Edited on October 31, 2023
I’ve been trying to find the right words to share.
I want to be sensitive to my Palestinian, Israeli, Muslim, and Jewish readers. I want those of you who are suffering to know that I see you.
My heart is heavy with the suffering that has been inflicted on innocent civilians in Israeli and Palestinian communities.
I still can’t grasp the horrors committed by Hamas against innocent Israeli civilians simply living their lives. I also can’t grasp the bombing of Palestinian civilians that has followed.
I feel for the Israelis and Palestinians who have been traumatized for generations and continue to be traumatized by unimaginable violence and hate.
I also believe I have more responsibility than to extend condolences, prayers, or express that I’m for the safety, dignity, justice, and freedom for all humans. (If you know me, the latter is a given.)
I have a responsibility to speak in opposition to antisemitism and anti-Muslim rhetoric.
I have a responsibility to speak in opposition to the collective punishment, human rights abuses, and war crimes being imposed upon innocent Palestinians…
Especially when right now mainstream discourse supports indiscriminate violent retaliation at the expense of innocent lives and an entire civilization.
To be clear, there is no circumstance in which kidnappings and murder of innocent civilians as Hamas terrorists have carried out is justified. It’s always wrong and I can’t imagine what Israeli and Jewish communities are experiencing, as many continue to await the safe return of loved ones.
I absolutely advocate for the safe return of the hostages that are being held by Hamas forces. I hold the victims and families affected by these attacks in my heart.
But Hamas does not represent anything close to all Palestinians (or Muslims) any more than the Israel Defense Forces represents all Israelis (or Jews).
Hamas sure as hell doesn’t represent the thousands of Palestinian children in Gaza that the Israeli military has bombed since October 7th (and over decades of forced occupation).
I recognize that Israel is in what feels like an impossible position with terror at their door step. I recognize the nation’s right to defend and protect itself.
In this process, the lives of innocent Palestinians must be protected too. No group of people should be denied access to the basic human needs of food, water, and electricity.
Thankfully, pressure by the international community is beginning to move aid into Gaza, but it’s still not enough.
My call for us to keep our humanity somehow means I’ll lose readers. Yet, it also feels like no matter what I say, it will be opposed or seen as not enough.
I kind of understand, as I wrestle with the complexity myself.
Even after I write this email, I’ll have an inner critic that calls me out for things I should or shouldn’t have said, things I could have said better, not being firm enough, not being nuanced enough.
Those voices keep me intellectually honest, so I welcome them.
Truly, there is too much complexity involved in the history of Israel and Palestine and the current situation than an article, or even language in general, can capture in any kind of complete way.
But despite complexity, I’m for doing whatever is within our power to stop senseless hate, violence, and at worst, genocide.
Caring about human life means speaking up for all human lives.
It means that when we say “never again” we include and value Brown and Black lives as much as white ones. (We’ve willfully ignored recent and current genocides just because they were in the global south and don’t get the media attention.)
It means checking our biases to ensure we aren’t inadvertently supporting antisemitic, Islamophobic, or dehumanizing rhetoric, which have real hate crime consequences.
It means taking the actions that support safety, well-being, and freedom for all of our children.
What You Can Do to Help Palestinians in Gaza
1) Take a step back and allow some space with what you’re consuming. While we need voices for innocent civilians now, we need to balance this urgency with checking in with our nervous systems and biases, getting educated, and questioning narratives that may not have supporting evidence. The Wiser World Podcast has an unbiased and comprehensive 3-part series covering the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict (which was actually recorded prior to October 7th).
2) If you reside in a country (like the U.S) that is supporting war crimes in Gaza, you can contact your elected officials to demand a ceasefire and continue calls, not just to fund humanitarian aid, but ensure it reaches civilians.
- Jewish Voice for Peace has a sample script and a form that U.S. constituents can use to contact your representatives and President Biden.
- Join a phone bank with If Not Now.
3) Donate to organizations that have a longstanding history of providing aid. Two organizations I’ve donated to are:
- Palestinian Children’s Relief Fund
- Middle East Children’s Alliance.
- Here is a list of other relief funds.
4) Write a letter to the editor of news outlets you follow and ask them to call for a ceasefire.
5) Finally, I think we need to remember that while we continue to speak up and take action against escalating violence and suffering in Gaza, we can also get involved with supporting displaced people and refugees in our own communities.
Please highly sensitive friend, let’s protect our humanity together and take action toward peace however we can.