion of Mawza, Yemen
▪ 1676: expulsion of Jews from Sanaa in Yemen
▪ 1678: forced conversion of Jews in Yemen
▪ 1679–1680: Sanaa massacres, Yemen
▪ 1700: massacre of Jews in Yemen
▪ 1747 : Massacres de Mashhad, Iran
▪ 1758: executions of a Jew and an Armenian in Constantinople for violation of the legislation on the clothing of infidels
▪ 1770: expulsion of Jews from Jeddah in Arabia
▪ 1785 : Tripoli Porom, Libya ottomane
▪ 1790–92: Pogrom of Tetouan. Morocco (Jews of Tetouan undressed and lined up)
▪ 1790: destruction of most of the Jewish communities in Morocco
▪ 1800: new decree adopted in Yemen, prohibiting Jews from wearing new or good clothes. Jews were forbidden to ride mules or donkeys, and were sometimes rounded up for long, naked marches through the Roob al Khali desert.
▪ 1805: 1st pogrom in Ottoman Algeria against the Jews of Algiers after a famine. French
consul Dubois-Thainville saves 200 Jews by sheltering them in his consulate.
▪ 1805: exile of Jews from Algiers to Tunis and Livorno
▪ 1805, the leader of the Jewish Nation of Algiers, Naphthalie Busnach, is killed while riots ravage the neighborhoods.
▪ 1806: expulsion by fatwa of the Jews of Sali in Morocco
▪ 1806: ban on Moroccan Jews wearing Western clothing
▪ 1806: the janissaries of the dey of Algiers massacre and pillage in the Jewish quarter
▪ 1807: expulsion of Jews from Tetouan
▪ 1808: 1st massacres in the Mellah ghetto, North Africa
▪ 1815, the chief rabbi of Algiers, Isaac Aboulker, is beheaded during a riot.
▪ 1815: the Jews of Algiers are forced to fight against an invasion of locusts
▪ 1815: 2nd pogrom of Algiers, Ottoman Algeria
▪ 1816: in Algeria, ban on carrying weapons for Jews and Christians
▪ 1820: Massacres of Sahalu Lobiant, Ottoman Syria
▪ 1828 : pogrom de Baghdad, Iraq ottoman
▪ 1830: 3rd pogrom of Algeria, Ottoman Algeria
▪ 1830: start of the persecution of Jews in Persia, caused by the Russian advance in the Caucasus
▪ 1830: ethnic cleansing of Jews in Tabriz, Iran
▪ 1834: 2nd pogrom of Hebron, Ottoman Palestine
▪ 1834 : Pogrom de Safed, Palestine ottomane
▪ 1838: Druze attack in Safed, Ottoman Palestine
▪ 1839: Massacre of the Mashadi Jews, Iran
▪ 1839: forced conversion of surviving Jews from Mashadi
▪ 1839: campaign of forced conversions of Iranian Jews
▪ 1840: persecution of the Jews of Damascus; ritual murder case
▪ 1840: forced conversion of the Jews of Mashadi
▪ 1841: massive murders of Jews in Morocco; the sultan is obliged to consider the Jews as his personal property, which helps to protect them
▪ 1840: Damascus, ritual murders (French Muslims and Christians kidnapped, tortured and killed Jewish children for entertainment), Ottoman Syria
▪ 1844: 1st Cairo massacre, Ottoman Egypt
▪ 1847: Dayr al-Qamar Pogrom, Liban ottoman
▪ 1847: ethnic cleansing of Jews in Jerusalem, Ottoman Palestine
▪ 1848: 1st pogrom of Damascus, Syria
▪ 1848: total disappearance of the Jews of Mashhad
▪ 1850: 1st pogrom of Aleppo, Ottoman Syria
▪ 1854: anti-Jewish pogrom in Demnate, Morocco
▪ 1857: beheading in Tunis of the Jewish coachman Batou Sfez, accused of blasphemy, while he was drunk
