I have called what Israel is doing in Gaza a genocide. I wept for Yitzhak Rabin. Israel’s rabbis would tell me I am not a Jew; my own coalition tells me I am a Zionist. Purity tests will always lose.
Thank you so much for your essay. I admit, I am one of those on the left who had begun to despise the Jewish people for what they are doing in Gaza and Lebanon. I have never harbored those feelings for the Jewish people (or any other people) before and I feel uncomfortable about it. I am a retired Christian clergyman, and I have always tried to see the good in others regardless of their background. Reading the daily atrocities committed by the IDF on innocent people and the lack of a strong pushback in Israel just made me angrier. I forgot that there are Jewish individuals like yourself who feel as I do about the situation in Gaza and elsewhere. What you feel makes sense to me. Your essay clarified a lot of my unasked questions. You gave back to me a part of me that I was beginning to lose. For that, I thank you.
Father, I can't tell you how much your comment means to me. I too, look at all of the pain and suffering in the world and find many, many reasons to lose my faith in humanity, in specific people, in entire groups of people, in all of us collectively. I hope maybe what you and I are teaching each other right now or reminding each other right now is that there are glimmers of hope. I believe that there are more of us, caring, empathetic people who want peace in the world, than there are warmongers. Hopefully, we can all find each other and unite peacefully for a world that looks like what we all hope for and deserve.
I think it's important to distinguish between Zionists and Jewish people in general. The crimes being committed are by the Israeli regime and its Zionist supporters. Many among the Jewish diaspora oppose what Israel is doing.
Part of my gentle pushback Art would be that we need a word other than Zionist. I have never considered myself a Zionist, not once in 56 years, but the word, when I was growing up, just meant somebody who believed that Israel should be a country next to a free and independent Palestine.
I think of it like this: If you assign blame to all Americans for Trump, you'd be missing the point, and you'd be lumping in literally millions of people who vehemently disagree and fight against Trump. The more appropriate term to cast aspersions on right-wing people in America would be MAGA or Trumper. I'd argue that the better word to use in this instance would be Likudnik or Netanyahu Zionist. That may sound like it's splitting hairs, but I feel like it's an important distinction.
My bigger concern in all of this is that we in America on the left are going to start performing some purity test, like a shibboleth, that we hold up and require people to swear fealty to, or they are not sufficiently left. They are excluded and pushed out of the coalition at the exact moment when we need this coalition to be as big and robust as we can make it to defeat MAGA-ism in this country.
I take your point. However, correct me if I'm mistaken, but the contemporary Zionist narrative is more militant, much less accepting of the rights of Palestinians. The perception is universally held, I believe, that Zionism refers to a Biblical right of the Jewish people to the Holy Land, to the exclusion of all else. Perhaps the term may once have had a more benign connotation, but I think that time has passed.
Before Oct 7 I do not remember whether I was familiar with the term Zionism etc.
While for you and many others the L word might be quite meaningful, however for several factors larger segment of the world's population, I suggest the term Netanyahu Zionist would provide much more nuanced meaningful qualified information totally in keeping with the purpose and direction of this article and thank-you for suggesting an appropriate alternative even if very long.
Maybe Bibi Zionist and/or BiBi Zionism etc? Or is that too cognitively restrictive as well for too many people? Though still a smaller learning curve than the L word.
I hope Mr. Winnerman's essay will prompt you to differentiate between Jewish people and Israeli people in the future. Not all Israelis are Jewish (about 75% are); and about 46% of all Jewish people in the world live in Israel - leaving over half living elsewhere. And furthermore, many Jewish people and many Israelis do not approve of Netenyahu and the continued bombing of Gaza, and they are not responsible for what is happening in Gaza.
Lawrence, Cliff...thank you both for the courage to write and to publish this. I am not Jewish. I could not possibly fathom the pain that you experience for never being "enough" by some standard of purity. But I am a compassionate person who cries when I see the trauma that those in pursuit of purity inflict on people who are committed to what is best for all of us. So much is so wrong with our country today...we need to focus on ending this horrible regime. We must stop eating our own--the ones who are there to join in the effort. Peace to you both.
Thank you, Evelyn. Your message means the world, and I completely agree. Somehow we have to unite and overcome this creeping authoritarianism and fix everything that DJT has messed up so badly in this country.
