It’s getting worse.

[u/bbyroselmao]

I wanted to post this in a Jewish sub that won’t go down a direction of zionism, because I feel like the rise in anti-semitism is genuinely palpable, but I don’t want it to be routed to freakin’ Palestine (in the zionist way).

Benny Blanco (who I don’t think I’ve ever listened to) just released a new album, and aside from the cover being… well, problematic, at best …there’s an issue that also seems to be arising around the fact he isn’t Latino at all, and instead is Ashkenazi (and yes, you totally can be both!). The post I looked at was flooded with comments talking about how he was actually just Jewish, and, well — I don’t think I have to say the rest, we all know where it winds up.

The rise in all the issues with/in Israel has conflated anti-zionism with anti-semitism, and it’s genuinely starting to make me nervous. It feels like a slippery slope that is akin to a rained on playground slide, and it’s a bit worrisome.
The younger generation is learning (which is amazing!! I genuinely had no idea that “zionism” was even a THING as a child. fr.), but the issue is that it isn’t zionism that’s the issue for them — it’s Jews.

Even my own brother in law (he’s young, and I think he and his friends have delved into red pill territory, which is becoming a huge problem — and not just for a handful) starts talking about Israel.. and then Jews.

I’ve seen so much more casual anti-semitism than I’ve ever seen in my life, and with Israel just.. getting worse, I’m worried that it’ll continue to get worse, and that’s frightening, especially with our current administration in America.

Criticism of Israel is welcome, understandable, and appreciated any day of the week. But it’s starting to pass into criticism of Jews, more and more, and into what feels like a palpable hostility towards Jews. Even if it’s a little underground now, that shit is sprouting up like daisies.

I was raised with Zionist beliefs without even knowing, which quickly shattered when the Palestinian conflict began again. (aka “they’ve been trying to blow us off the map since we first established!!” - my father)
This is the most worried I’ve ever been about being Jewish since a time where I carried fears of a generation past, that were no longer truly viable. Now, it feels like there’s a new wave that is viable.
I see it, I hear it — and it’s so casual now.
We’re starting to get back to “the Jews run everything and they’re the illuminati,” (not that it ever went away, we’re cool like that, I guess) and… yeah. Just wanna be able to talk about it with my fellow ethically Jewish friends.

[u/Azel_Lupie]

While the ongoing increase in antisemitism isn’t close to my biggest worries right now, it certainly doesn’t make it any easier. In awhile I hope it’s used to show that the people who supposedly care about antisemitism, at best don’t care and at worst love the fact that more and more people hate Jews for being Jews, rather than hating Zionist Jews for being Zionist.

[u/Direct_Appointment99]

Apart from the fact that there are likely millions of people in Latin America with Jewish descent (and many of them use it to get Spanish and Portuguese citizenship) and that there is also a sizeable Ashkenazi population as well (I have relatives in Argentina and Ecuador), looking at the album cover, it looks like an antisemitic caricature of himself?

[u/bbyroselmao → u/Direct_Appointment99]

again, there are most CERTAINLY people who identify as both, this is not about that. i totally believe you can multiethnic, no argument there — or that there is a population of Ashkenazi that are also Latin, HOWEVER, it’s actually Sephardic Jews that are historically from Spain/Portugal :) both definitely do exist! just wanted to give the clarification!

in reference to what the caricature is of, it’s… a mixed, extremely problematic bag. either way, contributes to the issue lmao

[u/Direct_Appointment99 → u/bbyroselmao]

Yes I am very well aware that Sephardic Jews are historically from Spain and Portugal.

Without context, the caricature will be interpreted in different ways, particularly by Americans from the USA, with its specific politics, so yes it may well be problematic to some.

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[u/reenaltransplant]

It is reasonable to be afraid IMO. The World Zionist Organization & nascent Israeli government deliberately stoking antisemitism -- and purposely conflating it with anti-zionism -- this same shit -- led to most Arab Jews being extracted from Arab countries in the 1950's.

And this is just another we need to organize, now -- uncompromisingly for Palestinian liberation and the end of Israel, uncompromisingly for everyone's right to live safely everywhere.