▪ 1860: 2nd pogrom of Damascus, Ottoman Syria
▪ 1862: 1st pogrom of Beirut, Ottoman Lebanon
▪ 1866 : pogrom at Kuzguncuk, Turquie Ottomane
▪ 1867: Barfurush massacre, Ottoman Türkiye
▪ 1868: Eyub Pogrom, Ottoman Türkiye
▪ 1869: Massacre of Tunis, Ottoman Tunisia
▪ 1869: Massacre of Sfax, Ottoman Tunisia
▪ 1864–1880: Marrakech massacre, Morocco
▪ 1870: 2nd Alexandria massacres, Ottoman Egypt
▪ 1870: 1st pogrom in Istanbul, Ottoman Türkiye
▪ 1871: 1st Damanhur massacres, Ottoman Egypt
▪ 1872: Massacres in Edirne, Ottoman Türkiye
▪ 1872: 1st pogrom of Izmir, Ottoman Türkiye
▪ 1873: 2nd massacre of Damanhur, Ottoman Egypt
▪ 1874: 2nd pogrom of Izmir, Ottoman Türkiye
▪ 1874: 2nd pogrom of Istanbul, Ottoman Türkiye
▪ 1874: 2nd pogrom of Beirut, Ottoman Lebanon
▪ 1875: 2 pogroms in Aleppo, Ottoman Syria
▪ 1875: Massacre on the island of Djerba, Ottoman Tunisia
▪ 1877 : 3e massacre de Damanhur, Egypte ottomane
▪ 1877: Pogrom of Mansura, Ottoman Egypt
▪ 1882: Massacre of Homs, Ottoman Syria
▪ 1882: 3rd massacre of Alexandria, Ottoman Egypt
▪ 1889: after the funeral of a rabbi, deemed too discreet, the Jewish cemetery of Baghdad was confiscated
▪ 1889: looting of the Jewish quarter of Baghdad
▪ 1890: 2nd Cairo massacre, Ottoman Egypt
▪ 1890, 3e pogrom de Damas, Syrie ottomane
▪ 1891: 4th massacre of Damanahur, Ottoman Egypt
▪ 1897: murders in Tripoli, Ottoman Libya
▪ 1903&1907: Taza & Settat, pogroms, Morocco
▪ 1890: Massacres of Tunis, Ottoman Tunisia
▪ 1901–1902: 3rd Cairo massacre, Ottoman Egypt
▪ 1901–1907: 4th Alexandria massacres, Ottoman Egypt
▪ 1903: 1st Port Said massacres, Ottoman Egypt
▪ 1903–1940: Pogroms of Taza and Settat, Morocco
▪ 1904: massacre of Jews in Yemen
▪ 1907: Casablanca, pogrom, Morocco
▪ 1908: 2nd Port Said massacre, Ottoman Egypt
▪ 1909: comment from the British vice-consul of Mosul: “The attitude of Muslims towards Christians and Jews is that of a master towards his slaves.”
▪ 1910: blood libel of Shiraz
▪ 1911: Shiraz pogrom
▪ 1912: 4th Fez, Pogrom, Morocco
▪ 1914: expulsion of Jews from Palestine old enough to bear arms by the Ottomans
▪ 1917: Jewish Inquisition of Baghdadi, Ottoman Empire
▪ 1918–1948: adoption of a law prohibiting the raising of a Jewish orphan, Yemen
▪ 1920: Irbid massacres: British mandate in Palestine
▪ 1920–1930: Arab riots, British Mandate Palestine
▪ 1921: 1st Jaffa riots, British Mandate Palestine
▪ 1922: Massacres of Djerba, Tunisia
▪ 1922: law of forced conversion of orphans in Yemen, concerning Jews including as adults
▪ 1927: 60 Jews killed by Arabs in the Mellah of Casablanca Morocco
▪ 1928: Massacres of Ikhwan, in Egypt and under British mandate in Palestine.
▪ 1928: Jewish orphans sold into slavery and forced to convert to Islam by the Muslim Brotherhood, Yemen
▪ 1929: anti-Jewish riots, British mandate: in August 1929, the Jews demanded the construction of the Western Wall; pogroms in Jerusalem, Hebron, Safed. To stop the violence, the British reject this request
▪ 1929: 3rd Hebron Pogrom under British Mandate Palestine.