Truth, in reality, rarely if ever lies at the extremes. Even in science, accepted theories though practiced as 'law', recognize that they are limited by our lack of understanding. In terms of faith, if there is a God, entity professed as origin of existence, then such a being cannot be limited to any human understanding. We evolved/exist on a single planet, orbiting an insignificant star, in a random corner of a galaxy, consisting of uncountable stars, in a universe of uncountable galaxies. Don't get me wrong, I have belief, just not limited to any institutional doctrine.
Richard, I agree with you, and I feel like part of our existence here on this planet is to balance faith and reason. Above all other things, to figure out how to put humanity first and not be anti-human.
Imo, the whole paradigm of 'good vs evil' is wrong. If there is a spiritual opposition, it is 'love vs fear'. It is not only humanity that needs our love, but all that exists. If we do not feel love for all of the organisms in Earth's evolved biosphere, then we are subject to fears projected upon it.
Authoritarians are notorious for manipulating people through fear.
I am not Jewish. I just have disdain for Netanyahu and DJT. They are criminals and they have put their people in danger. They have committed war crimes, and I hope I live to see them prosecuted.
I feel this article is brilliantly written as well as Irv Geffen. I get so many political emails daily but when I saw the subject "Zionist" I had to read it, and I did read the whole thing, not skim an article like most that enter my inbox. So many things written about Israel, Zionism, Jewishness, if you are really Jewish, if you hate Israel, if you agree with a two state solution, free Gaza and everything else that it's mind boggling. If you are Jewish which I am, and you say you don't agree with Israel's policies and DJT that supports them, you are labeled as a Jewish anti semite or an Anti Zionist. I am neither, but I'm allowed to have my opinion observing from afar what has been happening since Oct 7th and before. Without saying the words that I find too harsh to write doesn't mean I don't believe what is happening and am extremely disturbed by it. An excellent article, thank you Lawrence Winnerman.
Thank you, Barbara. Your note means the world to me. We see each other across a great distance and understand each other, and I really appreciate that. This is a complex space to be in, and you can tell from the essay I am wrestling with it mightily. Trying to figure out who I am and what I stand for and how I speak up in the world. I'm grateful you took the time to write. Thank you.
Most religions have deeply valuable ethics and precepts as well as seemingly amoral stories suggesting violence and human abuses. We all have free will. Christianity, Islam, Judaism and others allow us to choose the good, the bad or the ugly. No religion, scriptures or adherents, are monolithic.
But it does not matter if BN is fairly elected (which I don't think he is anymore). Even if BN has a majority of votes, the point is that the *state of Israel* is committing is many war crimes. I don't have animus against the population of this country, but the *state of Israel* is a governing entity sitting at the UN and it has to respond of its behavior and its action. The only solution is to stop sending money for "defense" (aggression really) and boycott everything that comes from there. Divest. That's what we did with South Africa and the regime had to come to its senses. Israel has to come to its senses. It was legally and formally created by the UN and yet, it has been violating resolutions after resolutions from the UN for decades.
Thank you for your comment, Benoit. If you read my essay, I hope you won't be surprised to hear that I agree with you completely. I know these are words that Cliff doesn't like, and we agree to disagree, but I personally feel like what's happening in the West Bank is apartheid. Clearly, as you can see in the essay, I use the word genocide for what's happened in Gaza. I believe that Israel needs to be held to account, and I believe that Benjamin Netanyahu and anyone in his government who supported him need to stand for crimes in The Hague.
The point of my essay is that while I personally believe all of those things, I've been called a Zionist simply because I do not believe that Israel or Palestine should be wiped from the map. If we start erasing countries because their leaders have committed war crimes, we would have a depopulated map, and I suspect the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and Japan would be among the first to be erased.
Wow, I am honored that you paid attention to my comment (me a simple Canadian). I take a pragmatic attitude with the existence of Israel: it is unproductive to reject its existence in the real world. But I do feel that the way it was put in motion was unfortunate, if only because it led to where we are now. Maybe there was no other way, maybe it was unavoidable. But I remember very much celebrating the Oslo accords when the PLO formally accepted Israel's right to exist. I just wish that after so much suffering, people from all sides have to come to their senses accept reality and find a way to live together.
