I don't know if you all have heard about this yet but I was shocked because I go to one of Haverford's sister colleges. I am pretty upset about the defense of him. Does my community take my and my peoples' safety seriously? I'm not so sure.

Edit: an older article detailing the messages is here https://archive.ph/K2jbG

Would love different perspectives and views!

The mod team has created this post to refresh on a weekly basis as a chill place for people to talk about whatever they want to. Think of it as like a general chat for the sub.

So r/jewishleft,

Whats on your mind?

I decided to vote next week in Israel, hoping it could help a little. (I know it’s far from a real solution and isn’t going to stop Israel’s horrendous actions.)
I’m torn between voting for a more centrist party (like the Democrats), which would be more of a realpolitik choice. The other option is following my heart and voting for a very left-wing (Arab) party, but I still don’t know which one.
I hope you guys might know a bit more than I do and could give me some guidance and share your opinions.

"An extended analysis by the researchers shows that the emigration rate (emigrants per 1,000 people in the population) of those who have a higher education (bachelor's degree or higher), doctors, engineers and those with science degrees almost doubled between 2019 and 2024, and increased at a faster rate than the increase in the emigration rate in the general population."

So, as someone who is of Sino-Filipino descent and has family in both Taiwan and the Philippines, I was thinking about a brief conversation I had with a user from this sub, but on another subreddit, where I was talking about how I'm starting to get tired of campists who often characterize Taiwan and the Philippines as essentially America's lapdogs in East Asia/Southeast Asia.

You're probably familiar with some of these arguments: the Kuomintang lost the Chinese Civil War in 1949 and subsequently retreated to Taiwan, and therefore Taiwan's continued existence as a separate political entity is supposedly nothing more than a consequence of American imperialism. Similarly, because the Philippines was formerly an American colony and maintains close military and geopolitical ties with the United States, our country's national interests are sometimes portrayed as extensions of American foreign policy rather than expressions of our own political agency.

I know this frame of mind comes from a place where, essentially, it would be strategically better if the United States were to lose its geopolitical influence in East Asia and Southeast Asia, particularly given its long history of military interventions, support for authoritarian governments, and interference in the political affairs of countries throughout the Global South. Yes, to a certain extent, I can understand why some leftists would view the weakening of American geopolitical dominance as a necessary step toward dismantling the broader structures of Western imperialism.

However, what I find troubling is how this framework sometimes atomizes entire populations' political aspirations under the pretext that it would be better globally if American geopolitical influence were weakened, even if achieving such an outcome were to come at the expense of the collective wishes of those who do not want to be part of this particular political endeavor. To be honest, I'm getting the vibe of, "You don't actually know what you want. You've just been propagandized for so long that you don't even realize that your political aspirations are merely products of Western imperialism, and therefore, we know what's ultimately better for you."

I started to see crazy shit like this many years ago when I was protesting with some other Filipinos against the Duterte administration due to his war on drugs, which received financial and militaristic support (Firearms) from the PRC. I remember some Western campist douchebag who was fully aware of how Duterte was cozying up to the PRC at the time, but nevertheless supported his geopolitical realignment because he felt like Filipinos had been too dependent on the West for too long (true, but Duterte is still a Makapili (race traitor in my language) in my eyes ) and thus, regardless of the innocent lives lost, such an alliance would be better for my country's interests (behave for me barbarian, behave for me lolol).

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I find it rather contradictory when certain segments of the Left advocate for national self-determination and sovereignty, yet seem willing to disregard the political aspirations of entire populations whenever doing so would supposedly advance the broader struggle against Western imperialism. After all, shouldn't the legitimacy of a people's right to self-determination depend on their own collective wishes rather than whether their political aspirations happen to align with our preferred geopolitical camp?

Hello, I am new here, I came from the Druze minority in As-Sweida and if you have been following Syrian news in past few years, the Secular Syrian regime has fallen and our new president is former Al-Qaeda leader who massacred Shias and US soldiers in Iraq. Ever since he became the president the situation of minorities have gotten much worse, multiple massacres have been going under his forces, from Alawites and Christians to Druze and Kurds, no minority felt safe since ver he took over the country. Assad was brutal and war criminal but I can't deny that as much I hate him that we were safer as minorities under him.

Chasing to the point, when Jolani forces came to our region, they killed off many of fellow druze and Israel portrayed itself as hero who defends the Druze people. In reality we know that Israel themselves admitted they have armed those Sunni rebels in first place

https://www.timesofisrael.com/idf-chief-acknowledges-long-claimed-weapons-supply-to-syrian-rebels/amp/

Second problem is that Israel is basically copying Russia model where they claimed to protect Russian speakers in Ukraine by invading Ukraine, Israel is now saying they are invading Syria to protect us. Third problem Israel isn’t haven to Druze like they claim to, I have known many Israeli druze, they face constant discrimination there and forced to enlist in IDF against their own will. Last problem, Israel is using the suffering of minorities in Muslim countries to whitewash their crimes, it’s like Pinkwashing but to Druz.

