Fear and Loathing in Left-Wing Jewish Non-Profits: What the hell is IfNotNow Doing?

What business do kids born in the New Jersey suburbs have telling Palestinian organizers how they should respond to a genocide?

Campers at a random Jewish summer camp. I have no idea if these students would or would not go on to become leaders in the Jewish pro-Palestine movement. 

*notice: upsetting imagery and language ahead*

Picture this: Your family members, your friends, your entire fucking neighborhood, has been destroyed by IDF soldiers, IDF snipers, and IDF armored bulldozers. Tens of thousands of your people have been slaughtered, fully city blocks have been razed, and thousands of men, militants or not, are held for torture within Israeli prisons, with no chance for anything remotely resembling a fair trial.

Then, some kids from New Jersey show up, wearing kippot, or yarmulkes, telling you that when they were in third grade Hebrew school, their teacher taught them that the primary value in Judaism was tzedek, meaning justice. They ask you to put your petty quarrels aside, embrace the modern day saint Mohatma Ghandi, and embrace the active duty and formerly active IDF soldiers who destroyed your neighborhoods, murdered your family members, and pillaged your land. Why? Because all those years ago, in remedial Hebrew school in suburban New Jersey, you learned that Judaism valued the intrinsic dignity of all human life. Can everybody hug now?

I was briefly active with IfNotNow following the October 7 Al Qassam Brigades military attack on Israel. I was looking for a community of folks whom I could join to protest Israel's imminent return attack on Gaza. Any person familiar with Israeli military history could predict that Israel's counter offensive would be savage and brutal, to say the least. And though I do not consider Israel or Israelis to be the primary victim of the conflict in any way shape or form, I myself was pretty shaken up in the weeks following October 7th, and I was seeking out folks who would be understanding of the grief that I was experiencing. Well, you reap what you sow.

My point in writing this is not to say that every single thing and organization such as IfNotNow does is bad. I appreciate the ways that they push against Zionist rhetoric in numerous ways. They rightly insist on describing Israel's governance of the West Bank as apartheid, and Israel's military assault on Gaza as a genocide. They refrain from describing themselves as anti-Zionists for fear of alienating members and supporters who still identify as Zionists (in my opinion, a very confusing choice), but most of their leadership identifies as anti-Zionists (maybe secretly) and they put their bodies on the line at actions and protests to show up for Gaza, and that is commendable. 

But then, the amazing thing, is that they turn around and tell a story to Palestinians about the future that they (Palestinians) should be building. A future of well-being for all. A country of thriving for all. A nation where all can live together in peace and harmony. With the people who wiped out a person's entire bloodline, and turned multi-mile neighborhoods into demolition zones? Where hundreds of thousands have been killed and are buried beneath the rubble? 

Go crazy, fight against Zionist, or right-wing Zionists (as some would insist), as much as you like. But turn around and tell Palestinians what future they should be building. In Hebrew I would say: lo bevakasha, please no.

But who am I to ask these questions? If your yoga instructor in Westchester said so, and it kind of sounds like the Hebrew you don't quite remember from your once a week Hebrew instruction at the summer camp you attended in fourth and fifth grade, who am I to question it? Olam Tzedek Yibaneh. Amen.