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Sara Kershnar of the International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network was met with cheers and applause at the People's Conference for Palestine in Detroit when she said that "it is crucial" for the future survival of humanity that Israel and Zionism are dismantled. The crowd cheered in response to her statement that Zionism is the most antisemitic movement and booed Christian Zionists. Kershnar described Zionism as a "ruling class white movement of European Jews who wanted access to power and capital." She expressed her support of Palestinian armed struggle, and she continued to say that Zionism and the State of Israel have nothing to do with Jewish safety, valuing Jewish life, or any life, or the survival of this planet. Sara Kershnar spoke on the third day of the conference on May 26, 2024.
The conference was streamed live on BreakThrough News on YouTube. It is worth noting that the keynote speaker at the conference was Sana' Daqqa, widow of terrorist Walid Daqqa, who died from terminal illness while serving out a life sentence in an Israeli jail. Daqqa was part of a cell of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) comprised of Arab Israelis who kidnapped IDF soldier Moshe Tamam and mrdered him. Other speakers at the conference were U.S. Representative Rashida Tlaib, mayor of Dearborn Abdullah Hammoud, and PFLP member Wisam Rafidee.
Sara Kershnar: "This has been a marathon of eight months, but for many of us, a lifelong struggle to dismantle Zionism and the State of Israel. The International Jewish Anti-Zionist Network approaches the work first and foremost following the demands for the full liberation of Palestine, from the River to the Sea. And we stand in our own history when we do that. We stand in our own history of resistance to genocide, including the right to resist, and armed resistance as part of that history. And in that way, we are unequivocally with the resistance in Palestine.
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"It is crucial to the future of humanity and the very survival of the planet that we dismantle Zionism.
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"There is no going back. From here Israel is going to fall.
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"Zionism is really the most antisemitic movement, and partners with the most antisemitic regimes and parties. That includes white supremacist organizations in this country. Proud Boys, Steve Bannon, the Trump regime. It also includes Christian Zionists, who are the largest Zionist population in the United States.
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"It goes back to the character of the Zionist movement which was very much a ruling class, white movement of European Jews who wanted State power. Who wanted access to that power and capital. And so, for our movement, it feels very important that we recognize that it has never had... for the Zionists, for the U.S. and its allies, it has never had anything to do with Jewish safety. Has never had anything to do with valuing Jewish life and of course it has nothing to do with valuing any life or the actual survival of this planet.
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"And then I wanted to speak to anti-Zionist Jews who are here or elsewhere. We have to keep decentering the conversation of Jewish safety. We have a responsibility to stop the weaponization of antisemitism. It is a betrayal of our history. It is itself antisemitism, because it allows these governments to claim Jewish safety when all they care about is their own agenda. But that is not the center of anti-Zionist struggle. The center of anti-Zionist struggle is the dismantling of it.
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"And so, as Jewish people who are committed to collective liberation, there is one choice. And we invite you to join us in dismantling Zionism before it continues to do so much damage not only in Palestine, but all over the world. That is not our legacy. And what we need to do is come together and create a different legacy in solidarity with out anti-Zionist brothers and sisters. Thank you."
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