There’s a widespread belief that the star of David is eternally a sacred untouchable symbol no matter what, and anyone who uses it in a negative or satirical context is automatically a nazi no matter how many times it’s spray painted on the homes of murdered or ethnically cleansed Palestinians, or carved into their foreheads.
People like to make the comparison to the swastika to emphasize that religious symbols can be co-opted, but the swastika was not used as a symbol of genocide by Buddhists, or any other group for which it was a religious symbol. The star of David is used as a symbol of genocide by Jewish people. I don’t think anyone should have to justify the association between the star of David and genocide, that association was created by Jewish people.
There’s merit to the idea that it’s better to avoid using the star of David to represent the zionist entity because it might reinforce the claim that the entity represents all Jews. There’s no merit to the idea that associating the star of David with genocide makes you an antisemite, or that the star of David is somehow immune from association with genocide even though it’s Jewish people who created that association in the first place (as I said above, unlike the swastika, which is still not immune from association with genocide).
Still, though this was no secret, we were instructed to treat it as such, sometimes by our parents, sometimes by well-meaning solidarity activists. We were instructed to ignore the Star of David on the Israeli flag, and to distinguish Jews from Zionists with surgical precision. It didn’t matter that their boots were on our necks, and that their bullets and batons bruised us. Our statelessness and homelessness were trivial. What mattered was how we spoke about our keepers, not the conditions they kept us under—blockaded, surrounded by colonies and military outposts—or the fact that they kept us at all.
What a burdensome impulse. Not only do we live in fear of displacement at the hands of a colonialism that professes itself as Jewish, not only are our people bombarded by an army that marches under what it claims is the Jewish flag, and not only do Israeli politicians over enunciate the Jewishness of their operations, we are told to disregard the Star of David soaring on their flag—the Star of David they carve into our skin.
Yeah, I mean this is obvious to everyone with a brain. Any time someone claimed I was antisemitic because I didn’t want Israel to commit genocide I gave that claim absolutely zero weight. That rhetoric isn’t working, they should stop using it because it just makes them seem more evil.
There’s a widespread belief that the star of David is eternally a sacred untouchable symbol no matter what, and anyone who uses it in a negative or satirical context is automatically a nazi no matter how many times it’s spray painted on the homes of murdered or ethnically cleansed Palestinians, or carved into their foreheads.
People like to make the comparison to the swastika to emphasize that religious symbols can be co-opted, but the swastika was not used as a symbol of genocide by Buddhists, or any other group for which it was a religious symbol. The star of David is used as a symbol of genocide by Jewish people. I don’t think anyone should have to justify the association between the star of David and genocide, that association was created by Jewish people.
There’s merit to the idea that it’s better to avoid using the star of David to represent the zionist entity because it might reinforce the claim that the entity represents all Jews. There’s no merit to the idea that associating the star of David with genocide makes you an antisemite, or that the star of David is somehow immune from association with genocide even though it’s Jewish people who created that association in the first place (as I said above, unlike the swastika, which is still not immune from association with genocide).
https://mondoweiss.net/2023/09/jewish-settlers-stole-my-house-its-not-my-fault-theyre-jewish/
The star historically was not considered a broad symbol representing all Jews. It was essentially created as such by the early Zionists.
Yeah, I mean this is obvious to everyone with a brain. Any time someone claimed I was antisemitic because I didn’t want Israel to commit genocide I gave that claim absolutely zero weight. That rhetoric isn’t working, they should stop using it because it just makes them seem more evil.