▪ 1929 3e pogrom de Safed, mandate britannique Palestine.
▪ 1933: 2nd Jaffa riots, British mandate in Palestine.
▪ 1934: Anti-Jewish pogrom in Constantine Algeria. 200 Jewish stores were raided, the total material damage was estimated at more than 150 million francs. It also sent a quarter of Constantine’s Jewish population into poverty.
▪ 1934: Pogroms in Thrace, Türkiye
▪ 1934: 1st massacres in Farhud, Iraq
▪ 1936: 3rd Jaffa riots, British Mandate Palestine
▪ 1936: 2e massacre of Farhud, Irak
▪ 1938: boycott of Jews in Egypt
▪ 1939: discovery of 3 bombs in synagogues in Cairo
▪ 1941 : 3e massacre de Farhud, Iraq
▪ 1941: persecution of Jews in Libya
▪ 1941: massacre of Jews in Baghdad, with the support of the authorities: approx. 170 dead
▪ 1942: collaboration of the mufti with the Nazis. Plays a role in the final solution
▪ 1942: Struma disaster, Türkiye
▪ 1942: Nile Delta pogroms, Egypt
▪ 1938–1945: Arab collaboration with the Nazis
▪ 1942: discriminatory tax law of Varlik Vergisi in Turkey against Jews and Christians
▪ 1942: looting of Jewish property in Benghazi and deportation to the desert
▪ 1944: attack on the Jewish quarter of Damascus
▪ 1945: anti-Jewish and anti-Christian riots in Egypt; churches and synagogues destroyed
▪ 1945: 4th Cairo massacre, Egypt
▪ 1945: Pogrom of Tripoli, Libya
▪ 1947: segregation measures against Jews in Egypt
▪ 1947: pogrom in Libya; approx. 130 dead
▪ 1947 : Pogroms d’Aden au Yemen
▪ 1947: 3rd pogrom d’Alep, Syrie
▪ 1948: “emptying” of the Jewish quarter of Damascus, Syria
▪ 1948: 1st Arab-Israeli war (1 Jew killed in 100)
▪ 1948 : Oujda & Jerada Pogroms, Morocco
▪ 1948: 1st Libyan Inquisition of the Jews
▪ 1948: attacks by the Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood against Jewish traders
▪ 1950: massive departure of Jews from Arab countries
▪ 1951: 2nd Libyan Inquisition of the Jews
▪ 1952: anti-Jewish and anti-Christian pogroms in Suez
▪ 1954: assassinations and attacks in Algeria affecting the Jewish community, the desecration and destruction of 30 synagogues are attributed to Muslim populations.
▪ The desecration in 1960 of the synagogue of Algiers as well as the cemetery of Oran,
▪ 1954: Massacre of Sidi Kacem. 6 Jews were beaten and then burned alive with their children.
▪ 1955: anti-Jewish and Christian riots in Türkiye; looting of churches and Jewish stores
▪ 1955: attack on the rabbi of Batna,
▪ 1956: fire in a synagogue in Oran,
▪ 1956: in response to the attack on Suez, Nasser expels almost all Jews from Egypt, around 90,000 people, and confiscates their property
▪ 1957: murder of the rabbi of Nedroma,
▪ 1957: murder of the rabbi of Médéa,
▪ 1957–1962: attacks in the Jewish neighborhoods of Oran and Constantine.
