Every day on the internet is a blessing, albeit rarely in disguise. Especially if you’re using X. Especially if you’re talking about Israel. And especially if you use the “Z” word, i.e. Zionism.

So imagine the “pleasure” I had when I accidentally crossed paths with… Shaiel Ben-Ephraim, who in his own words is “a son of the land of Palestine, a refugee and son of refugees fleeing an oppressive regime run in the name of an occupying imperial power.”

So imagine the “pleasure” I had when I accidentally crossed paths with… Shaiel Ben-Ephraim, who in his own words is “a son of the land of Palestine, a refugee and son of refugees fleeing an oppressive regime run in the name of an occupying imperial power.”

I have very little idea why Ben-Ephraim was following me on X given my strong Zionist beliefs — a circumstance that has now been corrected — but our interaction was so prolific and so illustrative that it simply cannot go unshared, because Ben-Ephraim informed me in response to my pro-Israel tweet that my Jewish heritage is non-existent because of… my surname.

Now, this could have remained a personal feud. But the fact that Ben-Ephraim appears not to understand how Jewish ancestry is passed down — or Israel’s own repatriation laws that I qualify for — suggests that he is either very intellectually limited, is some ‘Jewish purity’ fascist, or, more likely, simply an aggressive liar.

Which of the two it is becomes........

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)