I've had to mute a lot of my Irish friends on social media and questioning if they can even be considered friends after some of the things they r posted/said and a couple conversations we've had these recent weeks and that's been hard on me. For historical reasons, there are a lot of Irish who are staunchly pro-Palestinian and anti-Israeli and who think any sort of violence is justified when fighting against a British created colony on a native population which is the only way they see Israel. A lot of them see this as a way of getting to freedom fight for Irish independence without having to have the violence at home killing their own family members. And they have said and shared some of the most violently anti-Semitic, pro-Hamas in the name of anti-Zionism justifying the victim blaming of the horrific attacks. They justify it and that there "are no innocents amongst those who live complicit with state sanctioned violence" in the same way a percentage of Irish have historically justified IRA backed terror within Ireland and the UK in the name of their own Irish identity.
But it's hard to have someone who you have been friends with and cared about tell you that "if you had been there, which thankfully you weren't, you would have deserved what happened because you live as a holdover of British colonialist because there's no innocents amongst those who profit off a state of oppression." And it just hurts to be told that... Especially from people who supposedly claim they care about you.
It's had me extra argumentative looking for the smackdown and insult. And it's also made me feel a bit more reclusive.....
Those I have been closest to recently and care most about right now, Keith and Aoife (whose da just passed away suddenly this last week) and her family, have not been that way. But some people like Fergal have definitely been sharing things and saying things that cross that line.... And like, Keith hasn't been and has backed off doing rebel songs (as opposed to other classic Irish songs) for his series of reels hiking all over ruins of Ireland with his guitar to give history than sing a song in the space of it that he's been doing this year. But his cousin (who I've met, in August) and other people close to him have been crossing that line of victim blaming and saying you can't be a victim if you're a citizen of the nation oppressing a "native" occupied people.
The rabbi in Boston who was stabbed on Thursday and the rabbi stabbed (and killed) outside her home in Detroit this Saturday during the sabbath have definitely added to the fear of being hated for nothing other than being Jewish...Especially because we're right around the anniversary of the tree of Life synagogue massacre which was the deadliest anti-Semitic attack in the US. And that's just stateside, it's been worse in the UK and EU nations with large Muslim populations. And yes, there has been violent attacks in the states against Muslims, including the six year old stabbed and killed in Chicago since this started... But there's a very real fear amongst Jews wondering, "But are we safe and supported here?" in the ways people are reacting to what their social media algorithms have been portraying the conflict and blaming Israel for all of it... Especially since both American and British policing authorities have decided that using the Hamas slogan at pro-Palestinian protests isn't hate speech unless you're saying it to a Jew or outside a synagogue as a threat.
And it just hurts and it's hard right now. And it makes a girl question who she can trust and be expecting a fight even when none was intended... I've been considering closing paths of communication and have been minimizing all social media usage because of it. If I've reached out or responded or communicated or spent time with you, it's because I trust that at a bare minimum you're not going to victim blame try to tell me that the dead who were attacked deserved it and if I had been there, like for the music festival, I would have deserved what was done.
Like I said right at the start of it, when you're a woman who was born in Jerusalem to American parents, it all hits home harder and the "there but for the grace of G-d go I" is even stronger in me than it is in the fear of most Jews right now. And these last 4-5 days have been extra hard.... because people I know and have trusted and welcomed me within the community have been the ones saying innocent civilians, even me had I been there, deserved what happened because freedom fighters can do whatever they want against British imposed colonialist oppressors.... because they see Israel-Gaza as the new modern day Irish fight for their independence against Irish genocide at the hands of the British....
And like I don't want to talk about it all the time, but honestly, most of this month has had me deeply questioning issues of trust and friendship and genuine goodness of people and where I should expect the next kick in the gut betrayal victim blaming of Jews.... because some of the people I've heard it from have hurt so badly, people I've known and called friends for over a decade and who have said that we are all like a family within the Irish music community, but apparently not if you're a Jew upset about anti-Semitic attacks on Jews by people who explicitly state in their charter that they seek the death and destruction of all Jews.
[Post Title: Lyrics to the David Kushner song Daylight. I very much adore this song, it's been on heavy rotation with me these last 6 months or so. But I DEFINITELY thought it a Hozier song for the first 50 times I heard it before I had it stuck in my head tried to look it up and did a, "Wait what?! That's NOT Hozier?! There voices are identically colored!" Blew my mind the first time I learned it, lol.]
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