I’m just going to repeat a key point here. Wix employees were specifically encouraged to “show Westernity” in pro-Israel social media posts, underscoring that Israelis “unlike the Gazans, look and live like Europeans and Americans.” There’s an apt adjective for this: racist.

I’ll go ahead and be a bit more blunt with my translation: “Make sure your pro-Israel posts are as white as possible and emphasize that people in Gaza are brown so we have to kill them if we want a Disneyland in the Middle East”

Here’s the thing: anyone who’s every heard of the Palestine/Israel conflict — even tangentially — is already very familiar with the “Israel exceptionalism” narrative of “like us, but in the middle of *them*.” This message just slipped up and put “look” into the written record.

Yes, that vile message is blatantly racist — but it’s also dumb as hell. There are plenty of non-Israeli Middle Easterners who look extremely European. I don’t just mean Al-Kitab’s blond Maha ( #IYKYK ) - shout out to all the red headed Fassis on the TL.

Another reason that crap isn’t just racist but deliberately so — and simultaneously completely detached from reality. Guess where a significant population of Jewish refugees to Israel are from? Ethiopia. [you may want to Google how well they’re treated by Israeli society.)

In closing, here’s a picture I always show my Middle East Studies 101 students (just to see their heads explode): These women — who don’t “look or live like Europeans and Americans” — guess what? Yemeni Jewish women in Israel.

See, kids — the narrative of a crucial geopolitical strategic alliance of Israel with “the West” is simply that: a narrative. And it erases a lot of Black and Brown Jews from Africa and the Middle East.

Another thing my Intro Middle East freshman know by week 1: Jewish and Muslims populations in proximity historically shared far more in common with each other (culturally, linguistically, etc) than with religious brethren far away. Example: the picture in the above Tweets.

Media framing of Israel (and by extension, Jewishness) as a "European outpost in the Middle East" is a vastly distorted, ahistorical narrative driven by the calculus of geopolitical strategic alliance - not facts. "They look and act like us so they must be right."

There's a hell of a lot more to say about this topic, but endometriosis has kept me awake in excruciating pain for over 24 hours now, so I'm not coherent enough to do it justice. I'll try to bang out a substack post for you by Friday, because the subject is immensely important.

I'm in so much pain I can't see straight and I'm posting this to remind myself when I write the substack article to include the fact that the infamous "burkini" saw one of its biggest consumer markets among Jewish women.

Also adding this as a reminder to include Edmond Amran El Maleh in the article. His 2010 funeral in Casablanca was one of the biggest I've ever attended. (And now off in search of pain killers that won't work anyway)

@MsEntropy Great work! Keep it up

@ElfoulyKarim Can't really claim credit for great work when it's just pointing out factual information, but I appreciate the encouragement! :)

@MsEntropy @threadreaderapp unroll

@MsEntropy @StarvingHarvest Ah yes, open racism, very cool (/s)

@MsEntropy Wix is israeli. #BoycottWix @Wix @fiverr #Fiverr is israeli #BoycottFiverr #BoycottPrintful @Printful use DTG/direct-to-garment machines by israeli @kornitdigital whose 'founders' served in IOF, their offices are on an ethnically cleansed village! #BoycottKornitDigital #Gaza

@MsEntropy @SerkanTheWriter Now I know who I won’t be using to build my company website.

@MsEntropy What's a good alternative to Wix that doesn't outright push pro-Israeli narratives?