▪ 1961: grenade thrown into a synagogue in Boghari, Bousaada,
▪ 1961: ransacking of the Casbah synagogue in Algiers,
▪ September 2, 1961, the assassination of a Jewish hairdresser in Oran and anti-Jewish attacks
▪ 1955 : 3rd pogrom d’Istanbul, Turkey
▪ 1955: anti-Jewish riots in Izmir
▪ 1956: 1st Egyptian Inquisition of the Jews
▪ 1956: in response to the attack on Suez, Nasser expels tens of thousands of Jews and confiscates their property
▪ 1960: a Saudi newspaper describes Eichmann: “the man who can be proud of having killed five million Jews”
▪ 1961: in Algeria, assassination of Jewish musician Sheik Raymond
▪ 1962: desecration of the Jewish cemetery of Oran
▪ 1962 : pogrom d’Oran
▪ July 5, 1962, a few days after the independence of Algeria, between 900 and 1,300 Europeans, notably Jews, were massacred in Oran.
▪ 1964: the Egyptian army weekly notes: “In essence, the Jew has no qualifications to bear arms.”
▪ 1964: Nasser tells a German neo-Nazi newspaper: “No one takes seriously the lie of 6 million murdered Jews”
▪ 1965: the Egyptian military manual presents the war against Israel as a jihad and quotes the Koran: “kill them wherever you reach them”
▪ 1965: wave of anti-Semitism in Algeria; flight of the Jewish community
▪ 1965: pogrom in Aden
▪ 1965: 5th pogrom in Fez, Morocco
▪ 1967: 2nd Egyptian Inquisition of the Jews
▪ 1967: Egyptian Jews are herded into camps during the Six Day War
▪ 1967: pogrom in Libya during the Six Day War
▪ 1967: pogroms in Tunisia
▪ 1967: the World Islamic Congress in Amman declares that Jews living in Arab countries must be considered “mortal enemies”
▪ 1967: pogrom in Aden
▪ 1967: arson of the great synagogue of Tunis
▪ 1967: riots in Tunis, Tunisia
▪ 1967: World Islamic Congress in Jordan; it was decided that all Muslim governments must treat Jews “as mortal enemies”.
▪ 1967: publication in Egypt of the anti-Semitic text “The Protocol of the Elders of Zion”
▪ 1967: pogrom and looting of Jewish stores in Tunisia
▪ 1969: Khomeini delivers thirteen speeches in Najaf which will be the basis of his book “The
Islamic Government”; he develops the theme of hatred of Jews, accused of conspiring against Islam everywhere
▪ 1969: execution of Jews in Baghdad
▪ 1970: flight SR-330 Zurich — Tel Aviv crashes in a forest near Würenlingen, killing all 47 occupants. A bomb planted by the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine exploded 9 minutes after takeoff
▪ 1979: start of the flight of 200,000 Iranian Jews after the Islamist revolution.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaza_synagogue how did an ancient synogague with hebrew end up in gaza if Jews are occupying stolen land?!?!
Jordan was not a member of the United Nations when the vote on the United Nations Partition Plan for Palestine of 1947 was taken, but following the establishment of the state of Israel on 14 May 1948, Jordan, then known as Transjordan, was one of the Arab League countries that immediately attacked the new country, precipitating the 1948 Arab-Israeli War. By war’s end, it had control of the West Bank and East Jerusalem (including the Old City), and expelled those Jews who remained in the Old City of Jerusalem. An Arab commander remarked: “For the first time in 1,000 years not a single Jew remains in the Jewish Quarter. Not a single building remains intact. This makes the Jews’ return here impossible.”[10][11] The Hurva Synagogue, originally built in 1701, was blown up by the Jordanian Arab Legion.
In 1950 Jordan annexed the West Bank and East Jerusalem, and in 1954 granted Jordanian nationality to its non-Jewish residents who had been Palestinian nationals before 15 May 1948.[12][13] During the nineteen years of Jordanian rule in the West Bank, a third of the Jewish Quarter’s buildings were demolished.[14] According to a complaint Israel made to the United Nations, all but one of the thirty-five Jewish houses of worship in the Old City were destroyed. The synagogues were razed or pillaged and stripped and their interiors used as hen-houses or stables.[15]
Jordan lost control of the West Bank during the 1967 Six-Day War, but did not relinquished its claim to the West Bank until 1988, and in 1994 signed the Israel-Jordan Treaty of Peace. The treaty did not change the status of Jews in Jordan, and in 2006 it was reported that there were no Jewish citizens of Jordan,[1] nor any synagogues or other Jewish institutions. “
Exactly what’s needed- AS need to have a reckoning & rethink the unbalanced road they were going down.