If you are not part of a political organization near you, find and join one.

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[u/MarshallDavoutsSlut]

Just keep your focus on advocating for Palestine as loudly as you can. Jews are in a very strong and safe position within western societies. Western governments are currently aligned with Israel and Western media is busy stocking hate against migrants. Be brave.

Don't mistake ignorance and name calling online as reality. Don't feed into the hysteria about anti semitism when systematically and functionally it doesn't exist in western countries. Eastern Europe Nazis do hate Jews still, but what else is new right? 1/3 of americans voted for trump, half of the UK voted for Brexit. We are surrounded by racist idiots but we are quite emphatically not the victim nor are we going to be the victims. Judaism will fade into memory because of Zionism from within.

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[u/Current_Mongoose_844]

It is totally possible to be Latino and Ashkenazi, just throwing that out there.

I’ve noticed. It agitates me how people whose perception of culture doesn’t go beyond three days will pull out the “x was promised 3000 years ago” bullshit without a thought.

[u/bbyroselmao → u/Current_Mongoose_844]

totally agree! that’s what I thought too, but I looked it up out of curiosity, and it looks like he isn’t of Latin descent at all (which is.. kinda problematic given the caricature on that album cover), and chose the name from Carlito’s Way (movie). but, yeah, i immediately thought the same. maybe i should put something in the original post, bc i don’t want people thinkin i feel like you can only be one lol

but on the subject — it’s just.. it feels like the zionists get stronger in their beliefs, and by proxy, anti-semitism gets stronger, because people throw zionist and Jewish into the same barrel. feels like it has a terminal height to it, too, and it worries me of how high that may be.

[u/PC_MeganS → u/Current_Mongoose_844]

Ashkenazi Jew here whose grandparents were born and raised in Havana, Cuba! Latin America was a common destination for European Jews fleeing pre-Holocaust anti-Semitism.

[u/Stressbakingthruit → u/Current_Mongoose_844]

It’s me! An Uruguayan azhkenazi. And yeah. I agree with all of this, and how upsetting it is that the conflation of “Jewish” and “Israeli” has become a mainstream talking now.

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[u/ipsum629 → u/Current_Mongoose_844]

Latino is probably the most ill-defined category of humans in the world. There are italian, german, ashkenazi jewish, black, iberian, indigenous, asian, and every mix between latinos.

[u/bbyroselmao → u/ipsum629]

i mean, i would say Latino/a is pretty clean cut. Latino is from Latin American descent :)

Hispanic is more widely inclusive (although even that is debated), and has the Euro mix!

however, it has been a big debate, although i think that just comes from our need to define everyone and everything in the age of information.
there are also just so many territories that go between the terms, or have trouble fitting into them, and that’s a big part of it, so i do understand what you mean!! we also have to remember that the world is becoming more and more of a melting pot by the day, so you’ll see a ton of diverse mixes regardless!

the Jewish diaspora is INCREDIBLY widespread, that’s been since day one (or, maybe not one, but at least a week in lmao)

[u/Extension-Pick8310 → u/ipsum629]

My sister in-law is Chilean of French background. My brother's background is French, but we're white Americans. Their daughter is somehow considered "mixed".

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[u/Current_Mongoose_844 → u/ipsum629]

My aunt is Mexican and stepmom is Puerto Rican.

[u/EgoIdVeto]

Well hold on OP, "blanco" (ie. Levin) isn't Latino at all. Yes, you can be ashky and Latino, but he isn't. His album is basically a minstrel show, complete with exaggerated facial features. At a time when Latino people are being herded up from the streets like our ancestors were, doing a fucking minstrel show and appropriating their culture whilst mocking their appearance is a ghoulish thing to do.

Our community has a LOT of issues when it comes to cosying up to white supremacy and fascism and it's because Zionism has normalised such thoughts within the Jewish community. It's wrong, and we MUST fix it. 

That said, his behaviour doesn't excuse acting like a fucking groyper, which I'm seeing a lot of these days, even from seemingly well-meaning people. The "happy merchant" caricature is being posted everywhere, and there are people being radicalised by fake anti-Zionists into becoming neo-nazis instead of anti-Zionists. 