Not a fun read to start my day, but the most truthful and powerful read I'll probably see today.
Every idea resonates in me deeply, evoking a few other truths that the founding fathers might well have explicitly noted; revenge is suicide, purity leads only to stagnation, forgiving is divine, and acceptance is powerful.
We work together, for the benefit of all, or humanity burns out and dies.
Thank you for this incredibly informative essay. Although I am not Jewish I strive to understand the current dynamics while also educating myself on the long history.
Sue I so appreciate you trying to understand this complex issue. I've been studying it and thinking about it for a very long time, and I'm still not sure that I understand it. It seems to me that if we focus only on who did what to whom and how bad everything is, we end up going all the way back to the very beginning, to Abraham, Isaac, and Ishmael. I don't think that actually solves anything. When you figure it out, please let me know, friend.
While the author identifies as a Jew, he has no sense or just disregards the thousands of years Jewish people struggled to survive and how they accomplished it.
I struggle to understand how they did, but I do know how they did not. It was not by joining the ranks of those who for a variety of reasons disparaged Israel and the Jewish people. That behavior might help the one Jewish person survive, but not the Jewish people.
Perhaps someday the author and Jews like him will understand the distinction.
Thank you for the compliment on the writing, Irv. I'm afraid if you come away from this thinking that I disregard or disparage Israel and the Jewish people, you haven't read for context or clarity. I believe I'm quite clear that I do not hold the Jewish people responsible for Netanyahu's extreme right-wing Likudnik government that is guilty of war crimes.
I wonder, though, why the world has focused so much on the plight of the Gazans and seemingly forgotten how long the hostages were kept. And why no one allots any blame to Hamas who should have protected the Gazan people they were supposed to be protecting. Why tunnels for Hamas and no bomb shelters for the people!?. Why is Israel committing genocide and holocaust when Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and other groups who proudly chant that their aim is to destroy Israel, all Israelis, even Arab Israelis, but they don’t also get that slur attached to them.
I agree with much that you say but there’s also much that you didn’t.
For many of us who consider themselves left wing Democrats , it’s horrifying to realize that some day, Israel may very well be the only place we could go for “safety”. Gays may not be recognized by some Orthodox Jews but gays have freedom in Israel. In which Arab communities is that the case?
And who I worry about also are the Gazans after Trump and his cronies turn Palestine into a luxury resort for the wealthy. What are the plans for the people who live there now? Voluntary emigration?
I pray for a free Palestine that lives peacefully beside Israel. It’s not only the Israelis tired of being under attack since 1948 who are now doubtful of that happening; it’s also to a great degree due to those who won’t give up their desire to see Israel gone.
As much as I used to believe anti-Israel criticism applied to Netanyahu and not the people and country, and as much as I used to believe anti-Israel and anti-Semitism were different, the rising tide of anti-Semitism can’t be ignored.
I abhor the immense loss of life and I agree with much you say; I too feel like I have to question how those I normally agree with can be so ignorant of how what they say hurts me and others. I don’t believe both sides are being told all the truth. I am not saying that the deaths aren’t horrible and needless; I just think blame should be apportioned appropriately
Many people have struggled, from Black to indigenous...it doesn't give you the right to be an oppresser. If there was a 2 state solution, maybe they'd have to get along. Palestinians have been oppressed since Israel got there
Thanks for your response. I’m not sure I understand how you do not see accusing Israel of genocide qualifies as disparagement. And, regardless of what you, other diaspora Jews, and many Israelis think about Netanyahu, he has stayed in power, through honest elections longer than any Prime Minister.
Many thanks for your highly nuanced column adding to my literacy across severl political dimensions!
Cliff Schecter with Blue Amp; you came across my radar but a few brief days ago and before I attempt to make a collaboratively fitting reply, I will simply introduce myself as a first-generation ESL born Canadian (baby-boomer) and was totally caught off guard, knowing next to nothing about what had happened in the days and decades before October 7, 2023.
On that day I was much more shocked, but by comparison I remember where I was in a 1-8 grade school, shortly after school hours earning $0.25 per day sweeping the floors when a neighbour came rushing in to tell the teacher of Kennedy's assassination, but a few hours earlier. Remember this was before the Internet and even radio and TV was rather technologically constrained compared to today.
