Tabletop role playing gaming convention issues disgusting anti-Israel "values statement" for "Jews in TTRPGs" panel session; it isn't enough for Israel haters

Big Bad Con is a tabletop role-playing game convention taking place in October. 

One of the sessions planned is on Jews and gaming, But  to participate, you need to pass an anti-Israel purity test:

Jews in TTRPGs

Max Fefer

Curious how Judaism presents itself in the TTRPG industry? Learn from a panel of accomplished Jewish TTRPG game designers and actual play creators about how their Judaism presents itself in our games. Panelists will expand on how we choose to incorporate our diaspora stories into the games and art we create. A special highlight will be how to incorporate historical and religious texts, including translating Hebrew and Aramaic texts about Jewish magic!

Note the phrase "our diaspora stories:" any Jew who creates a game that is Israel centered is excluded.

But if that wasn't clear enough, this panel - alone among all the panels at the convention - adds a "values statement" to make sure that they don't attract the 95% of Jews who do not want to see the Jewish state destroyed:

The panelists have committed to a values statement to ensure we are creating an inclusive environment that does not support the genocide in Palestine:

"The members of this panel are opposed to the ongoing genocide in Palestine and call for an immediate ceasefire. Israel is occupying and colonizing Palestinian land, discriminating against Palestinian citizens of Israel, and denying Palestinian refugees the right to return to their homes. Israel is maintaining a regime of occupation, apartheid, and settler-colonialism over the Palestinian people. Israel is only able to maintain this illegal regime because of international support and complicity.

We call on all people of conscience to stop the imminent genocide of Palestinians. We demand our government work towards de-escalation, that it immediately stop sending weapons to the Israeli military. A future of peace and safety for all, grounded in justice, freedom and equality for all, is still the only option.

We can and we must stop this. Never again means never again — for anyone."

Calling Israel's actions in Gaza genocide is antisemitic. It has no basis in reality and it is an attempt to say that Zionist Jews are today's Nazis.  Together with the demand for "return", this is a call to dismantle the world's only Jewish state.

But this disgusting, antisemitic statement wasn't good enough for the haters.  

The organizers of the conference balked at including in this statement the phrases "From the river to the sea" and "anti-Zionist," and that resulted in a torrent of complaints from committed Israel haters and a call to boycott the event.

As emails from the organizers make clear, the reason they opposed publishing those phrases isn't because they are Zionist or that they even care about Jewish attendees feeling attacked. The reason is that they do not want the negative attention, as occurred earlier this year when a TTRPG awards event was canceled following publicity on their statement saying Zionists were disqualified.

Today's "progressive" Jew haters, spearheaded by a Jewish gamer named Esther Wallace (she/zhe) and her Muslim friend Hamnah Shahid, are saying that Big Bad Con is not going far enough, and they are making three demands:

1. Make a public values statement indicating that Big Bad Con is an anti-Zionist space. This statement cannot equivocate both sides, but rather must stand firmly for the decolonization of Palestine.

2. Allow all events to include anti-Zionist language in their programming, including event descriptions.

3. Commit to consulting with Palestinians, Arabs, Muslims, and anti-Zionist Jews within the TTRPG space to determine what actions the community would like to see from Big Bad Con in supporting them/us in 2025 and beyond.

If Big Bad Con does not agree to these demands, hundreds of attendees promise to boycott the event. Wallace also states that these demands are a "floor, not a ceiling" - if the con caves to these demands, there will be more. Perhaps next year the convention will be named "HamasCon."

Speaking of "values," Big Bad Con says two of its community standards are:

We welcome folks to the table. We pull up a chair. We invite others into our conversations and catch them up.

We practice compassion. We’re mindful of our effect on others. We honor boundaries and use them to inform our choices.

Obviously, most Jews who have emotional, religious or family ties with Israel are excluded from these "values." There can be no conversations with those who disagree with anti-Zionists - they must be excluded. 

And just as icing on the cake, the "Jews in TTRPGs" panel is being held on Shabbat; the entire con is being held during Shemini Atzeret/Simchat Torah - the Hebrew anniversary of the October 7 massacre. 

They are so welcoming! They care so much about their attendees!

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