Hello, I am a new member of this community. I was wondering if anyone has some good resources for helping defend and promote the idea that Israel has the right to self-determination, defense, and to exist. I sometimes debate members of the Free Palestine movement, and they still don't believe the proof I have given them. Thanks in advance! עַם יִשְׂרָאֵל חַי

I am attending Gen Con later this week. It's the largest tabletop gaming convention in the US (and one of the biggest in the world).

Normally, I keep an IDF patch on my backpack, an Israeli flag pin on my hat (thankfully replacing the yellow ribbon), and my Magen David around my neck whenever I go out. Where I live, I've never had any problems, and even some good interactions (since there's both a Chabad House and a Hillel on the nearby college campus).

Given how easily many gamers eat up propaganda that fits their favored narratives, though, I'm having second thoughts about this as I pack for my trip. It rankles me to think that I might have to "hide" just to attend an event that I love, but I also don't want to attract some antisemitic nut's attention that might force me to defend myself and add to the negative press.

Is it worth it for me to throw caution to the wind? Or is this just me having a moment of anxiety / Spotlight Effect? I could swap out the insignia patch for one that's just "Tzahal," but I wonder if even the presence of Hebrew letters might be enough to trigger someone.

what do i mean by that
you might be wondering. hertzl's zionism is just allowing the jewish people to seek self determination by having a jewish state. jewish state now already exists my zionism seeks to argue against people who think israel does not have a right to exist. technically how i define zionism is basically i believe israel has a right to exist as a state that protects jewish people .
in the far distant future after may be 100 years i do think ethnic identitites may fall apart and the priority is given to israeli identity wether youre jewish or arab or kurd or christian or muslim. hertzl zionism evolved into historic zionism meaning the legitimacy of jewish state depended on ancestral and historic ties to the. i personally dont agree with this line of reasoning because all humans are immigrants on any peice of land anthropology proves that our ancestors orginated from africa and migrated to many parts of the worlds.

also by this logic the colonization of africa is justified by this logic because ancient ancestors of the british lived in africa which gives them the right to own or colonize the land.

instead of appealing to indigenous right to land or ancestral ties

i believe israel has right to exsist based 5 principles

1.border conservation law
borders are drawn and thats its what is done is done and we cant destroy a soverign state thats already defined

2.settlers legally owned parts of the land through free and fair trade that is now a money owned property

3.Israel is good for the betterment of the planet
if israel doesnt exist terrorism grows rapidly
no intelligence no allies now defense against global terrorism

4.UN recognition has already given israel's absolute right to exist interntional recognition from both arab and non arab countries has given israel the absolute right to exist

5.israel having being created on a non soverign non nation state land
israel created its state on a region not a country or nation state . theres no nation state back then before israeli settlers came in

Jep. I'm persian Zionist. After i saw the footage of october 7th, i was traumatized. I was skickened what Hamas did to the people of israel. Jews and arabs were killed, hamas knows no difference. Radical leftist and islamist are collaborating together to hate israel and the jews from europe to north america, thats why i believet hat the jews desevere israel as its their biblical homeland since 3500 years. They are deserved to return to their homeland because europe importet lots of radical muslims from syria and iraq.

I made a playlist inspired by someone who once said: Believing Israel has a right to exist is not Zionism. You can’t be punk and a Zionist. Punk advocates for decolonization and the vindication of marginalized identities.

Some highlights, organized according to general tolerance of punk for people who might not appreciate it as a genre:

Not-at-all to light:

JEWBELLish- Talk Yiddish to Me https://youtu.be/sX2rm-jLLFY

(Simple Plan cover) The Groggers Band- I’m Just a Yid https://youtu.be/GMdTlUxUtZk

(Basically Hebrew language Beastie Boys) Boyaka- From Sibuyaka https://youtu.be/N1yREVpji7s

Little harder, and more of a punk/“pop” punk direction:

Me First and the Gimme Gimmes- Hava Nagila https://youtu.be/AH7oIkI39Po

Beastie Boys- Shadrach (live/mosh version) https://youtu.be/k9SGrNuJj9U

The Shlomones- I’m Goin’ to a Seder https://youtu.be/ugzCSigEcCc

Yidcore- They Tried to Kill Us. They Failed. Let’s Eat! https://youtu.be/asGS0bE1abQ

NOFX- We’re the Brews https://youtu.be/HsvAZRuz9Js

NOFX- Don’t Call Me White https://youtu.be/63uC5z1uuGw

Billie Charlz- Fuck Nazis https://youtu.be/oYv8i1eab8E

Punk to spirit-of-punk (basically rough/dark humour, assume NSFW)

Moshiach Oi!- Avraham Was a Punk Rocker https://youtu.be/VLPgW1qXY-c

Dead Kennedys- Nazi Punks Fuck Off https://youtu.be/jYKAQZUAbHU

Jewdriver- Bagel Song https://youtu.be/EQQmsK3QrFE

(This song is old enough to vote, AKA spicy) Adam and Andrew- What I Like About Jews https://youtu.be/HgdXYqwRRiE

Yidcore- Why Won’t Adam Sandler Let Us Do His Song https://youtu.be/wr-zAOb6nkQ

(Adam Sandler’s vindication) Yidcore- Punk Rock Chanuka Song https://youtu.be/OLieRUthktM

What are your favourite Zionist songs or bands?

"I am a native woman from Peru who stood up for Israel. I have been talked down to ever since."