The news of October 7 fully intimidated me in many ways, but almost from the get-go found it very odd with rape being an instrument of war how soon thereafter I heard of accounts of rape in the worst possible ways, but no survivors. However, I made a point of scouring the news from many diverse outlets in order to avoid the confirmation bias and slowly, here and there one after another came across individuals who identified themselves as Jews but not as Zionists.
However when I now read yours in a longer series of people like you who are speaking out forcefully after October 7, with my thanks I will use the term even more unreservedly as we both in our separate ways are attempting to lay the seeds by which most people, through a united voice can reclaim and reassert a democratic voice that is true to most Canadians, and from what I see most Americans, except our political party systems are listening to a different drummer.
Neither I nor you alone can achieve democracy, but I invite you to make contact with me by which we can off-line seek out ways, whereby together with others by which we can help enable most people to peacefully reassert a much more democratic minded government than our present system run by our present parties allows, but through our collaboration on day one after the next election we can have a new day.
In closing, Thanks to my dyslexia I am a very slow reader and will complete reading yours on another day, but ask if you might more clearly explain the following paragraph as I lack an overlapping of meaning that seems to have a very clear meaning of understanding to you regarding in not crossing a line as stated in the following:
When “globalize the intifada” is defended as a slogan of liberation by people who will not sit still long enough to hear what it lands like in the body of a Jew who remembers what the intifadas were-that is the line.
There were only four comments when I began making my reply.
To my very pleasant surprise, I will add, having now read every one of them, I am truly heartened by how many thoughtful comments have been expressed. May this forum coalesce towards being **in** and building the future, so many of us are actively looking for.
Cliff, you express memories and beliefs as I would. Our slight differences are that I was born to two Jewish (Reform) parents, have relatives and friends in Israel, gay relatives and trans friends here. Rabin was our great hope and I agree with you about the criminals in Israel and here. I always appreciate what you write. Thank you!!
Thank you so much for your essay. I admit, I am one of those on the left who had begun to despise the Jewish people for what they are doing in Gaza and Lebanon. I have never harbored those feelings for the Jewish people (or any other people) before and I feel uncomfortable about it. I am a retired Christian clergyman, and I have always tried to see the good in others regardless of their background. Reading the daily atrocities committed by the IDF on innocent people and the lack of a strong pushback in Israel just made me angrier. I forgot that there are Jewish individuals like yourself who feel as I do about the situation in Gaza and elsewhere. What you feel makes sense to me. Your essay clarified a lot of my unasked questions. You gave back to me a part of me that I was beginning to lose. For that, I thank you.
Father, I can't tell you how much your comment means to me. I too, look at all of the pain and suffering in the world and find many, many reasons to lose my faith in humanity, in specific people, in entire groups of people, in all of us collectively. I hope maybe what you and I are teaching each other right now or reminding each other right now is that there are glimmers of hope. I believe that there are more of us, caring, empathetic people who want peace in the world, than there are warmongers. Hopefully, we can all find each other and unite peacefully for a world that looks like what we all hope for and deserve.
I think it's important to distinguish between Zionists and Jewish people in general. The crimes being committed are by the Israeli regime and its Zionist supporters. Many among the Jewish diaspora oppose what Israel is doing.
Part of my gentle pushback Art would be that we need a word other than Zionist. I have never considered myself a Zionist, not once in 56 years, but the word, when I was growing up, just meant somebody who believed that Israel should be a country next to a free and independent Palestine.
I think of it like this: If you assign blame to all Americans for Trump, you'd be missing the point, and you'd be lumping in literally millions of people who vehemently disagree and fight against Trump. The more appropriate term to cast aspersions on right-wing people in America would be MAGA or Trumper. I'd argue that the better word to use in this instance would be Likudnik or Netanyahu Zionist. That may sound like it's splitting hairs, but I feel like it's an important distinction.
My bigger concern in all of this is that we in America on the left are going to start performing some purity test, like a shibboleth, that we hold up and require people to swear fealty to, or they are not sufficiently left. They are excluded and pushed out of the coalition at the exact moment when we need this coalition to be as big and robust as we can make it to defeat MAGA-ism in this country.
