I posted this on r/vegan a while ago, but it got very negative feedback and it got removed by mods as well. I'm reposting it here as is just for keepsake and also because I don't like this post being locked up behind mod approval. Any feedback would be appreciated

Note:- I'll be going into it in a bit detail so it can be bit long, also i don't recognise Israel as a state but an occupation and a colony, if you have a problem with that, I've given a fair warning!

So, the claim that Israel is the country with highest number of vegans is something I've heard multiple times here now and when you do google search somehow it is actually propped. I've seen a similar trend for UK. Surprisingly countries that have been historically plant-based/vegeterian are rated lower than these two such as India. India has the 2nd highest population in the world. And it is the country with most number of vegans and vegeterians both by sheer number and percentage.

So, in the context of countries like Israel who have been known to greenwash their wash their crimes quite often, to me this seems something worth looking into. Using the wikipedia database, although Israel comes at 3rd (5%) and 4th (13%) for veganism and vegeterians in terms of percentage, in numbers it falls lower at 12th and below 20 respectively. It is understandable cuz it is quite a small colony.

That's one thing, when i looked at its entry further down, the data there was telling another story. Polls put veganism rates as low as 2.5% for the country and the data that was mentioned above in the table is sourced from a single study that actually said that 13% of ppl are considering going vegan/vegeterian, not that they are. The research is also done by two news channels and the article also mentioned how Tel. Aviv is a very popular tourist spot for vegans. The health ministry of Israel actually puts its estimate 8-9% of vegeterian population which similar to countries like uk. It still could have a 5% vegan population, i do doubt but its possible and it is a expectable figure for a occupation to have that promotes vegan and vegeterianism as part of its religion and culture. This leads to my next point.

Western countries often measure their environment friendliness on these metrices where they try to show themselves as very green, eco-friendly and environment conscious when they are responsible for majority of the resource exploitation and devastation on the planet right now. Israel being a us proxy is no different. In relation to our topic, Israel also ranks pretty high in its consumption as well. It tries to more bank on the idea of its being the most vegan, like it tries with being most queer friendly country in the west asia and attracts a lot of tourist. This is despite the fact that it won't even provide ssm rights to israeli queer ppl, forget palestinians that don't even count as fully human for many israelis.

Next is this big question, that a state and ppl that do to humans what israelis are doing and support it/justify it/excuse it whatever for the last century or so, can they actually be vegan? Can a fascist person be vegan?!

While a vegan person needs doesnt need to be a human rights champion to justify their veganism. But as a vegan, ethically we must consider humans at the very least equal in terms of rights and the kind of life they should have. Ppl who involve themselve in torturing, imprisoning, raping, harrassing, in mass starvation and harvestation of humans. Who treat a ppl and their lands as testing grounds for their weapons system and manufacturing. That constantly put palestinians through noise torture through drones like Zanana on top of murdering them, displacing, constantly genociding them can actually be vegan?!

And if these ppl are vegan and if ppl really believe that colonist occupations like that will bring any revolution, be it vegan, humanitarian or related environment, then what does it say about the vegan movement and what its future going to be?!

If we as vegans can't be anti-occupation, anti-torture and killings, anti-war and starvation, then what exactly the point of vegan? Is it not just being plant-based? Do we want to be vegans like hitler or be actually against violence and exploitation in this world for all animals, human and nonhuman both? This is my question for you

I would say that Israel and many western states engage in greenwashing and try to hide and minimise the scale of destruction they have caused by using these tactics and as vegans we should be aware and wary of that. Being anti-imperialist as vegan is not a far-fetched but actually a sensible one. That's all I have to say on the topic. Peace out ✌

Edit: I have recently corrected the error on Israel's entry on the wikipedia page regarding vegeterian percentage.

I want to know how you find the book if you have read it. How valid the claims and links made in the book were. And if there are any fallacies that i should watch out while reading this book?

Overall, what was your experience reading this book? Would you recommend it or if there's any other work you think better covers the topics discussed here?

I thought about becoming vegan before I was radicalized but was shut down by at toxic ex-bf

Then I got radicalized and I thought more in terms if it is actually ethical because I was in a moral dilemma because how dare I eat vegan if others are starving?

Then 6 things occurred to me:

1.There is no ethical consumtion under Capitalism 2.Animals are sentient 3.The less we support the animal product industry the less methane 4.They don't feed the global souths crops to the global norths farm animals 5.I don't care how 'good' Biltong (a local delicacy) is I wanna eat without regrets 6.I have been wanting to go vegan for years and now that I almost can I'm not going to let some idiots talk me out of it