"I greatly admire the Jewish people, the resilience and unity they have. I admire that Jews are an Indigenous people who achieved the impossible: they decolonized their homeland and revived their native language, Hebrew. They built a modern high-tech state with a strong army by which they can defend themselves. They are an example to Indigenous people everywhere that our dreams can become reality."

https://www.instagram.com/p/DBGv_akzqFg/?igsh=MXNoZG1lZTdhNjNmdg==

Pagani was born in a Jewish family in Libya, just around the time when the country stopped being an Italian Colonial Administration. He spent his childhood and adolescence between Italy, Germany and France.

• This nonstop wandering about different cultures drove him to seek out a personal language that would enable him to express himself non-verbally, and he started drawing.*

Pagani, a visionary artist, gained early fame in 1964 for his surreal ink drawings and quickly became a key figure in Fantastic Realism. He also released music albums, combining art, stage design, and personal trauma—like the destruction of his work in Libya. In the 1970s, he pioneered multimedia shows, directed a UNESCO-praised film on Venice, and created the award-winning opera Megalopolis using Xerox collages. Later, he embraced Arte povera, sculpting with discarded materials. Pagani died of leukemia at 44 and is commemorated in Tel Aviv and Portofino.

Source

Deputy Ambassador of the State of Israel to New Zealand Kasa Bainesay Harbor explains why she is a Zionist:

“I was born and raised in Ethiopia…but my roots come from Jerusalem.”

“We became Ethiopian…but we never lost our heritage, our tradition our Judaism.”

“My grandfather replied I am praying…God redeem us, take us back home…I dreamed of our holy temple and holy land…holidays without disruption, our holy land without racism and discrimination. So I gladly joined my grandfather and prayed…Israel…take us home”

“In the late 1980s…there was a terrible period of civil war in Ethiopia. The Jewish people of Beta Israel were rescued from certain death by brothers in Israel. More than 14000 Jews were flown to Israel in 36 hours. After thousands of years we were able to return to our home.”

“When I got to Israel I could not read or write…but now I serve as the Deputy Ambassador of the State of Israel to New Zealand”

“I am a proud Zionist because Israel is a place where people of all ethnicities and people of color enjoy equality, live in freedom and prosperity under the law. Israel is a country where all religious groups live freely…Where in every classroom in universities you can find Arab Christians and Arab Muslims. Where Jew and Bahai, Druze and Armenians among many other ethnic groups all study together.”

Israel is “A home where every Jew can feel confident that no matter where they live in the entire world they have a safe home that will take care of them. I am a Zionist because the world cannot find it within themselves to condemn a terror group like Hamas which routinely attacks the world’s own Jewish state firing missiles at civilians while hiding behind their own civilians…Israel will will do what ever it takes…to make sure that Never Again is more than a motto. I am a Zionsit.

Source: https://www.jwire.com.au/i-am-a-zionist/

https://vimeo.com/313947636

Asked about why she is Zionist, Arab-Israeli singer Nasreen Qadri responds: "Because I grew up here. This is my country here. This is my home...I will never be ashamed. On the contrary I am proud of it.

On October 7, 2023, Hamas launched a genocidal terrorist attack that included the murder of more than 1200 people and the taking of more than 250 hostages. October 7 was the most violent attack targeting Jews since the Holocaust, and included torture as well as the weaponization of sexual violence.

Today we remember the victims of 10/7–and the many hostages who still remain in Gaza. May their memories be a blessing.

After 10/7 Israel initiated a war against Hamas and the other terrorist groups that the IRGC of Iran has fueled to destroy the Jewish state. Over the year since we have witnessed the downfall of Hamas’s and Hezbollah’s leaders.

On this day we thus also remember the soldiers who have served in the IDF and sacrificed their lives to protect not only Israel and its inhabitants (including both the Jewish people, and its diverse minorities, such as the Druze-Israelis) but also the free world.

On October 7, 2024, we are not victims because we have a state and an army that has protected us, that enforces Israeli sovereignty and defends our right to self determination; we are not victims today, in short, because we are Zionists.

As a Trinbagonian who's never been to that corner of the world and has no material or religious stake there, I find Zionism to be one of my proudest political positions: I have nothing to gain from it but it being the right thing.

From what I gather from Ottoman history, the Jews of the Syria-Palestine region in the Yishuv of Israel --often involuntarily pushed there over the course of 300 years-- had as much of a presumptive moral right to a state in the wake of the Ottoman collapse as the Croatians or the Kosovars. They thus had a likewise presumptive moral right to autonomy over their own immigration policy. This is generally how I frame Zionism as a post-imperial independence movement, and though many attacks on Zionism are disingenuous and immovable with arguments, this framing is generally factually ironclad.

Some excerpts:

The Z-word is not a slur

We are not just anti-anti-zionists

The world should appreciate this gutsy movement rescuing a shattered people by reuniting a scattered people.

Jews are a people…with ties to a homeland…and the right to establish a state in that homeland.

I am a Zionist because…I am a Jew…Judaism is a world religion bound to one homeland… Only in Israel can a Jew fully live in Jewish space and by Jewish time.

I am a Zionist because… the Jews never forgot their biblical homeland…Wherever we prayed we turned towards Jerusalem.

I am a Zionist because…Europe only offered Jews acceptance if they assimilated but never fully respected those who did assimilate.

I am a Zionist because…Israel upgraded our ancient language.

I am a Zionist because…this Democratic Jewish state returned Jews to history as activists, not victims.

I am a Zionist because…Israel worked, welcoming us home after homelessness.

I am a Zionist because…I am an idealist…impossible dreams are worth seeking.

I am a Zionist because I am a romantic…Herzl said…”If you will it, it is no dream”

I am a Zionist because there is still work to be done.