I take your point. However, correct me if I'm mistaken, but the contemporary Zionist narrative is more militant, much less accepting of the rights of Palestinians. The perception is universally held, I believe, that Zionism refers to a Biblical right of the Jewish people to the Holy Land, to the exclusion of all else. Perhaps the term may once have had a more benign connotation, but I think that time has passed.
Before Oct 7 I do not remember whether I was familiar with the term Zionism etc.
While for you and many others the L word might be quite meaningful, however for several factors larger segment of the world's population, I suggest the term Netanyahu Zionist would provide much more nuanced meaningful qualified information totally in keeping with the purpose and direction of this article and thank-you for suggesting an appropriate alternative even if very long.
Maybe Bibi Zionist and/or BiBi Zionism etc? Or is that too cognitively restrictive as well for too many people? Though still a smaller learning curve than the L word.
I hope Mr. Winnerman's essay will prompt you to differentiate between Jewish people and Israeli people in the future. Not all Israelis are Jewish (about 75% are); and about 46% of all Jewish people in the world live in Israel - leaving over half living elsewhere. And furthermore, many Jewish people and many Israelis do not approve of Netenyahu and the continued bombing of Gaza, and they are not responsible for what is happening in Gaza.
Lawrence, Cliff...thank you both for the courage to write and to publish this. I am not Jewish. I could not possibly fathom the pain that you experience for never being "enough" by some standard of purity. But I am a compassionate person who cries when I see the trauma that those in pursuit of purity inflict on people who are committed to what is best for all of us. So much is so wrong with our country today...we need to focus on ending this horrible regime. We must stop eating our own--the ones who are there to join in the effort. Peace to you both.
Thank you, Evelyn. Your message means the world, and I completely agree. Somehow we have to unite and overcome this creeping authoritarianism and fix everything that DJT has messed up so badly in this country.
Truth, in reality, rarely if ever lies at the extremes. Even in science, accepted theories though practiced as 'law', recognize that they are limited by our lack of understanding. In terms of faith, if there is a God, entity professed as origin of existence, then such a being cannot be limited to any human understanding. We evolved/exist on a single planet, orbiting an insignificant star, in a random corner of a galaxy, consisting of uncountable stars, in a universe of uncountable galaxies. Don't get me wrong, I have belief, just not limited to any institutional doctrine.
Richard, I agree with you, and I feel like part of our existence here on this planet is to balance faith and reason. Above all other things, to figure out how to put humanity first and not be anti-human.
Imo, the whole paradigm of 'good vs evil' is wrong. If there is a spiritual opposition, it is 'love vs fear'. It is not only humanity that needs our love, but all that exists. If we do not feel love for all of the organisms in Earth's evolved biosphere, then we are subject to fears projected upon it.
Authoritarians are notorious for manipulating people through fear.
So true.
Again, I agree with you, Richard.
Why can't more people see this? Reckon ignorance and apathy play a part, but getting through to people is a struggle. Thanks for all y'all do.
I am not Jewish. I just have disdain for Netanyahu and DJT. They are criminals and they have put their people in danger. They have committed war crimes, and I hope I live to see them prosecuted.
Kimberly, I fully join you in that wish. Never have two people done more harm to so many.
I feel this article is brilliantly written as well as Irv Geffen. I get so many political emails daily but when I saw the subject "Zionist" I had to read it, and I did read the whole thing, not skim an article like most that enter my inbox. So many things written about Israel, Zionism, Jewishness, if you are really Jewish, if you hate Israel, if you agree with a two state solution, free Gaza and everything else that it's mind boggling. If you are Jewish which I am, and you say you don't agree with Israel's policies and DJT that supports them, you are labeled as a Jewish anti semite or an Anti Zionist. I am neither, but I'm allowed to have my opinion observing from afar what has been happening since Oct 7th and before. Without saying the words that I find too harsh to write doesn't mean I don't believe what is happening and am extremely disturbed by it. An excellent article, thank you Lawrence Winnerman.
Thank you, Barbara. Your note means the world to me. We see each other across a great distance and understand each other, and I really appreciate that. This is a complex space to be in, and you can tell from the essay I am wrestling with it mightily. Trying to figure out who I am and what I stand for and how I speak up in the world. I'm grateful you took the time to write. Thank you.
