Udi Raz, Israeli activist in Berlin: “The most powerful Zionists in the world are not even Jews”

Udi Raz (Haifa, 1987) covers his head with a kippah and his neck with a Palestinian kufiya. Below, a long skirt that reaches her feet completes the representation of the three struggles that define her as an anti-Zionist and non-binary Jewish person. He is aware that his mere existence is perceived as a contradiction and more than once he has felt in danger.

That is why he moved to Germany at the age of 24, where he is studying his doctorate. There it has been the flag of the queer struggle and the liberation of Palestine. Both causes, he assures, have to go hand in hand. His position has led him to be arrested for organizing demonstrations to call for a ceasefire and also to lose his job as a guide at the Jewish Museum in Berlin for saying that Israel applies an apartheid regime. An example, he says, of “the long shadow of Zionism.”

Visit Barcelona within the framework of the ‘Change education to change the world’ conference, organized by entities such as Lafede.cat and administrations such as the Generalitat, the Provincial Council or the Barcelona City Council.

Born in Israel, but moves to Germany. Because?

Because I had just lost a great friend in a terrorist attack on a safe space for queer people in Tel Aviv. His name was Nir. Along with him, several people also lost their lives and other friends of mine were injured.

It is not yet known who carried out the attack, but what is clear is that many politicians used it to promote racist ideologies. I felt totally isolated. I started to look out for my own safety and went to Berlin.

From your experience, how do you feel when you see that Israel is emerging as a refuge for the LGTBI community and a country gayfriendly?

I was born in Haifa, a city where both Israelis and Palestinians live. But I didn’t meet a Palestinian person as an equal until I started moving in queer spaces. The thing is, I didn’t even meet them at school for 12 years. That’s when I understood why when we talk about Israel, we talk about an apartheid system.

I saw clearly that the fight for queer liberation had to go hand in hand with the liberation of Palestine, because both go beyond what is considered acceptable. Israel presents itself as a refuge, but only for those who fit the heteronorm; That is, homosexual men who adopt or buy children and get married. But, in addition, they have to agree with the idea of ​​the Israeli nation.

It is very shocking to see how queer people perpetrate this genocide, when there is nothing more anti-queer than that. It is creepy that the IDF [Fuerzas de Defensa de Israel, por sus siglas en inglés] bring the rainbow flag to Gaza.

It’s creepy that the IDF (Israel Defense Forces) is bringing the rainbow flag to Gaza

As a Jew, do you feel comfortable using the word genocide?

It’s a fair question. I speak as a Jew, but also as an academic and in literature we have the term ‘genocide’ very well defined. That gives me confidence to use it calmly and, furthermore, I think it is necessary because it helps us understand a universal phenomenon. Because the Jewish genocide is not the only one. We have that of Armenia, that of Rwanda, the Congo, Sudan and that of Gaza.

It’s a term that should raise alarm bells, but it doesn’t. It does not bother those in power, even though there are people who incessantly take to the streets to ask for a ceasefire. It is another sign that democracy is collapsing, because our leaders do not listen to the people.

You live in Germany, what is the situation like there?

In Berlin there are many people from different cultures, contexts and narratives. And now the Government wants us to abandon that diversity and adopt an ideology that justifies genocide, ensuring that it is to protect the Jewish people and the entire Western world. But the irony is that most Jews live outside of Israel and Palestine and are largely not aligned with Zionism.

By assuming the will of that small part of the Jewish people, they are not only excluding the rest of us but making us seem like a danger to the countries that have welcomed us.

There is a video of him in Berlin in front of a demonstration in support of Israel in which he asks the attendees how many of them are Jews and barely one person raises their hand. Who are the Zionists?

That image is an example of a broad phenomenon. So much so that the most powerful Zionists in the world right now are not even Jews. And that shows that Zionism is not an idea of ​​Jews for Jews. It was designed for Jews, but by non-Jews. The basis of Zionism is that we cannot belong to Europe. At most, we can be their representatives outside their borders.

Governments that align with Zionism make decisions on behalf of the Jewish people, but do not include them. And as proof is that in the German Parliament none of the 700 deputies is Jewish. Another example: in 2018 the commissions for Jewish life in Germany and for the fight against anti-Semitism were created in which there is not a single Jewish person.

German elites are not interested in protecting us as Jews, but rather as a weapon to reproduce anti-Muslim racism. We are the excuse to say that Islam is dangerous, whether for Jews, women, queer people, for the environment and even for animals, although they forget that The kosher rite is much crueler and bloodier than the halal.

The worst thing is that, with the excuse of defending the Jewish people, even the center-left parties, the Greens or the Social Democrats, support the genocide. You might think they need to reconcile with their own genocidal past, but in reality they are motivated by the same thing as the last century: they are a bunch of Aryans who want to maintain power.