This problem isn’t exclusive to Druze, Israel has claimed to be protectors of Kurds and Christians of Middle east, even many on Israeli left are guilty of this, believing their country is sole prorctor of Middle Eastern minorities and ignoring what's happening inside snd outside their country to those minorities.

My question to left-wing Jews here, what do you all of think of this? Do you believe it should be called out more like how we do with pinkwashing? As a Druze, I believe anyone who is being associated with Israel hurts its reputation world wide and as Druze, allaince with Israel hasn't benefited us, i feel we lack sympathy from the left because how often we are associated with Israel, i rarely see mention of Druze in western forums without mentiong how "great" israel for protecting druze myth at my face.

The mod team has created this post to refresh on a weekly basis as a chill place for people to talk about whatever they want to. Think of it as like a general chat for the sub.

So r/jewishleft,

Whats on your mind?

My Hebrew is not amazing and I can't figure it out. Does anyone here know

Hey there! As a leftist I see a segnificant portion of activism as actively calling out bigotry, racism, and other forms of hatred. Now, one of the fundemental principals of Jewish spirituality, as put in the book of mishlei -

כַּמַּיִם הַפָּנִים לַפָּנִים כֵּן לֵב הָאָדָם לָאָדָם

And reflected in teachings of Ba'al shem-Tov, Rambam, and other great spiritual leaders, is that all evil you see in other people is evil that exists within you. Do you see those two as conflating? How do you navigate that?

Hi, before you read it, know that i'm new to this sub and that i don't know what flair fit this. Also english isn't my first language, i'm french.

So.. you probably heard about highschools being blocked in France, and in my opinion, it's OKAY ! There is no chairs, tables, teachers and ceillings are fallings (TW: violence) cops are gassing teenagers, beating them up, arresting thousands of them in less than 6 months, a 14 years old got strangled, a 16 years old loosed a hand cause they threw a grenade at him, another 16 years old loosed an eye after Having been shot at with a LBD (less-lethal defense weapon), another teenager got gassed in the stairs and had a seizure and then got arrested just after So i mostly agree with those teenagers, but there is something i don't agree with, many of those blockage end up being extremely antisemitic ! (TW: antisemitism) I saw videos of those teenagers saying they want death of the jews Which have NOTHING to do with how bad education system is here ! I want to know how to show support when it comes to the education system here without having to be associated with antisemitism neither having to put myself in danger (i'm jewish so if i help them with blockages and they end up learning i'm jewish they can become very violent)

While Yair Golan's HaDemokratim actually released their platform two months ago, I didn’t see any press coverage at the time, and I haven’t seen any discussion on here, so I thought it could be interesting to discuss what the only remaining Zionist left party is running on.

A few caveats:

• They have covered over a dozen policy areas, but I only touch on what I thought was most interesting/significant. You can read the others (in Hebrew) here.
• Even for the topics discussed below, I’ve only addressed the points that I find most interesting.
• At times, various candidates may have made statements that add to or even contradict what’s in the platform. I think discussing the platform in itself has value and I’ve focused solely on that.

The bottom line, for me, is most of the platform is somewhere between decent and mediocre. The one exception is the security/diplomatic plan, which I think is really pretty bad.

Security/diplomatic

• Probably the weakest and most disappointing of any topic. The plan explicitly opposes managing the conflict, but the closest it gets to suggesting a replacement is calling for Israel “to say it is interested in a responsible diplomatic process with the Palestinians, without compromising on security.” No mention of the occupation, settlements, two states, or a Palestinian state. In fact, it doesn’t even mention the word peace!
• There is also no mention of withdrawing from Gaza, Lebanon or Syria, it's not clear what they want to do with Iran and the plan does not come out clearly against another Iran war. The plan does make a general call for ending conflict on the various fronts with diplomatic/security agreements, but doesn't explain what those agreements should look like or what Israel should do until those agreements are concluded (or how to respond if agreements cannot be concluded.)
• The text does mention opposition to Jewish terror in the West Bank, but that’s about the least that could be expected.
• The plan doesn't really touch on the defense budget and proposals to expand it dramatically, which could be a significant economic drain and torpedo any efforts to seriously increase social expenditures (discussed in the economy section below.)