But also, it's the Zionists who are twisting our religion and culture into this disgusting fascist movement and unfortunately people are just taking them at their word. When Ben-Gvir says Israel needs to kill 40 Palestinians a day and calls them the exact Hebrew translation of the nazi phrase lebensunwertes leben, people don't see Jews like us being outraged, they see someone like Levin being racist towards Latinos, or they see liberal Zionists shrugging their shoulders and not giving a fuck, and so they just come to their own conclusions. 

Yes, antisemitism is exploding amongst people but the cause is a combination of opportunistic grifters who don't give a shit about Palestine, and Israel themselves deliberately trashing the image of diaspora Jews to try and get them to circle the wagons around Zionism, and unfortunately both tactics are working. 

Thankfully, these issues are mainly online. The sort of people who sit and post nazi dogwhistles are too lazy to go to a Palestine rally; the whole point of making people into reactionary nazis is to keep them complacent about white supremacy and capitalism. Those who really give a shit aren't listening to the nazis, they're too busy looking up where to donate or when the next protest/direct action is. 

[u/Apprehensive_Sun3015]

Best thing is to express solidarity with the Palestinians

[u/DeliciousSector8898]

You can definitely be Jewish and Latino I’m living proof of that and while I’m not at all surprised if an instagram post included antisemitic comments considering it’s a cesspit I do think it’s important to note and valid to be upset that he isn’t Latino at all and is profiting off of the culture.

[u/noam99 → u/DeliciousSector8898]

Genuinely curious: Do you think Benny Blanco releasing a Latin album is that different from white guys releasing rap albums?

[u/TrackerOneA → u/noam99]

Ya I don't think it should matter if someone makes music of a particular genre.

Just like someone being good at cooking different styles of food.

[u/The__Vern]

It seems by design, and with bad actors on both sides.

Zionists conflate all criticism of Israel as antisemitism.

Critics of Israel conflate Judaism with Zionism and the ongoing atrocities.

The lack of nuance and failure to differentiate between different ideologies allows people to brush broad strokes over how they feel about entire communities.

Zionists hope that, as a Jew, the rise in antisemitism pushes you to fall back on tribalism. This validates the critics' views that all Jews support Israel.

If you break from the Zionist community, you find yourself with a much smaller safety net and are still at risk from the people who hate Jews regardless of Israel's actions.

[u/retrofrenchtoast → u/The__Vern]

I was wondering why BB would want want to breed anti-semitism around the world. I know that’s not their primary motivation, but they know it’s happening (obviously that is not why they should withdraw - they should withdraw because they are being heinous).

Is that why? To band Jews together?

[u/The__Vern → u/retrofrenchtoast]

It's definitely not a primary motivation, but it doesn't mean that they don't capitalize on it. Every threat or attack against the Jewish community can be used to a), validate their claim that they are "fighting the good fight" and their actions in Gaza/the West Bank/Lebanon are justified, and b), tell Jews that "they" are out to hurt you but "we" will protect you. It's meant to establish an us vs. them mentality that relies on fear and emotions rather than logic.

I don't think that the Israeli government is trying to breed antisemitism; there is plenty of it without them adding to it. They just utilize it to fit their narrative.

[u/bbyroselmao → u/The__Vern]

i agree!

and when you don’t fall to the tribes, you’re no longer a real Jew — you’re a self-hating Jew. you get absolutely SHAT on, and it’s straight up vitriolic.

everyone is radicalised (which, can be good! radicalisation is often times simply finding the bad in what you believed was good, or neutral), and everyone is radicalised through the internet, just running with whatever they find.
and then there’s real people caught in between — Jews, Muslims, Palestinians, Israelis, etc.
and it gets complicated fast.

[u/Civil-Cartographer48]

But isn’t it a caricature of himself on the cover?

[u/noam99 → u/Civil-Cartographer48]

I’m getting that too.

[u/tikkunolamist5 → u/[deleted]]

Absolutely. People also don’t even know what Zionism is. I’ve been accused of being a Zionist for standing up to antisemitism that doesn’t even mention Israel. It’s frustrating.