It really is very noticeable to see one comment that is longer than the text of all of the other comments combined. Since there’s hardly a site left out there that just lets people comment anonymously, without reviews or other hassle.
Besides that, if this had been about any other subject or if this comment had been contra-Israel instead…it wouldn’t have made it onto the site at all.
It wouldn’t have survived the “peer reviewal process” mentioned on every site, because of its length.
And because if it HAD been completely above board, the aforementioned “reviewers” would have had to check the veracity of all those bulleted “facts” before greenlighting it and pushing it through…but somehow i don’t think they did that…which just increases the amount of distrust towards any and all media today, since they do all seem to have one “boss” in common.
Have seven reasonably ok afternoons⁽*⁾,
The Sighing Dutchman
⁽*⁾ Why always just the one ¨nice¨ day, i like to be more original than that.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1834_looting_of_Safed
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1660_destruction_of_Safed
resistance is justified when people are occupied! i’m sorry MENA Jews are allowed to exist in their indigenous homeland and defend themselves from continuous historic violence from Arab neighbors. The Muslims and Arabs that don’t attack and murder have equal rights! Mandatory conscription and the horrors of war at a young age im opposed but Jewish people like all indigenous people are allowed to defend themselves in their homeland!!!!
Great thanks for your reply, Drew. I understand your points better now. That helps.
Really confused that someone who calls for peace and a two state solution is being painted as across the line of acceptability. What Israel is doing is disgusting and should be condemned, but I’m finding it disturbing that so many people I thought I was politically aligned with are saying that Jewish people should be expelled from the area and sent back to Europe. I don’t understand what the final goal is supposed to be here if not a two state solution. Would love answers.
The issue is not McBride’s call for peace or a two-state solution (what I would expect from almost every Democrat in the federal government) — the issue is her support for continued no strings attached funding from the US to Israel.
As I said above in response to the comment from Robin, I’m not arguing for Jewish people to be expelled from the area. But Jews should not have more rights than Palestinians and the Israeli government should not be receiving additional funding from the US to continue their violence.
I am a proud self-hating anti-Zionist Jew who is upset by McBride’s stances on Israel, but this autostraddle article is very poorly worded. I recommend April Rosenblume’s zine “The Past Didn’t Go Anywhere.” (https://www.aprilrosenblum.com/_files/ugd/4dc342_10d68441b6c44ee0a12909a242074ca6.pdf). It helps highlights some of the mistakes like those in this article.
A big problem with her that she is in favor of IHRA’s defintion of antisemitism (she endorsed it in 2016), which doesn’t differiantiate between criticism of Israel and criticism of Jews.
Autostraddle needs to make it clear that this is one person’s opinion, not anything resembling news, because this is some dangerous unresearched “journalism” with a gotcha headline. (And no, I don’t align with most of Israel’s actions.) I’d echo that such knee-jerk one-sided accusatory rhetoric is at least partly why the election went the way it did.
100% agree. If you want to be considered a source for facts and information, you need to uphold standards of journalism. The media is complicit – more interested in manufacturing outrage for clicks/views than in presenting a balanced truth.
Yeah… I am a Palestine supporter, but calling this piece “Sarah McBride is a Zionist” instead of something like “Sarah McBride’s election is complicated” just seems deliberately inflammatory.
Also, is she even a Zionist? She’s an Israel supporter, yes, that’s not the same thing. And it’s not really helpful for our side to conflate the two things. There’s a world of difference between extreme pro-settlement politicians like Ben-Gvir, and what you quote McBride as saying.
Yes. AS needs to tone down the rhetoric now, & start taking a more nuanced path. Why has there nit been one article about the suffering of Israeli civilians living in fear of the next bomb attack? Or the hostages?
