Zionists cannot conceptualize actual Jews not being Zionists, so when confronted with our views they have to first deny our Jewish identity.
My eight great-grandparents were yiddish-speaking refugees of pre-war European antisemitism. I was raised in Zionist spaces.
I became Orthodox on my own and went to the yeshiva in Israel five years ago, with a religious Zionist (dati leumi) group, in a settlement in East Jerusalem. And it was precisely this trip that made me reject Zionism altogether.
I almost didn't speak to any Palestinians when I went, and the ones to whom I did didn't tell me anything about their situation. Israelis did. Talking about their own country's history and politics. Showing their views of Palestinians, how they take pride in denying them respect and dignity, and the actions they believe must be taken in order to ensure the "safety of the Jewish people".
I always find this tendency of Zionists to be extremely telling. Online and irl I encounter people who cannot understand the notion that their own shul and school systems are not absolutely effective and convincing youth. I went exclusively to Jewish schools, almost all orthodox except the last year and a half of high school. I grew up in a modern orthodox household, yeshivish and Hasidic relatives, I have family in the entity, I’ve been to the area twice for weeks long trips when I was younger, I went to an orthodox youth group, but to these people none of that can possibly be true because I… don’t agree with their political ideology and think the country they exalt is guilty of repeating and overlapping genocide campaigns, and because of my own personal experiences. They cannot fathom serious criticism and rejection from ‘their own ranks’ (so to speak). Genuine mob mentality. They straight up cannot comprehend Judaism that doesn’t center the modern state of Israel™️ as if the entire function of our religion and heritage is to be mindless drones. It’s weird, and it’s gross.
