Hundreds of Jewish organization staffers call for White House to back Gaza cease-fire
Hundreds of Jewish organization staffers call for White House to back Gaza cease-fire
The longer this goes on, the more danger we're all in, both Jews and Muslims. The longer this goes on, the more anti-semitism and islamophobia will become normalized, because the whole world will have somewhere to point and say "those people did bad things, so they must all be bad everywhere."
The longer this goes on, the more our speech will be limited to avoid angering the moneyed class, the evangelical rapture cults, and the arms industry. The voices that matter most will be harder to hear because they'll be drowned out by raw hatred coming from those who don't understand the history of the region or its people.
We need to tone down the zealous rhetoric, back away from unconditional support of unreliable regimes, and remember that empathy is one of the most powerful and useful emotions, if we all allow ourselves to feel it.
This is what blows my mind about this situation. The tribal mentality has gotten so overwhelming as of late that people can’t even point to a conflict with two monsters fighting and just outright say that they’re both bad and not representative of everyone. On one side, people claim that Hamas literally is all Palestinians because “they elected them” despite that election being 20 years ago and Israel controlling all operations. On the other side, the Israeli government is somehow not just representative of all Jews in Israel but also all Jews globally despite Jews living all over with no ties to Israel.
It’s crazy and it’s the perfect storm for both sides to dehumanize each other and turn into martyrs and zealots. It will take a lot for anyone to get back to even the beginnings of empathy so long as people have religious motivations for their feelings and feel, not just justified, but righteous because of their beliefs.
I hope you don't mind that I'm going to springboard off your post to share a similar sentiment. This is an article I read recently and I thought it was a very healthy, human, and loving take on the situation: https://lifeisasacredtext.substack.com/p/hand-in-hand
Thanks for sharing! That was a moving and insightful piece.
This is my favorite quote, which really says it all:
I asked my eldest—now a teenager—what he remembers from his experience in first grade. He chuckled wryly. “I learned that some Jewish Israelis are nice and some are jerks, and some Palestinian kids are nice and some are jerks.”
That's how the signed letter ends. It makes total sense to me.
We know there is no military solution to this crisis. We know that Israelis and Palestinians are here to stay — neither Jewish safety nor Palestinian liberation can be achieved if they are pitted against one another. We know that freedom for one people cannot be reached through the oppression and killing of another. We know that Israeli and Palestinian safety is deeply intertwined and that no one wins a forever war. The only way to lasting peace and security is through diplomatic means that move us towards an equal and just future for all.
We urge President Biden and Congress to work for a ceasefire, the release of the hostages, and a diplomatic solution that guarantees equality, justice, and a thriving future for all.
We urge President Biden and Congress to work for a ceasefire, the release of the hostages, and a diplomatic solution that guarantees equality, justice, and a thriving future for all.
Sure, but this is delusional. Palestinians didn't have equality, justice, and a thriving future before Hamas' attacks on October 7th and there's no way in hell Israel is going to allow any path to that in response to October 7th. The suggested path is:
Step 1: Hamas launches thousands of missiles and a brutal invasion where they slaughter over a thousand Israelis; filming, reveling in, and justifying the attacks
Step 2: ???
Step 3: Equality, justice, and a thriving future for Palestinians
There's nothing that can happen at step 2 to make that an acceptable process for Israel; they are not going allow the message to be sent that the way to get exactly what you want from Israel is to first slaughter hundreds of Israeli citizens.
It's a nice outcome to wish for, but it's not going to happen as a result of terrorism.
This is so wild. In the US, the majority of Jewish people support Palestinians while the Christian nationalists support Israel. And those fascists support Israel in order to fulfill a prophecy in which all Jews are destroyed (except for those who convert).
Netanyahu and his Jewish-supremacist allies rely on Americans who want Jesus to finish Hitler's work. I feel like I'm taking crazy pills.
Where did you see that the majority of Jews support Palestinians? Source?
Sometimes I wonder if the admin is just ... waiting for the Israelis to finish it. Like, they've decided that this is going to be an eternal conflict until someone decisively "wins." Unfortunately the winning condition for both Likud and Hamas appears to be 100% enemy casualties.
Everyone's backed into a corner here. The various Arab nations that have hated Israel since its' modern inception and hated Jews for a LONG time before that want Israel gone, Likud seems to want Hamas and most Palestinians gone.
There's no way out of this until everyone agrees everyone else gets to live.
If the US just washes its hands of the whole thing tomorrow we might have another regional war that could escalate unpredictably. If they pressure Israel to cease-fire, the various PACs start throwing money around (though I think they have less power than politicians are afraid of, honestly - money can only do so much).
I have no idea how you even begin to negotiate with Hamas or whoever's running the show in the West Bank. The whole thing is a massive clusterfuck and anybody with a neat, simple solution is either a genocidal maniac or delusional.
Takes two to tango. I'm sure if the White House could get a cease fire and hostage release again they would. Hamas is still firing rockets at Isreal.
Hey guys, you know what will totally improve this terrorism problem? Concentrating people into ghettos for decades on end as you slowly erode their land by attrition. Then, when they lash out, you relentlessly bomb them, eliminating vast swaths of families.
Surely, no survivors will harbor any repressed feelings, amirite?
"not like anyone did anything like that to another group of people before. oh, they did? let's ask them how it felt. what? they're the ones doing it to others now? really?"
if the Palestinians want to drive a point home, they should rename Gaza to Warsaw, and see if that gets the Israelis' attention.