Something to Be Said

I am an American Jew, educated, like most American Jews, in a Zionist way. I snapped out of it ten years ago, when I lived in Israel-Palestine for four months, studying the complicated conflict and rich cultures of the region. I lived on a Kibbutz in the Negev desert, attended a water rights conference at the Dead Sea alongside Israelis, Jordanians, and Palestinians, and met international peace workers striving to find a better way.

I visited, not just Jerusalem & Tel Aviv (as most American Jews do), but also Bethlehem & Hebron (as most American Jews are told to be too scared to do). I saw "the other side" of the wall, cut straight through the heart of a Palestinian city, not neatly tucked away against an Israeli highway. I saw the colorful calls for freedom painted upon the concrete. I walked through the clanking metal-gated checkpoints made to make us feel more animal than human, and watched as 18-year-old boys in uniforms pulled men aside and told them that they were not allowed to go to work that day.

I befriended Palestinians and learned their stories. A boy ripped away from his home in the middle of the night, put in prison for all of his teenage years, and never told why. A man who remembered walking to Jerusalem with his grandfather to go to the movies and buy a new pair of socks (they were cheaper there), but no longer could, unless he was granted a visa, which could then be ripped away on a whim.

I say all this not to prove that I have any authority to speak about the situation. I certainly do not. I am only devastated by these horrors, and I need to say it. I am heartbroken by the 1,400 Israelis killed by Hamas militants, and the 5,700 Palestinians, half children, killed by Israeli forces.

These numbers will only rise between the time I type these words and the time you read them, but I know that one will rise more than the other. I am hoping just as much for the safety of my Israeli friends and fellow Jews (& of course the release of hostages), as I am for the people of Gaza. But, the Palestinian people need our help and they have needed it for a long time. I do not claim to know what the path to a "Free Palestine" looks like, or how it can also include the safety of Jewish people in the Middle East and beyond, but I know it does not look not this.

Please consider signing this petition for a ceasefire now.

Pay attention. Be wary of misinformation. Donate if you can. If you witness antisemitism or islamophobia, please interrupt it.

Take care of your loved ones (yourself included).

I know I am likely to lose fans over this, but if you are still reading, even if you are uncomfortable, I beckon you to stay. The last thing we need right now is to divide ourselves and dehumanize each other more.
(Written 10.25.23)