Most religions have deeply valuable ethics and precepts as well as seemingly amoral stories suggesting violence and human abuses. We all have free will. Christianity, Islam, Judaism and others allow us to choose the good, the bad or the ugly. No religion, scriptures or adherents, are monolithic.
But it does not matter if BN is fairly elected (which I don't think he is anymore). Even if BN has a majority of votes, the point is that the *state of Israel* is committing is many war crimes. I don't have animus against the population of this country, but the *state of Israel* is a governing entity sitting at the UN and it has to respond of its behavior and its action. The only solution is to stop sending money for "defense" (aggression really) and boycott everything that comes from there. Divest. That's what we did with South Africa and the regime had to come to its senses. Israel has to come to its senses. It was legally and formally created by the UN and yet, it has been violating resolutions after resolutions from the UN for decades.
Thank you for your comment, Benoit. If you read my essay, I hope you won't be surprised to hear that I agree with you completely. I know these are words that Cliff doesn't like, and we agree to disagree, but I personally feel like what's happening in the West Bank is apartheid. Clearly, as you can see in the essay, I use the word genocide for what's happened in Gaza. I believe that Israel needs to be held to account, and I believe that Benjamin Netanyahu and anyone in his government who supported him need to stand for crimes in The Hague.
The point of my essay is that while I personally believe all of those things, I've been called a Zionist simply because I do not believe that Israel or Palestine should be wiped from the map. If we start erasing countries because their leaders have committed war crimes, we would have a depopulated map, and I suspect the United States, Great Britain, Germany, and Japan would be among the first to be erased.
Wow, I am honored that you paid attention to my comment (me a simple Canadian). I take a pragmatic attitude with the existence of Israel: it is unproductive to reject its existence in the real world. But I do feel that the way it was put in motion was unfortunate, if only because it led to where we are now. Maybe there was no other way, maybe it was unavoidable. But I remember very much celebrating the Oslo accords when the PLO formally accepted Israel's right to exist. I just wish that after so much suffering, people from all sides have to come to their senses accept reality and find a way to live together.
10/10, no notes.
Not a fun read to start my day, but the most truthful and powerful read I'll probably see today.
Every idea resonates in me deeply, evoking a few other truths that the founding fathers might well have explicitly noted; revenge is suicide, purity leads only to stagnation, forgiving is divine, and acceptance is powerful.
We work together, for the benefit of all, or humanity burns out and dies.
Adrian, yes, I'm with you. Thank you for your comment, and I stand beside you completely.
Thank you for this incredibly informative essay. Although I am not Jewish I strive to understand the current dynamics while also educating myself on the long history.
Sue I so appreciate you trying to understand this complex issue. I've been studying it and thinking about it for a very long time, and I'm still not sure that I understand it. It seems to me that if we focus only on who did what to whom and how bad everything is, we end up going all the way back to the very beginning, to Abraham, Isaac, and Ishmael. I don't think that actually solves anything. When you figure it out, please let me know, friend.
Brilliantly written. Tragically flawed.
While the author identifies as a Jew, he has no sense or just disregards the thousands of years Jewish people struggled to survive and how they accomplished it.
I struggle to understand how they did, but I do know how they did not. It was not by joining the ranks of those who for a variety of reasons disparaged Israel and the Jewish people. That behavior might help the one Jewish person survive, but not the Jewish people.
Perhaps someday the author and Jews like him will understand the distinction.
Thank you for the compliment on the writing, Irv. I'm afraid if you come away from this thinking that I disregard or disparage Israel and the Jewish people, you haven't read for context or clarity. I believe I'm quite clear that I do not hold the Jewish people responsible for Netanyahu's extreme right-wing Likudnik government that is guilty of war crimes.
Couldn’t disagree more.
I wonder, though, why the world has focused so much on the plight of the Gazans and seemingly forgotten how long the hostages were kept. And why no one allots any blame to Hamas who should have protected the Gazan people they were supposed to be protecting. Why tunnels for Hamas and no bomb shelters for the people!?. Why is Israel committing genocide and holocaust when Hamas, Hezbollah, the Houthis and other groups who proudly chant that their aim is to destroy Israel, all Israelis, even Arab Israelis, but they don’t also get that slur attached to them.
I agree with much that you say but there’s also much that you didn’t.
