Two years ago, James Zogby – a prominent pollster and Democrat – tweeted to Rachael Ray that she was engaging in “cultural genocide” by saying that calling a set of foods that Israelis eat every day (like hummus, tabouli, stuffed grape leaves…) is “Israeli” is “cultural genocide.”
A few times a year we see similar accusations that people calling foods Israelis are known for eating, like falafel, “Israeli” is “cultural appropriation” and a terrible thing. (No one bothers to mention that street falafel, in pita, is a purely Israeli invention.)
Yet the same people who are so sensitive to “cultural appropriation” have nothing bad to say to Arabs who say that Jesus, his family, his contemporaries and the towns he lived in are “Palestinian.”
An egregious example comes from this video by Amer Zahr, a comedian who works for Bernie Sanders whose ancestry is from Nazareth. It was tweeted by the PLO’s Saeb Erekat:
— Dr. Saeb Erakat الدكتور صائب عريقات (@ErakatSaeb) December 19, 2019
Not one person mentioned in that video would have self-identified as “Palestinian.” They were Jews (with a Greek or two thrown in.) Calling Jesus “Palestinian” makes as much sense as calling King David “Palestinian” and it is very offensive.
Appropriating Jewish history itself is much more offensive than people calling falafel “Israeli.”
Apparently, “cultural appropriation” is one of the many things that are a crime only when Jews do it.
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