Look and Wonder: From Now On, Relocation Is Also 'Occupation'
A viral video describes Israelis as those who are 'colonizing the world.' This rhetoric, which has become legitimate since October 7, is essentially a new form of antisemitism.
In the past week, a video went viral on the web in which a young woman describes Israelis as those who are colonizing the world.
She divides us into two groups: the backpackers who go out to conquer territories after the army, and the liberals who left the country for fear that it would become undemocratic. The former, she explains, show us how Israelis act, and the latter how they think. Upon its release, it was written that the source of the video was in Qatar, and after it gained popularity, its source changed to the USA. Either way, the only difference between this video and Nazi propaganda is the use of the word "Israelis" instead of "Jews".
Claims of this kind against Israelis have become legitimate mainly after October 7, and have replaced the infamous modern antisemitism. Thus, it is possible for many on the left in the world and in Israel to claim that this is merely political criticism of Zionism and of Israel's conduct in recent years.
From now on, relocation is also occupation
But if one delves into the current anti-Zionist drift, one can easily identify a return to familiar antisemitic motifs—such as Jewish control over academic institutions, the media, banks, or the entertainment industry. One of them is the ZOG (Zionist Occupied Government) narrative, according to which there is hidden Jewish control over Western governments. Another dominant narrative is the "Great Replacement." If in the past the theory was attributed to the agenda of Muslim immigrants to replace the white population in Western countries, now it has been transferred to Jews. These are, of course, brainwashing based on ignorance. The number of Jews in the world is so small that even if they wanted to take over, they could not. But why let reality interfere?
In the current antisemitic climate, one can also identify a change in public discourse: the claim that Israel is a colonial state has been expanded, so that it now includes the claim that Israelis and Jews are colonizing everywhere they arrive around the world. The criticism directed at the settlements, the IDF, and the government has in recent years also referred to tourists, students, academics, high-tech entrepreneurs, and Israeli or Jewish business owners, who are presented as part of a colonial project and as those who take over cities or neighborhoods through real estate or economic influence.
The loud protests against the Israeli community in the Valsesia Valley at the foot of the Alps in Italy are just one example of many. It involves about 250 Israelis who settled in the valley as part of attempts to resettle it. They left Israel following the announcement of the judicial reform, and today, three years later, the community they built is at the heart of a shaking public storm, and they themselves are accused of Israeli colonialism. "That's how it started in Palestine too," was written in a warning to the residents of the area.
"The Zionists arrived and promised money, development, peace, and jobs. We all saw the reality with the ruins of Gaza. We don't want to become Gaza." Around the same time, an anonymous online form was distributed in Italy calling to "map Zionist tourism" and track hotels, vacation apartments, and businesses connected to Jews and Israelis across the country. Globalization stops when it comes to Jews. This act has already crossed the line, and about a week ago, law enforcement authorities in Italy removed the form from the network.
Many Jews on the global left, and certainly in Israel, are looking for justifications for these displays of antisemitism and the increasing incidents of violence against Jews in the world. One of the main justifications serves the political struggle within Israel, and concerns the composition of the Israeli government, which is perceived as particularly extreme, mainly due to the presence of religious elements within it.
Jewish liberals in Israel and the world are currently trying to disavow any belonging or connection to Jewish images. Similar to the conduct of Jewish liberals before the Holocaust, perhaps they too are trying to save themselves through self-erasure. But as the young woman in the Qatari propaganda video noted, those liberals are just another type of colonial and violent Israelis, who pretend to be universal in order to impose their Jewish agenda. More than that, the perception and presentation of any Jewish-religious element as extreme and illegitimate is just another way to erase the historical narrative of the Jewish existence in the Land of Israel, which is thousands of years old.
History has a frightening tendency to repeat itself. The situation of Jews in the world today is strikingly reminiscent of the situation of Jews before the Holocaust. The legitimacy to harm Jews wherever they are, turning them into a problem that needs to be gotten rid of, and the idea that they are occupiers everywhere they are—all these also appeared in the brainwashing that allowed for the systematic and mass extermination of Jews in Europe and North Africa. If this were happening today, the Nazis would probably have succeeded in realizing their plan to make Jews disappear from the world. They would just have to define it as "anti-Zionism"—and everyone would applaud them, including significant parts of the left in Israel.
Erasing evidence
Last week, the Palestinian Authority decided to build a mosque at Solomon's Pools, a historical Jewish site that served as the main water source for the Temple. This is not a coincidence, but a clear agenda to erase Jewish history in the Land of Israel. An agenda that is expressed, among other things, in the fact that the Palestinian Authority is currently promoting UNESCO recognition of Solomon's Pools as a Palestinian heritage site, along with 24 other ancient Jewish sites.
Archaeology throughout the biblical Land of Israel tells the story of the Jews as the natives of the place, a story that not only the Palestinian Authority is trying to erase—but also the whole world. Probably to portray the Palestinians as natives, and as those who have a historical right to the land, cross-continental campaigns and all-encompassing academic theories are not enough. As long as archaeology tells the Jewish story—there are facts on the ground that cannot be denied, even if one tries very hard. Therefore, it is of such great importance in the eyes of the Palestinians to erase every Jewish trace from the ground, to erase the narrative through the soil.