It’s true that they don’t identify as Aryan now, but we all know what’s at stake. They always point out a social group as an urgent danger: it could be Jews, homosexuals, Muslims, gypsies… And if you raise your voice, they immediately call you an anti-Semite and that’s how they settle the matter.

You have been arrested on several occasions for organizing demonstrations to call for a ceasefire in Gaza. What happened?

You never know. They just take you without giving you a reason. After a while, they tell you that they will send you a letter and it usually comes with a fine for public disorder. The criminalization of a movement that ensures peace and human rights is the criminalization of democracy and international law that was written, precisely, with the blood of more than six million Jews.

He has also suffered repression at work. He was recently fired from the Jewish Museum in Berlin for claiming that Israel is an apartheid state.

I worked as a guide and spoke a lot about my personal experience. For example, I talked about why I left Israel and, apart from mentioning that it was not a safe place for me, I commented that I did not feel comfortable with some things. It mentioned a 2021 Amnesty International report that said the situation between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean Sea is an example of apartheid.

Well, that was enough for the museum to lecture me on various occasions for months to try to convince me not to use the term apartheid. But I gave good arguments and, deep down, they didn’t fire me because I was one of the few Jewish workers. But the [ataque de Hamás del] October 7 and the first time I spoke about apartheid they fired me. A little later, the Bild Zeitung, an Aryan supremacist newspaper, published an article in which they called me an anti-Semite and that it had statements from Museum officials.

When the conflict began, statements by the Israeli Minister of Defense were widely circulated, who called Palestinians “animals”. As a person raised in Israel, what was your perception of the Palestinian people?

In Haifa we do not even refer to them as Palestinians, but as Israeli Arabs [palestinos con ciudadanía israelí]. The only people known as Palestinians are those who live in the West Bank, who are subject to ethnic cleansing. And then, the untouchables, who are those who live in Gaza, who are suffering a genocide.

I never considered whether Palestinians are human or not, because I saw them on the street. But most cities, towns and kibbutzim [de Israel] They are exclusively Jewish and have never seen a Palestinian, unless they are in the Army. The first Palestinian many Israelis see is the one they see through a rifle.

The first Palestinian many Israelis see is the one they see through a rifle

What was the experience of mandatory military service in the Israeli Army like?

I was there for two years, instead of three. At that time I had already begun to get involved in the queer and liberation movement in Palestine, but they selected me to be a pilot, which was my great childhood dream. So, in a way, I put aside my principles because I was fulfilling a dream. It took me almost a year to see that it was a contradiction. And I quit.

They transferred me to the air unit, which, by the way, is in the center of Tel Aviv, next to a hospital. When I hear that the people of [grupo palestino] Hamas is hiding among the civilian population, I can’t do anything but laugh, because the Israeli Army does the same.

How did it go in the air unit?

Anyway, it contradicted all my principles. I’ll just say that it was very easy to know when people were being bombed and killed, because on the day that happened there was a big buffet of food and drinks at the base. Very sumptuous and excessive. And the only person who can give the order to bomb is a high-ranking officer and, when he came, he was entertained. That is, if you saw food, a murder was being committed.

So I also asked for a transfer and they took me to the military base in Haifa, where I took care of the photocopying, basically. And that did help me, because I used that photocopier to print pamphlets to promote the first pride rally that was held there. But they caught me.

What happened to him?

I was not imprisoned, but I was prohibited from leaving the base for a few days. And, while I was imprisoned, I understood that I did more as a civilian than as a soldier. So I told them I was quitting and if they didn’t let me leave, I would kill myself. Obviously, I wouldn’t have done it, but it was the only way to leave.

The targets we practiced shooting with in the army were called ‘Syrians’. We all had our Syrian and we shot him.

Did those two years in the Army help you at all?

I understood why an entire town justifies and supports genocide. Any Israeli person is obliged to spend three years in the Army and all you hear is confrontation between them and us. And you internalize the idea that if you ever see a Palestinian it will be in a context of death and violence.

And whoever says ‘Palestinian’ means anyone from neighboring countries. I remember, for example, that the targets with which we practiced shooting were called ‘Syrians’. We all had our Syrian and we shot him. It is a way to provoke hatred against the entire region, against any Muslim person.

Israel is horrible and so is much of its population. And the majority of parties are genocidal, even those on the left. We don’t need a Jewish state. At this point we cannot eliminate Israel, but no genocidal country has the right to exist. Perhaps the two-state solution is the best and we don’t care if we call it Israel or Palestine. Just as it doesn’t matter to me whether you perceive me as a man or as a woman. The only thing that matters to me is that you see me as a human being.