Effie

Until a few years back, I too used to think that any mention of "Talmudic rituals" in a post about Jews invading Al-Aqsa or some Muslim shrine inside a Palestinian village was nothing but an "antisemitic dog whistle." After someone pointed me to an article on the subject, I started to research and learn about Jewish history and Jewish religion, using the very few non-apologetic sources available and corroborating the facts myself using actual primary sources. I was shocked to learn that not only are Talmudic teachings and rituals an absolutely essential component of the violence carried out by Orthodox Jewish settlers in Palestine, but also of the entire Zionist project of colonization and genocide. I learned how deeply the Talmud, with its supremacist, violent, and outright weird teachings, has shaped the social dynamics and worldview of Jews for almost 2,000 years, in ways that deeply affect even the most liberal "secular" Jewish communities today, including the supposedly secular Jewish Israeli community in which I was raised. I even noticed how some seemingly unrelated thought patterns I used to hold directly stemmed from Talmudic notions that were passed down to me through several generations of my supposedly secular ancestors. Almost all self-proclaimed "anti-Zionist Jews" are truly oblivious to the extremely understated role that Jewish religion, and the Talmud specifically, play in the global Zionist shitshow we are now in the middle of. Well, ignorance is OK, as long as one is willing to learn. What is not OK, however, is choosing to remain ignorant and using your platform to mock and dismiss valid, vital, and urgent criticism of Jewish religion. When one does that, they are weaponizing the concept of "antisemitism", just like Zionists, to shield Judaism and obfuscate a hugely important truth.

This cover of an old Israeli children's booklet, titled "David vs. Goliath", perfectly depicts the inverted reality Zionists believe in. This issue of "Tzabariko", a children's activity booklet from the early 1970s, was dedicated to the IDF and its "heroic" wars and victories, supposedly against all odds. The cover is purported to depict a 1948 battle in which the Jewish militiamen in Kibbutz Degania Alef, near the Sea of Galilee, managed to stop and destroy a Syrian tank. One of the various myths surrounding the event claims that the tank was halted by local kibbutz members armed only with Molotov cocktails. What makes this cover especially audacious is that by the time this booklet came out, Israel was a nuclear military power, while young Palestinians in the 67-Occupied Territories were literally in the position depicted - fighting a heavily armed military using nothing but rocks, Molotov cocktails and their love for their homeland. They were (and still are) the actual "David vs. Goliath", but at the same time, Israeli kids - and in fact, most of the West - have been indoctrinated to believe the exact opposite. Even in 1948, the Zionists were far from being a "David" fighting against some big, evil "Goliath": by the time the Syrian army reached Degania, following the establishment of the State of Israel, the entire area had already been completely ethnically cleansed. The so-called "David" had already expelled everyone - poor villagers, educated city people, nomads, etc. See the quoted tweet for a real David vs. Goliath moment. And remember Faris Odeh 🇵🇸