Dear Editor,
I appreciate Southside Pride’s commitment to delivering hyper-local news for South Minneapolitans. I also want to commend your recent local reporting, like the “Veterans for Peace help colleague protest Gaza hunger” piece from July 1, on how our neighbors are responding to the Israel–Hamas war. We need more on the ground, factual reporting on what it means to be “pro-Palestine” these days, given how the left is being portrayed when it comes to Gaza activism.
That’s why I was disappointed to see “Free Palestine Will Set Us Free” (July 1) blur the line between news and opinion. The article makes sweeping historical claims—like labeling all early Jewish defense groups “terrorists” or suggesting that Zionist ideology as a whole supports “ethnic cleansing”—without sourcing or context. These are serious inaccuracies dressed as fact, and they risk alienating readers who come to you for local news.
I know in the past you’ve pointed out that all news is told from a particular point of view and Southside Pride is no different. I respect that. However, there is a difference between publishing facts reported upon through a leftist lens and straight up propaganda.
Clearly labeling opinion pieces and sourcing historical claims doesn’t weaken your perspective as a leftist news source. It strengthens trust. I hope you’ll hold future contributors to a higher editorial standard.
In solidarity,
Stacy
Former Longfellow resident, current suburbanite, continued reader
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Response from Ahmed Tharwat:
I received this comment from an Anti Zionist Jewish academic:
**Zionism 1a**
“With blood and with sweat we will forge a superior breed —
A new, pure Hebrew race: proud, ruthless, and chosen.
In the desert wastes and the depths of the land,
We will battle, and through violence give birth,”
These lines originate in a poem by founder of right wing Zionism, Zeev Jabotinsky. But the Zionist socialist labor movement later adopted this particular stanza, revising it slightly to align with its own ideology and vision of the “New Jew,” using imagery of labor, sweat, and blood to depict their nation building project in Palestine. There is a debate about who revised this stanza, either iconic poet Nathan Alterman or iconic poet Avraham Shlonsky,
The English translation courtesy of dear Chatty, who labeled it “critically framed.” The Hebrew we memorized in elementary school and repeated so many times in so many classes on a variety of topics that they got etched in the hardware of our brains. I guess Chatty has noted my past searches about the early stages of Zionism’s racial formations.
I then asked Chatty for a *literal* translation of this stanza, and here’s what s/he came up with:
With blood and with sweat we shall build ourselves a race,
A new and mighty Hebrew race,
In the wilderness fields and in the depths of the stream,
We fight and add yet more soul and mystery.
Still represents the racial supremacy so immanent in Zionism.”
Ahmed Tharwat