A small detail, but describing what McBride said about Iran as “fear-mongering” is a really odd choice… Iran wants to be the regional power, and is intimately connected to conflicts across the Middle East via its proxies. Those things aren’t really up for debate. Of course a politician would be factoring in, well, geopolitics.
Exactly! Drew is just hearing what they want to hear…
Thank you Drew! A brave piece and so well written – now more than ever it’s so important that we hold those in positions of power to account for a better world. That we would ever have to defend the point of view that bombing kids, universities, schools, and hospitals is morally bankrupt and evil is beyond beleif. Kia kaha e hoa, He aha te mea nui? Māku e kii atu, he tāngata, he tāngata, he tāngata.
Autostraddle should take a leaf out of HeyAlma’s book – their coverage I’d nuanced and empathetic to both sides.
https://www.heyalma.com/i-will-not-lose-my-compassion-for-all-israeli-and-palestinian/
UMMM THERE IS NO BOTH SIDES OF A GENOCIDE WHATS WRONGS WITH YALL
Israel has been bombed repeatedly by terrorists. Over 100 people were kidnapped, many still captured, countless others raped and murdered at Nova. How can you not see that side? I don’t condone Netanyahu’s brutality, but ignoring Israel’s suffering does no one any favours.
Girllll u sound ridiculous… Let’s not forget that ISRAELI hostages said that they were treat led with so much respect while captive that the children didn’t know what was going on.. 90k+Palestinians people have been wiped off the face of the earth.
There is not both sides to a genocide
So it’s alright to kidnap children as long as they don’t realise? What the actual fuck? Would you be happy for that to happen to your family? What about the hostages who were killed? What about Shani Louk, raped, murdered, & displayed like a piece of rubbish. What about the others raped and murdered at Nova? At a peace festival? Are you denying this? How do you think the hostages feel now, after a year in captivity? Do you have no empathy for them?
Hamas are an evil terrorist group. Netanyahu’s actions are evil. Both can coexist. Hamas doesn’t equal Palestine, and equating them w a violent terrorist group does no one amy good.
It’s not just foolish to deny the Israelis’ suffering, it’s morally wrong. You can fight for a ceasefire for the good of both sides, suffering is not a zero sum game.
Girllll 9 0, 0 0 0+ people have been blown up to oblivion in the Gaza strip.. innocent people who where already in what human rights groups have been saying for decades is the largest open air prison on earth … ON EARTH….. The fact that u are bypassing that with false equivalents is wild…
“genocide”, like the word “facist” has become so overused as to become meaningless. Once upon a time “genocide” meant the intended extermination of all members of a particular ethnic or religious group. Armenians by Turkey, Jews by Nazi’s, the Tutsi in Rwanda,etc.. Does the writer really believe that Israel desires the complete extermination of all people in Gaza? I don’t believe it does. It may be killing large numbers of civilians in the pursuit of its military goals but that is sort of feature of warfare dating back to the Assyrians. The Allies in WW2 killed large numbers of civilians in both Germany and Japan. Does the writer believe that the Allies therefore intended to exterminate the German and Japanese people, that they intended genocide? Using the word genocide too freely reduces its value, much as calling too many people facist reduces its value.
Exactly. I’m appalled at the way these grave words are thrown around. Thr situation in Gaza is appalling, but it is not genocide. Similarly, people throw around ‘From the river to the sea’ & ‘intifada’ without realising these have anti Semitic overtones, and aren’t simply about improving Palestinians’ lives.
if this comment section teaches you anything let it be “queers constantly miss the point, too!”
This comment right here!!!
I applaud her for supporting Israel and its right to defend itself from terrorism. I’m thankful that she she has a conscience and is actively calling for the release of the hostages, including Americans held that the author of this hit piece obviously doesn’t care about.
As a Jew and the proud father of 3 daughters who identify as part of the LGBTQ+ community, a community that in the Middle East only has a home in Israel, the author’s obvious anti-Israel bias is nothing more than a thin mask for her antisemitism. I urge the LGBTQ+ community to wake up and embrace those who embrace them and not those who, like the Muslim world, want to see them destroyed almost as much as they want Jews eradicated.