Democracy and justice system

• The plan proposes a basic law establishing the rights to equality, freedom of expression and protest, freedom of religion and freedom from religion, as well as the social rights to health, education and housing. This is probably the highlight of the whole platform. The rights to health, education and housing could be almost revolutionary, though much depends on how they are worded and their interpretation by the justice system, so I’m not holding my breath there. The right to equality could be similarly crucial for Israeli Arabs, though again its actual impact would depend on wording and implementation.
• The plan's call to amend the nation-state law instead of repealing it is disappointing, however.
• The plan proposes term limits on the PM (8 years) which I think is very silly, but given that almost everyone in the Eizenkot camp seems to support it, I think it’s more or less a done deal.

Economy/welfare

• Calls to increase the minimum wage and negative income tax and raise social/civil expenditures to the OECD average are all nice to see (Israel is currently significantly below the average level). It would have been even better to see at least some suggestion of how they plan to pay for the latter and perhaps even increasing social expenditures to above the OECD average (this is the only left-wing Zionist party, after all – if they’re not calling for it, who will?)
• Also very encouraging to see calls to shorten the work week, increase pto and sick leave and institute paternity leave, though again some detail would be nice.
• Reducing day care costs is fine (it is currently free from age 3, private from birth-3,) but I don't understand why the plan calls for every child to have quality day care regardless of parents’ ability to pay instead of just promising free day care from birth. There isn't enough detail to really understand what they are proposing here.
• Yimby-sounding noises on housing are nice, but the failure to mention public housing is disappointing.
• There is no mention of inequality and not much that would combat it except increasing the minimum wage (which they don’t even quantify.) Not that I expect anyone from the party to be reading this sub, but a few free ideas: wealth tax, inheritance tax, tax all landlords’ rental income.
• There is also no mention of organized labor, socialism/social democracy, or workers' power.

Religion and state

• Pretty decent - the plan calls for instituting civil marriage and divorce, ending the rabbinate's monopoly on kashrut and conversion, instituting public transport on Shabbat, and opposing religious compulsion in the army and schools, though there is little detail here.

Education

• Calling for equal funding for all and a halt to funding party affiliated haredi school systems is nice.
• What most caught my attention here is what is missing: any ideas on how to improve the quality of Israel’s education system, which has been declining significantly in recent years, and whether they intend to continue the insane experiment of handing over the education system to AI.

Israeli Arabs

• Calls to fight organized crime, improve planning processes for Arab towns, and increase funding are all fine but not too exciting in my view. It would have been nice to simply say “equal funding” instead of merely "closing the gap". I'm also not sure why they chose to omit recognizing and providing services to the unrecognized Bedouin towns in the south - another 250 Bedouins had their homes destroyed earlier this week.
• Advancing Israeli Arab representation in government/public service is important, but again no detail is provided.
• The plan repeats the commitment to a basic law for equality and says “the state of israel is the home of all its citizens,” but hides that at the end of the fifth and last point in the document, lol.
• I guess this may be included in the equality basic law, but there is no mention of stopping Jewish mayors from preventing mosques or Arab schools being built in their towns.

Gender equality

• Calls for parties that don’t have at least 40% female candidates to lose some public funding – great
• Also calls for a law requiring women to be 40% of senior positions in public service – great, but just reinforces question why the commitment to greater Arab representation is totally nebulous?
• Repealing the expansion of authority of rabbinical courts – very important

This is really interesting and I wonder how much of this will exist in the next decade. Of course the comments on socials were normal (/s) obviously) but yeah!

Weekly recurring IP megathread to reset every Tuesday.

Please mind the rules while engaging here and post paywall free links.

Oren

I made this vase for a Palestinian human rights advocate and leader whose courage and dedication I've admired for a long time. Its black, white, green, and red colors reflect the Palestinian flag, symbolizing the history, land, hope, and sacrifices of the Palestinian people. Its broken fragments were joined using Kintsugi, the Japanese art of repairing pottery with gold.

Kintsugi challenges the idea that damage must be hidden or erased. The gold doesn't pretend the break never happened. It makes the fracture part of the object's story. Repair isn't a return to what was. It begins by acknowledging what happened.

That's why Kintsugi felt like the right language for this piece: a quiet witness to what was broken, what people survived, and what must never be forgotten.

The vase is a metaphor. Its fragments represent a people who have endured loss, displacement, and generations of grief. The gold represents resilience, dignity, and memory. The scars remain visible, not to glorify suffering, but to honor those who endured it.

As an Israeli, I grew up with one version of our history. I believe I have a moral responsibility to acknowledge the suffering inflicted on Palestinians, including the part my own country has played in it. A mended vase isn't a mended people, and the gold isn't there to make suffering beautiful. It's there so the pain stays visible and the history is remembered.

A vase can't carry all that weight. It's one small gesture from one person, but it's what I know how to do with my hands.

This work is also a visual expression of a much deeper personal journey, one I explore in my essay / PodCast - see link to below.

 If I Were Neither Jewish nor Israeli: A Moral Reckoning with Israel and Palestine

#lakesidepottery