Israeli author RENOUNCES CITIZENSHIP, calls it "a tool of genocide"

By arseniotoledo // 2025-01-03

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Israeli-born author Avi Steinberg has renounced his Israeli citizenship, citing how the privilege of being granted citizenship is intimately tied to Israel's role in settler colonialism of Palestine and the genocide of Palestinians.
Steinberg notes how Israeli laws have been used since 1948 as tools that have legitimized Jewish colonialism of Palestine, including during the 1948 Nakba which violently displaced tens of thousands of Palestinians from the borders of modern-day Israel.
Steinberg described how his family was able to migrate to Israel and, thanks to Nakba, how his relatives were able to live in the homes of displaced Palestinians.
Steinberg describes how more and more Jewish Americans are showing sympathy for Palestinians and are getting involved in pro-Palestinian activism.
He calls on Israelis to renounce their citizenship and help dismantle the "colonial office" that is the State of Israel.

Israeli-born author Avi Steinberg announced on Dec. 26 that he has formally renounced his Israeli citizenship, citing his belief that the privilege of citizenship has been and continues to be used as a tool of settler colonialism and genocide. Steinberg, who was born in Jerusalem to American parents and raised in an Orthodox Jewish household, detailed his decision in an op-ed published on Truthout. In the article, Steinberg argued that Israeli citizenship is inherently tied to violent crimes and systemic discrimination. He described Israeli citizenship as a mechanism that legitimizes colonialism, pointing to laws such as the 1948 Declaration of Independence, the 1950 Law of Return and the 1952 Citizenship Law. These laws, he claimed, were shaped by the 1948 Nakba ("the catastrophe" in Arabic), during which approximately 80 percent of the Palestinian population were violently expelled from their homes in modern-day Israeli territory in a massive ethnic cleansing campaign. (Related: UN committee condemns Israel's actions as "consistent with characteristics of genocide," calls for Israeli officials to be held accountable.) Steinberg criticized Israel for creating a facade of legitimacy through what he called “forged documents,” which he said conceal the state’s “fundamental unlawfulness.” He also reflected on his family’s history, noting that his parents migrated to Israel under the Law of Return and later settled in the United States. He described the cognitive dissonance of his parents, who opposed the U.S. invasion of Vietnam while participating in what he termed the “armed settlement of another people’s land.” The author revealed that the house he grew up in was owned by a Palestinian family who were forcibly expelled to Jordan and barred from returning. He described this displacement as a deliberate strategy to attract settlers by marketing the “native Arab charm” of villages emptied of their original inhabitants.

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Steinberg’s decision comes amid growing criticism of Israel’s actions by Jewish Americans. A November poll commissioned by Israel found that two-thirds of Jewish American teenagers sympathize with Palestinians, while a third expressed sympathy for Hamas. Steinberg himself has been involved with demonstrations organized by Jewish-led pro-Palestinian groups like the anti-Zionist Jewish Voice for Peace and IfNotNow, which is opposed to Israeli apartheid policies against its Palestinian Arab citizens and against the Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. In a 2023 article for the magazine N+1, Steinberg described how he was arrested during a Jewish-led pro-Palestinian protest in Chicago and emphasized how the participation of Jewish peace activists was necessary for Palestinian liberation. In his Truthout op-ed, Steinberg called on other Israelis to renounce their citizenship or take concrete steps to dismantle what he termed the "colonial edifice." He linked the struggle for Palestinian liberation to global pro-indigenous movements and drew historical parallels to the pre-World War II Jewish liberation movements in Europe. He also criticized the appropriation of Jewish religious texts, stating that Zionism "has nothing to do with Judaism or Jewish history." Watch this documentary from Al Jazeera going into detail regarding the Nakba. This video is from the GodTaughtMeHow channel on Brighteon.com.

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