Why so many young Jews are turning on Israel | Simone Zimmerman | The Big Picture S4E7Watch the movie 'Israelism'

With college campuses all over the US gripped by intense battles around free speech, antisemitism and Palestinian rights - the voices of young Jewish Americans have led the way. One of the boldest and most prominent voices is that of Simone Zimmerman. Zimmerman was raised in a conservative Zionist household, taught to idolise and support Israel as the highest aspiration of all young Jewish Americans like her. But as she got older, she began to question whether there was another side to Israel she was being sheltered from - and when she sought answers, she was shocked at what she discovered. Prompted by conversations with Palestinians under occupation and Jewish activists, she went home and began to organise in an attempt to stop her government’s military support for Israel, and as she puts it, “live out the values of justice I was raised on”. On the frontlines of protests in campuses and halls of power, she suddenly found herself a target of accusations by pro-Israeli groups, who now called her “antisemitic” and threatening her online. After October 7, she became more determined than ever to challenge the beliefs in her community about Israel, and the reluctance by many to see the horrific reality of what’s happening in Gaza. This week on The Big Picture, we sit down with Simone Zimmerman to talk about her story, which has been documented in a provocative new documentary called ‘Israelism’, and whether we’re witnessing a turning point in how young Jewish-Americans see Israel, and how young Americans see their government’s support for the occupation.

Check out Simone Zimmerman’s work with If Not Now here: https://www.ifnotnowmovement.org

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ANDREAS MALMThe Destruction of Palestine Is the Destruction of the Earth

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MILENA RAMPOLDI“Zionists hijacked Judaism”: William Hanna on his new book ‘The broken promise of a promised land’

Milena Rampoldi, ProMosaik, 27/11/2021

On 29 November 1947, the representatives of 33 countries at the UN voted Resolution 181 to divide Palestine into three entities: a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international administration for Jerusalem/Bethlehem. This resolution, supported by the two great powers, Truman's USA and Stalin's USSR, was never implemented and triggered the war, which was provoked by the unilateral proclamation of the Jewish State on 14 May 1948. To commemorate this sinister anniversary, I talked to the pro-Palestinian human rights activist based in London, William Hanna about his book “The broken promise of a promised land”, telling openly the truth on Judaism, Zionism, occupation, and violation of human rights of the Palestinians. A brave and true book.

Why did you choose the title THE BROKEN PROMISE OF A PROMISED LAND for your new book?

The Israeli Declaration of Independence, was proclaimed on 14 May 1948 by David Ben-Gurion, — the Executive Head of the World Zionist Organization and Chairman of the Jewish Agency for Palestine — with the pledge that Israel would “foster the development of the country for the benefit of all its inhabitants; it will be based on freedom, justice and peace as envisaged by the prophets of Israel; it will ensure complete equality of social and political rights to all its inhabitants irrespective of religion, race or sex; it will guarantee freedom of religion, conscience, language, education and culture; it will safeguard the Holy Places of all religions; and it will be faithful to the principles of the Charter of the United Nations.”

Then without any compunction or delay, Zionist Israel began — and has continued to do so ever since — the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinian population: a “catastrophe” known as the Nakba, which involved the barbaric and traumatic dispossession of an estimated 750,000 refugees —with some 530 villages destroyed and approximately 13,000 Palestinians killed  — and the uprooting of two-thirds of the Palestinian Arab population and their society. Yet despite this being a core Palestinian grievance, the Nakba continues to be whitewashed or denied outright by pundits, lobbyists, and even policymakers in so-called civilised and just societies allegedly committed to human rights for all.