We can’t confuse hate for the Jews for hate of the Israeli government and their apartheid regime. The uproar post October 7th is the result of people around the world finally see what Palestinians (in Gaza and the West Bank!) have experienced for the last 75 years. We cannot ignore that fact. There is no room for antisemitism or Islamophobia right now. Palestinians and Muslims are also being targeted and we can’t tolerate either! The frustration my friends have is that their tax dollars are funding this gross overreaction! All hostages need to be returned. Palestine needs to be free. Israel needs to be free of their government as well.
I agree. Also, although Hamas is Muslim, yes, Palestinians are not all Muslims. Christian Palestinians I have heard from have the same experience of being squeezed on all sides that all Palestinians do and Islamophobia is being used as a scare tactic to create an image of Palestinians as scary ideologues.
In my opinion the most salient lessons of the holocaust include the insidious traps that humans lay for one another of dehumanization of groups of people which inevitably lead to a desensitization of violence toward that group. What was done to Israelis on October 7 was horrible, outrageous and unjustifiable. I hear very, very few people who speak otherwise about it. But it was one day in history that is being used to explicitly justify 3 unrelenting months of slaughter. Must critics of Israel restate this every time? Maybe, but what’s happening in Gaza has URGENCY because it is ONGOING. That is the difference.
Thank you! Praying for a resolution. There is increased IDF presence in the West Bank. Most people are without work/income because they cross the border to work or own businesses. It’s affecting everywhere in Palestine not just Gaza. But they will rebuild and bounce back, they always do!
I do not have an argument with anything the Rabbi says in regard to antisemitism. It is a blot on our humanity that we can ever justify. But in this moment we must not confuse Judaism with the nation called Israel. We are a long way from the Divided Kingdom. And if ownership of land requires divine designation, the map of the world must be redrawn. Further, the moral condemnation that we assign to the holocaust must be leveled at the destruction of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
Totally agree. Furthermore, if the entire concept of conscience and morality is derived from Judaism (I’m not sure of that; I think God chose a people as an integral part of a plan of redemption for all humanity but a call to morality shows up in all cultures because we are all made in the image of God with creation as revelation (see Romans 1), but if that is the argument, then this moment in history is a perfect opportunity for those principles or conscience to be exhibited by those who claim a Jewish identity as a guiding light of morality.
I see that in the many, many Jews whose mantra at this moment is “not in my name” in response to the state of Israel’s behavior. I hear them explaining that it is their own faith tradition which directs their sense of conscience in seeking Justice (yes, in a much broader context because that is real), going against the grain - which is both punishing and requires chutzpah, and seeking what is right over and above the comforts of tribal identity.
It is crystal clear to me that those Jews speaking out against the state of Israel (and Zionism more broadly) are driven 100% by conscience.
We can’t confuse hate for the Jews for hate of the Israeli government and their apartheid regime. The uproar post October 7th is the result of people around the world finally see what Palestinians (in Gaza and the West Bank!) have experienced for the last 75 years. We cannot ignore that fact. There is no room for antisemitism or Islamophobia right now. Palestinians and Muslims are also being targeted and we can’t tolerate either! The frustration my friends have is that their tax dollars are funding this gross overreaction! All hostages need to be returned. Palestine needs to be free. Israel needs to be free of their government as well.
I agree. Also, although Hamas is Muslim, yes, Palestinians are not all Muslims. Christian Palestinians I have heard from have the same experience of being squeezed on all sides that all Palestinians do and Islamophobia is being used as a scare tactic to create an image of Palestinians as scary ideologues.
In my opinion the most salient lessons of the holocaust include the insidious traps that humans lay for one another of dehumanization of groups of people which inevitably lead to a desensitization of violence toward that group. What was done to Israelis on October 7 was horrible, outrageous and unjustifiable. I hear very, very few people who speak otherwise about it. But it was one day in history that is being used to explicitly justify 3 unrelenting months of slaughter. Must critics of Israel restate this every time? Maybe, but what’s happening in Gaza has URGENCY because it is ONGOING. That is the difference.
As a Palestinian Christian with family still in Palestine, yes to all of that! ❤️
I’m sorry for what you must be going through.
Thank you! Praying for a resolution. There is increased IDF presence in the West Bank. Most people are without work/income because they cross the border to work or own businesses. It’s affecting everywhere in Palestine not just Gaza. But they will rebuild and bounce back, they always do!
I do not have an argument with anything the Rabbi says in regard to antisemitism. It is a blot on our humanity that we can ever justify. But in this moment we must not confuse Judaism with the nation called Israel. We are a long way from the Divided Kingdom. And if ownership of land requires divine designation, the map of the world must be redrawn. Further, the moral condemnation that we assign to the holocaust must be leveled at the destruction of Palestinians in Gaza and the West Bank.
Totally agree. Furthermore, if the entire concept of conscience and morality is derived from Judaism (I’m not sure of that; I think God chose a people as an integral part of a plan of redemption for all humanity but a call to morality shows up in all cultures because we are all made in the image of God with creation as revelation (see Romans 1), but if that is the argument, then this moment in history is a perfect opportunity for those principles or conscience to be exhibited by those who claim a Jewish identity as a guiding light of morality.
I see that in the many, many Jews whose mantra at this moment is “not in my name” in response to the state of Israel’s behavior. I hear them explaining that it is their own faith tradition which directs their sense of conscience in seeking Justice (yes, in a much broader context because that is real), going against the grain - which is both punishing and requires chutzpah, and seeking what is right over and above the comforts of tribal identity.
It is crystal clear to me that those Jews speaking out against the state of Israel (and Zionism more broadly) are driven 100% by conscience.