For many of us who consider themselves left wing Democrats , it’s horrifying to realize that some day, Israel may very well be the only place we could go for “safety”. Gays may not be recognized by some Orthodox Jews but gays have freedom in Israel. In which Arab communities is that the case?
And who I worry about also are the Gazans after Trump and his cronies turn Palestine into a luxury resort for the wealthy. What are the plans for the people who live there now? Voluntary emigration?
I pray for a free Palestine that lives peacefully beside Israel. It’s not only the Israelis tired of being under attack since 1948 who are now doubtful of that happening; it’s also to a great degree due to those who won’t give up their desire to see Israel gone.
As much as I used to believe anti-Israel criticism applied to Netanyahu and not the people and country, and as much as I used to believe anti-Israel and anti-Semitism were different, the rising tide of anti-Semitism can’t be ignored.
I abhor the immense loss of life and I agree with much you say; I too feel like I have to question how those I normally agree with can be so ignorant of how what they say hurts me and others. I don’t believe both sides are being told all the truth. I am not saying that the deaths aren’t horrible and needless; I just think blame should be apportioned appropriately
Many people have struggled, from Black to indigenous...it doesn't give you the right to be an oppresser. If there was a 2 state solution, maybe they'd have to get along. Palestinians have been oppressed since Israel got there
Personally, I would love 2 states that could live side by side in peace. I don’t think tat is the goal of PAL leadership.
The PLO, mission to liberate Palestine, was established several years before the 67 war. What part of Palestine are they dedicated to liberating?
Thanks for your response. I’m not sure I understand how you do not see accusing Israel of genocide qualifies as disparagement. And, regardless of what you, other diaspora Jews, and many Israelis think about Netanyahu, he has stayed in power, through honest elections longer than any Prime Minister.
Many thanks for your highly nuanced column adding to my literacy across severl political dimensions!
Cliff Schecter with Blue Amp; you came across my radar but a few brief days ago and before I attempt to make a collaboratively fitting reply, I will simply introduce myself as a first-generation ESL born Canadian (baby-boomer) and was totally caught off guard, knowing next to nothing about what had happened in the days and decades before October 7, 2023.
On that day I was much more shocked, but by comparison I remember where I was in a 1-8 grade school, shortly after school hours earning $0.25 per day sweeping the floors when a neighbour came rushing in to tell the teacher of Kennedy's assassination, but a few hours earlier. Remember this was before the Internet and even radio and TV was rather technologically constrained compared to today.
The news of October 7 fully intimidated me in many ways, but almost from the get-go found it very odd with rape being an instrument of war how soon thereafter I heard of accounts of rape in the worst possible ways, but no survivors. However, I made a point of scouring the news from many diverse outlets in order to avoid the confirmation bias and slowly, here and there one after another came across individuals who identified themselves as Jews but not as Zionists.
However when I now read yours in a longer series of people like you who are speaking out forcefully after October 7, with my thanks I will use the term even more unreservedly as we both in our separate ways are attempting to lay the seeds by which most people, through a united voice can reclaim and reassert a democratic voice that is true to most Canadians, and from what I see most Americans, except our political party systems are listening to a different drummer.
Neither I nor you alone can achieve democracy, but I invite you to make contact with me by which we can off-line seek out ways, whereby together with others by which we can help enable most people to peacefully reassert a much more democratic minded government than our present system run by our present parties allows, but through our collaboration on day one after the next election we can have a new day.
In closing, Thanks to my dyslexia I am a very slow reader and will complete reading yours on another day, but ask if you might more clearly explain the following paragraph as I lack an overlapping of meaning that seems to have a very clear meaning of understanding to you regarding in not crossing a line as stated in the following:
When “globalize the intifada” is defended as a slogan of liberation by people who will not sit still long enough to hear what it lands like in the body of a Jew who remembers what the intifadas were-that is the line.
There were only four comments when I began making my reply.
To my very pleasant surprise, I will add, having now read every one of them, I am truly heartened by how many thoughtful comments have been expressed. May this forum coalesce towards being **in** and building the future, so many of us are actively looking for.
Cliff, you express memories and beliefs as I would. Our slight differences are that I was born to two Jewish (Reform) parents, have relatives and friends in Israel, gay relatives and trans friends here. Rabin was our great hope and I agree with you about the criminals in Israel and here. I always appreciate what you write. Thank you!!