Take a look at this picture. Israel’s government and Hamas don’t agree on much, but they do agree on one thing: this picture is an abomination.
For as long as I can recall, a feverish debate has been waged about the merits and demerits of something called “Zionism” and another something called “Anti-Zionism”. For many years, I’ll confess, I was an active participant. Now, though, I find the argument to be not only aimless drudgery, but a framing that primarily serves the most extreme viewpoints on either side of the Israel-Palestine question and that entrenches a binary zero-sum game mentality.
There are pitfalls to “solidarity tours” of Israel in the wake of October 7th; this one tried, albeit imperfectly, to avoid them. The trick is to cultivate compassion and understanding for both Israelis and Palestinians at this terrible time.
Yonatan Zeigen, son of our dear friend and peace activist Vivian Silver who was murdered in kibbutz Be’eri on October 7, gave this beautiful speech at the Israeli-Palestinian Joint Memorial Ceremony that was held this week in Israel.
We’re delighted to find new Palestinian voices who, like us, insist on respecting the needs and feeling the pain of people on both sides, denouncing extremists and appreciating the complexities of the conflict.
Zahra Sakkejha and her peers wore purple T-shirts and held signs that read, “Free the Hostages, “Ceasefire Now,” “Diplomacy Now,” and “Not One More Drop of Blood!” They chanted, “In Gaza, in Tel Aviv, all the children want to live!”
While polls show widespread resistance to aid that will help hungry and homeless Gazans, there is an Israeli constituency that wants to help.
The deaths of children and other innocents in Gaza, mostly from US-supplied weaponry, are what’s driving campus protests. Too many non-combatants have died, but Israel is not trying to exterminate the Palestinian people.
This is a list of NGOs, some providing humanitarian relief in Israel and others in the Gaza Strip, which would benefit from financial support.
Project Shema “trains and supports the Jewish community and allies to understand and address contemporary antisemitism, with an emphasis on how anti-Jewish ideas can emerge in discourse around Israel and Palestine.”
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