“ANTI-HASBARA CHEAT SHEET”

 Einat Temkin

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Given the great deal of interest in the “ANTI-HASBARA CHEAT SHEET” I posted and am enriching gradually (at facebook.com/share/p/1ERNqxbLNB), as well as the renewed interest in the ethos and legacy of the Jewish Bund movement, in light of Molly Crabapple’s New York Times Bestselling Book “Here Where We Live Is Our Country: The Story of the Jewish Bund”, posts from Stephen Ducat, myself and others of late, I’ve been taking a trip down memory lane and revisiting some of my older posts from 2024 and 2025, which seem like a million years ago, when the big argument was still whether a genocide was going on in Gaza (I think we’ve moved way way beyond that point by now.)

I am re-sharing below key segments from two of my posts from December 2025, which contain pertinent information on the awful history of endless antisemitism, the Holocaust, and the failure of Zionism’s relentless effort to establish “a democratic Jewish state in ancestral homeland of the Jews”.

I myself find the posts interesting, first of all because they show my own progression and process of intense self-reflection as a person who was born in and grew up in Israel as your generic well-meaning Liberal/Leftist Zionist, and underwent the full Hasbara indoctrination “program”, school from Grade 1-12, served in IDF, etc. and they conveniently serve as a log documenting my own personal journey to becoming openly anti-Zionist; and secondly because they contain valuable material which should be added to the Anti-Hasbara Cheat Sheet ASAP, to enrich some of the entries that are either still missing or not fully addressed, and there’s nothing I dislike more than rewriting material I have worked hard on previously and/or elsewhere.

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On Zionism and “Israel, the Democratic Jewish State”, from December 11th, 2025:

“Sorry. Zionism is over. We blew it. It was not a good idea to begin with, marrying Judaism to nationalism, it has literally just resulted in disaster beyond comprehension. We tried. No one knew exactly what was gonna happen.

However, tons of clever, wise Jews had a really, really bad feeling about the notion in advance, and warned against it.

Lots of clever wise Jews today (mostly outside of Israel) are 100% done with undying blind loyalty to Zionism. No matter how you cut it, it’s racist. It’s supremacist. It’s colonial. All gross concepts.

Plus, we went really hard and rough, didn’t we? We didn’t really try to play nice and focus more on the sparsely populated areas maybe? We didn’t try to share and help our closest cousins and neighbors thrive along with us, and be self-sustainable, so we could all get along, did we? That probably would’ve been a better idea.

Well, anyway. It has not worked out. By now, the Palestinian people have exactly 2 olive trees left in the West Bank and a piece of s*** strip of land, with 60,000,000 tons of rubble and thousands of dead bodies buried under the rubble, in Gaza.

Where and how exactly are our closest cousins, the Palestinian people, supposed to build and sustain their part of a magical two-state solution?

IMHO, after everything that’s happened, how can anybody object to the only rational feasible realistic solution: a one-democratic state solution for all the residents living between the river and the sea, with right of return, and a constitution, and a complete separation of religion and state?

To argue against this 50+ year-old proposal is immoral, unjust, full of denial at best, or totally fundamentalist, downright evil and/or insane at worst.

Yes, this means the untouchable State of Israel must be dismantled.

We must. To save literally EVERYONE’s lives - everyone who lives or wants to live in that wretched region, their children and their children’s children.

I know. It sounds sooooo radical. It sounds unachievable, impossible. I hear you on every argument. I grew up in the same country as you. Same leftist, magnanimous Zionist peace camp as you. I was indoctrinated just like we all were.

(Thank god, I’m not living there anymore).

No doubt, you will say: “it’s impossible, neither side will ever agree, you’re suggesting full on war, thousands and millions will die. People will suffer. Blood will be shed. Plus the Jews must have their own homeland and army. So, it’s impossible.”

Well. We’re “always-already”, as Louis Althusser said, “at war”, and blood is shed all the time. It’s mostly Palestinian blood, so you’re kinda ok with it - just admit it - but I’m not, and most of the world isn't either anymore. Last but not least, thousands and millions are going to die anyway.

I am now taking a long-term view. It’s helpful to be an aspiring Buddhist in this case. Sorry, probably not going to change significantly for the better in my lifetime or in your children’s lifetime (if you have children).

I’m talking 50 or 100 or 200 years in the future.

Obviously if we do not take this step, massacres will continue. The violence is only getting worse, not better. Fundamentalism is taking over everything. In fact, you may have said this yourself: ‘we failed, we failed, we failed’.

