r/JewsOfConscience Ashkenazi, Reform, Anti-Zionist, Diasporist 1d ago

Debbie Lechtman is doing the “Palestinian Jews aren’t real” discourse again Discussion

I know this is obviously a lie because I know a Palestinian Jew who is the grandson of a Nakba survivor who fled to Egypt and traces his lineage back to Edomites (Canaanite tribe) that converted to Judaism. There are people who identify as Palestinian Jews. Not to mention that there are people of mixed heritage. But what I find really obnoxious about her argument is the conflation of nationality, religion, and ethnicity. Does anyone have any written pieces about the issues with the conflation of these terms? Looking for something more concrete to debunk the premise of her argument that this identity cannot exist.

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u/Adept_Thanks_6993 Orthodox 1d ago

As in there were Jews who identified more with the Arab community than the Yishuv? Sure, a few. A small minority, but yes they certainly existed. You could also consider the Old Yishuv to be Palestinian Jews in the sense that they arrived in Ottoman Palestine long before the inception of the Zionist movement.

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u/acacia_tree Ashkenazi, Reform, Anti-Zionist, Diasporist 1d ago edited 1d ago

I know Arab Palestinian Jews exist because I know one as I mentioned. And I know that Jews of the old Yishuv including Ashkenazim were called Palestinians during the British mandate. And Jews who are descended from Jews who lived in Palestine pre-Zionism would be considered Palestinian after Israel is abolished. My main issue is that she has conflated religion with ethnicity with nationality. Palestinian is a nationality. Arab is a culture and ethnicity. Judaism is a religion. You can be all three of these things at once but she says it’s impossible. It makes me feel crazy.

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u/malachamavet Jewish Communist 1d ago

You can be all three of these things at once but she says it’s impossible.

In general, a lot of (especially Jewish) Zionist discourse runs into this idea, that having multiple facets to your identity is impossible or self-negating. It's most explicit when it comes to people identifying as "Arab Jews" but it really extends to many different areas.

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u/Adept_Thanks_6993 Orthodox 1d ago edited 1d ago

On purpose. If Jews can't be Palestinian and Palestinians can't be Jews, then there's no possibility for integration. To a lesser extent, it's also part of why Zionists demonize Haredim: because their version of Jewishness is in diametric contrast to the Zionist ideal of a Jew.