By: Emi Kleiman & Davida Barda, Hasbara Fellowships Canada High School Interns
As Jewish teens living in North America, we are constantly exposed to the propaganda surrounding the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. Our voices are continually misrepresented in the media. The op-ed Teen Vogue published in honour of Hanukkah is another case of this. To find out that this article was commissioned by a non-Jewish editor suggests that Teen Vogue specifically sought out to specifically find an anti-Israel Jew. Additionally, the title of the article; “This Hanukkah, How do I talk to my Grandparents about Israel?” completely minimizes the important Jewish holiday of Hanukkah because the actual article has almost nothing to do with it. Gometz states, “I love being Jewish. I love Hanukkah. I love the prayers L’chah Dodi and Avinu Malkeinu. I love my rabbi, I loved my bat mitzvah, I love gefilte fish and horseradish, I love playwright Paula Vogel, I love Adam Sandler, and I love my family.” Teen Vogue uses this statement as a justification for giving Gometz a platform to voice her anti-Israel beliefs.
Through publishing these types of articles (and this is not the only one), Teen Vogue is indoctrinating young teens to believe lies about Israel. We know this because as teens if we were not educated about Israel’s truth and did not know any better, we would believe the lies coming out of a magazine meant for people like us. Not only has Teen Vogue proved itself to be a biased source but it misrepresents Jewish beliefs as a whole.
As someone whose family survived and escaped the communist Soviet Union, I (Emi) am appalled by this article. In recent years, I have observed in disbelief the constant effort to impress upon others, especially younger generations, that Communism is the path to a utopia. Having grown up, I was always shocked and saddened to hear stories about the awful treatment and poverty that my parents, grandparents and great-grandparents faced at the hands of the Communist regime in Russia. However, they taught me the importance of critical thinking and the dangers of propaganda. Similarly, this TeenVogue article spreads lies about the only country I can truly call my home: Israel. Because of my background, I am keenly aware of the importance of learning about all sides of an issue before writing on it, and Gometz’s piece clearly lacks a proper, nuanced understanding of the issues about which she writes.
My (Davida’s) family comes from all over the world: my paternal grandfather and his parents (my great grandparents) were from Libya, and my other great-grandparents were from different parts of Europe, some of them were in the holocaust. In Libya, my paternal grandfather lost his brother to the pogroms and in one day my paternal great-grandfather lost all of his wealth and properties due to antisemitism. My maternal great-grandfather lost 6 out of his 7 siblings, his parents and cousins in the shoah. My other great grandparents fled Europe from antisemitism before World War 2. I lost countless family members as a result of antisemitism, and all of those who survived were forced to flee the only homes they ever knew. Israel is the only country on earth that I consider my home, and I am grateful to know that I can go there at any time without the fear of being rejected, but my ancestors did not have the luxury of knowing that Israel existed as a safe haven for them. To read about another Jew expressing contempt for the only country that both she and I can call home is horrifying. Unfortunately, antisemitism is still prevalent even in our society which preaches the progressive values of tolerance and equality.
Gometz is distinguishing between antisemitism and anti-Zionism, Gometz states that all current antisemitism is only anti-Zionism, and past antisemitism took the lives of my family members and hers is also only anti-Zionism. Yet, anti-Zionism is antisemitism and it hurts to see a fellow Jew disregard antisemitism and claim all of it is anti-Zionism.
While Gometz expresses her dislike of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians, she doesn’t elaborate on what specifically is being done that she disapproves of, and she neglects to mention that Israelis and even Palestinians are being mistreated by the Palestinian leadership. Gometz also criticizes Israel’s military decisions while she clearly doesn’t understand the situation their military faces every day. Israel’s actions are constantly being falsely described in the media and it is clear that Gometz is not properly educated on this matter. Rather than irresponsibly spreading misleading and unqualified claims such as “Palestinian civilians are killed by Israeli forces,” Gometz should make an effort to learn about the truth of what’s going on by reading the book her grandparents gave her instead of donating it without even opening it. She should listen to her grandparents, who are, as she describes them, “lifelong educators.” She might even discover that they have a better understanding of the situation than she does because they lived through the worst discrimination and antisemitism.
Gometz states that it is difficult for her to talk to her grandparents about the so-called “atrocities” that Israel causes because it is the only country that lets them in as Holocaust survivors. As a Jew, Gometz should have a deeper understanding of the suffering that her grandparents experienced. Instead, she invokes self-pity even while sharing that her grandparents are the ones who survived a genocide.
As Jewish teens, we hope that this message can be heard and our voices can start to be properly represented.