Maybe the Jews shouldn’t have a homeland that is defined as ‘the Jewish State’ (I mean in today’s world after everything we’ve learned, can you even listen to that title without cringing? Serious question), and an all powerful army occupying civilians for 80 years after all?

Could it be remotely possible that we made a mistake? Be humble now. We all make mistakes.

So, now what? Do we continue full power on an endlessly violent journey, forever and ever, one which that has proven to have zero results?

Or do we try something completely crazy, a new paradigm, something outside the box, something “unthinkable”?

Just like ending apartheid and creating a new South Africa was “a dream”?

Or breaking down the Soviet Union was “unthinkable”?

Or ending slavery after 400 years was “impossible”?

Or achieving women’s rights was “too radical”?

I would rather think crazy, outside the box right now, and try something radical and impossible and innovative, while I’m still here, rather than watch in despair as y’all try to do the same thing over and over and over again, with the same or worse results, which is the literal definition of insanity.

You are welcome to answer substantive questions regarding the feasibility of the two-state solution if you want to have a serious talk. Which I think is very necessary. Like:

How do you get the repugnant, sociopathic, nutcase fundamentalist, ultra-right religious settlers out of the occupied territories before they kill all the Palestinians (and their innocent donkeys)?

Why is Israel exempt from international, UN-mandated binding legal conventions, that all decent, democratic, progressive, sane, countries MUST abide by, such as:

- Displaced refugees’ guaranteed right of return

- No torture of ANYONE incarcerated. Full stop.

- No illegal incarceration. Due process is mandatory.

- Kindly do not target journalists or children directly and assassinate them on purpose. Thanks.

Sorry, before anyone starts whining about Hamas being awful, brutal, not nice, also torturing their hostages and being a murderous militia, please remember they are indeed a militia, not a UN-recognized member state, like the State of Israel. None of the Palestinians are obligated to abide by any international conventions, because you didn’t let them in or have a state. Very sorry. Zionists do not get to work this argument from both sides.

How do you even rationalize all of the above if you are really a fair and just progressive person?”

For the full post see: facebook.com/share/p/1EKHVhK6bT

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On Antisemitism and why Zionism needed to dominate and decimate the indigenous population of Palestine, From December 14, 2025:

“Of course there’s antisemitism. Of course antisemitism is hateful, repugnant, dangerous, awful.

I never denied the horrific reality that for whatever reason, Jews are hated by some, have always been hated, and probably may always be hated by some people.

The expulsion of Jews from Spain, murderous pogroms, blood libels, endless conspiracy theories are very real.

Of course the Holocaust was very very real and unthinkable and terrifying and very, very devastating to my family, just as it was to countless others.

My argument is that Zionism and the creation of the state of Israel was NOT a successful cure for antisemitism, clearly. Two wrongs never ever ever makes a right.

What we’ve done in the name of Zionism has caused so much damage to ourselves, as well to an entire other nation of people, it is beyond disastrous: tangibly, spiritually and in the fight against antisemitism.

The Zionist project has and continues to do anything and everything, including co-opting the very concept of antisemitism, in order to achieve its colonial mission, and just look at what we have done.

I myself cannot live with the cruelty and genocide we ourselves have exercised. It has demolished the very essence of our own Jewish moral code, and has only made us even more hated around the world than ever before.

It was very convenient ideologically for the Zionist project to use antisemitism by conflating Judaism with Zionism and created a never-ending cycle, whereby Zionism is simultaneously arguing that it should not be conflated with Judaism and yet shamelessly uses “The Jewish State” as proof it speaks for all Jews.

I have never once denied the fact that antisemitism is essentially a historic constant, for whatever reason.

It’s awful. Hatred and fundamentalism are horrible.

However, Jews are not the only hated people, and we are not the only victims of unspeakable cruelty and violence throughout the ages, and we do not own the concept of victimhood - all parts of that huge overpowering Zionist myth that we were fed for breakfast lunch and dinner, and so many Jews live and breathe by, whether we like it or not.

To summarize: what we’ve done all on our own, after wailing and crying that the Jewish people needs its own state and its own army in order to defend itself, is most definitely not the cure for antisemitism. In particular, our own lack of ability to take responsibility for what we’ve done to other human beings, in fact, our nearest neighbors and DNA cousins, the level of denial, the unwillingness to conduct any sort of soul searching or a deep reckoning the way the Jewish code would ask us to do.”

For the full post see: facebook.com/share/p/1GTfQ6BqdL