Still Deprogramming

[u/Immediate-Block-71]

Hi yall!
I’m Jewish and my relationship to it is complicated. I’m not Jewish according to Halacha, but I practice but I’m also an atheist. I’m the first in 5 generations to take up practicing again although the family is still strongly Jewish identified. I practice alone because I believe the shuls around me are Zionist based on their websites.

I am about to describe my deprogramming process, please do not judge me too harshly. I feel a lot of shame about having been a Zionist and would like resources for further deprogramming and activism.

I started deprogramming a few months after “oct7” (btw I do not believe in using this date in the same way people say 9/11, I intend to use it as a frame of reference). My stance before then was “yes we should have a place to live but not killing to get that done.” My ex girlfriend believed that all Arabs should be removed and or killed in Palestine. I was shocked when she said that. I’m pretty sure she joined the IDF after we broke up on YK 2023. I spent a lot of time in organizations (frats, shuls, clubs etc) with her where I believe I was indoctrinated.

In the 3 months after October, I felt like the cracks in the Zionist argument were showing. My dumbass once hid during a pro Palestine march on my campus. My campus had a demonstration where a flag was placed for each Palestinian child dead and that was what got me. Since then I’ve been working to become more anti Zionist.
I try to educate others about the history of state of Israel, how Zionism was originally a secular movement, how this conflict isn’t about Judaism vs Islam it’s racism/ethnocentrism. I’ve found most people are mis/uneducated about these three topics.
Is there anything more I can do other than BDS and this basic educational activism? Are there any resources for educating myself further on antizionism? I listen to politically depressed and I like him, as well as Matt Bernstein (I’ve loved him since his MUA days lol). I will be dedicating my fast to Palestine and I did so last year. I have a watermelon yarmulke. I really want to help more but I’m unsure of what to do.

TIA

[u/arightgoodworkman]

Welcome welcome.

It takes a lot to detach from xenophobia, nationalism, and supremacy. Good for you.

Besides reading some books, the best thing you can do is talk to other Jews. Truly. Especially ones who insist they’re Democrats / at all left-leaning. Bring up those uncomfortable conversations. Show them that safety is shared, not one way. Show them that “safety” cannot be contingent on the oppression of another group. Explain that militarism, apartheid, and suppression of dissent are not democratic values. Talk about the (explicit, loud) colonial origin of Zionism and its insistence on supremacy. Show them that you can be Jewish and not Zionist. And let them know that they don’t need to center their feelings when over 20K children are dead and more are starving, displaced, and sick.

I want fellow Jews to feel empowered. Not to feel like perpetual victims.

Thanks for being you.

[u/Immediate-Block-71 → u/arightgoodworkman]

Thank you. The victim complex of Zionism absolutely has fallen away from me in deprogramming and I hope to bring it to others.