Living in the COVID World ... and Beyond #39: Some Thoughts and Emotions about Being a Jew, Israel, and the Palestinian Territories

I have so many thoughts and emotions about what is happening in Israel, Gaza, the Palestinian Territories, the neighboring countries, and the global powers like the United States.   I like to have my thoughts well-organized for my blogs and this time, I don’t.  But I wanted to get something out in a relatively timely manner.   Here are some thoughts that maybe will be helpful for you too.

As a Jew, I’m scared.   Scared for Jews in Israel and scared for Jews around the world.   I have had the opportunity to listen directly to a number of Israelis over the last two weeks … and I can hear their fear and their pain.   It is very real.   Beyond the recent events, there has been an increase in incidents of antisemitism in the United States over the last few years.   There have been many reasons hypothesized to explain the increase of violent acts targeting Jews including the rhetoric of many in the right wing of American politics and the criticism that many on the left wing in the United States have about Israel’s policies and practices regarding both its non-Jewish citizens and the occupants of the Palestinian Territories.   I went to a bas-mitzvah last weekend at my synagogue, and it was announced in advance that there would be increased security.   In my very own synagogue in a fairly liberal city and state.   It feels scary to be a Jew.

I have also been in contact with the few Palestinians that I have met over the years.   There is no excusing the violent and horrific acts by Hamas two weeks ago …  and none of them does.    And, of course, there is the context of a people that have been expelled from their homes, that feel ignored and discarded by the broader world community, and that have lived in horrible conditions for decades.   There is nothing that justifies the actions that Hamas gunmen took on October 7th.  Nothing.   Martin Luther King wrote about the use of violence in Stride Toward Freedom (1958):

“Oppressed people deal with their oppression in three characteristic ways. One way is acquiescence: the oppressed resign themselves to their doom.… A second way that oppressed people sometimes deal with oppression is to resort to physical violence and corroding hatred. Violence often brings about momentary results. Nations have frequently won their independence in battle. But in spite of temporary victories, violence never brings permanent peace. It solves no social problem; it merely creates new and more complicated ones. …. The third way open to oppressed people in their quest for freedom is the way of nonviolent resistance. …”

One Palestinian friend requested that I help people understand that Palestinians are human beings, just like everyone else.   I can recommend two books by Ibtisam Barakat, Tasting the Sky and Balcony on the Moon, that are honest and moving portrayals of growing up as a Palestinian.

No matter what Hamas did, I don’t think revenge is ever the answer.    Revenge does not bring security.  Revenge continues what seems like an endless cycle of more hurt, more violent acts, more people that feel the need to avenge the past, and it just goes on and on.    And. of course, Israelis have the right to feel secure and protected, as do all people.

What can I do? 

I think I have to stand in support of all people having the right to a decent life.   And a decent life includes not harming others.    

I want to keep listening to Jews and Palestinians, both in Israel and the Palestinian Territories and in the diaspora.   I want to keep understanding the pain and the challenges they face in moving forward.

I want to keep looking for useful perspectives and hope in the midst of confused commentaries, political speechifying, and a sense of hopelessness that things can ever get better.

With this in mind, here are two pieces that I found useful and moving.

I found this post last week by President Gustavo Petro of Columbia:

"The only way for Palestinian children to sleep in peace is for Israeli children to sleep in peace.

The only way for Israeli children to sleep in peace is for Palestinian children to sleep in peace.   War will never achieve this, it can only be achieved by a peace agreement that respects international legality and the right of the two peoples to exist free."

And I saw this This 6-minute video that shows thousands of Palestinian women and Israeli women reaching across barriers for peaceful solutions together.

Yael Deckelbaum - Prayer Of The Mothers (Official Video)
YouTube<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YyFM-pWdqrY>

What have you found helpful in these challenging times?