I try not to get too political on here, which is sort of a fool's errand. All speech, of course, is political speech, it is just that some topics appear neutral. The biggest sticking point for me has always been less controversy and more a lack of audience. I do not have many followers, and so for a long while now I have felt like my voice, while heard, would not be heard by many. That said, over the past twelve months I have felt increasingly compelled to speak on the matter of Israel and Palestine. My conscience will no longer permit any further silence, even if my words only reach a few people.
I am not Israeli, nor am I Palestinian, but I do not need a nationality to know what is wrong from what is right. A year ago today, Hamas engaged in what is fairly called a horrific attack on Israel, and took hostages. It killed nearly a thousand people. The horror that followed, though, beggars the October 7th attacks. The direct death toll of the IDF's terror campaign has been counted in the range of 40,000 and counting. This of course does not count the indirect death toll, and those that are missing. Were that taken into account, it would point to a death toll that now approaches the mark of 190,000 dead.
I live in a small town of about 8,000 people. I think about this - that had it been the IDF attacking my home, they would have killed every person there, every man, woman and child, almost 240 times over. Every person I have passed on the street, every child who took the bus to elementary school, every family, every person I liked or disliked here, my family, all would be annihilated. And then I think again of Gaza and my heart feels nothing but the deepest sympathy for them, and the greatest anger at the IDF for putting them in this position.
What angers me even more is that, by dint of being American, my government has made me complicit in this matter. It takes my taxes, spends them on bombs and planes and guns and ammo and ships them off to men who kill children to achieve aims that are at best inscrutable. Even the most jaded, cynic, realpolitik bastard you could think of would probably admit that at the very least Israel must be reigned in before the war escalates any further; that Israel's actions have seriously damaged the image of America abroad, even more so than before; and that in continuing support we burn international bridges that may not be able to be repaired for a long time. And yet my government, one I voted for, seems set upon supporting Israel's military forces without any thought of this.
Let me remind you now that this problem is not a new one but it is not an old one either; it is not one of religious conflict between Muslims and Jews. Religion and ethnicity play a factor, certainly, but that factor is as an agent of justification, not an agent of cause. The justification of this conflict is spiritual and racial; the cause is material and simple. Israel is akin to South Africa or Rhodesia, and yes I make that comparison intentionally, because Israel does indeed perform apartheid upon its Palestinian populace. Its cause since its inception with the British Mandate have been one and the same with South Africa and Rhodesia and even French Algeria: to displace and dispossess a native population of people at the barrel of the gun for the purpose of creating profit and landed ownership for a select few; to create a promised "living space" for the upper class; and to ensure the oppression and brutalization of a racialized underclass for further profit, be it through the military-industrial complex or forced labor on the part of the underclass, or both. You could call that apartheid, or settler-colonialism, or any other number of names. You could call it ethnoreligious conflict (though I would disagree with so weak a term) if you wanted. But what you must understand - what you must come to grips with - is that the Israeli government's actions are unequivocally wrong, and my government's support of them fundamentally debased.
I do not know what arguments will convince the unconvinced upon this matter, or what the great trepidation and cowardice is with people trying to defend these actions. When viewed with a clear eye it becomes obvious that the Israeli government has the attitude of an errant dog, loosed from its long American leash upon the innocents of Gaza, of Palestine in general and now of Lebanon where the genocidal warmongering seems primed to spread. Pundits and politicians continue to equivocate about Hamas's actions. Do they think we're fools? It's plain to see that if we are measuring butchers, the IDF have the better of them, and my government continues to enable them. Every bomb dropped and every person killed in Gaza is a black stain upon history which, if there is any justice, will live in infamy so long as history itself persists.
Perhaps there are those among my American audience who are so-called patriots; you believe that because Israel shows affection towards the US and its aims, that its actions and the United States' interests are so aligned. Perhaps you trust in your leaders to make the right choice in this matter. I would count this as also quite foolish, though perhaps understandable. The love of country blinds men to the love they should lavish on their fellow man. You only need look to Israel's actions for proof. That sort of patriotism will only let your leaders deceive you. Do not let them! If you must love your country, be clear-sighted in that love and do not let it outweigh your common sense and morality! We must put to our leaders great critique on the handling of this matter, on the left and the right, for their inadequacy and failure to do anything to restrain these acts of needless and unjustified aggression and genocide.
Perhaps there are those among you who would say that the Jewish people must have a state, and that state must be allowed self-defense, and these actions have been taken in that interest. To this I must say that I frankly must disagree, and I will word myself carefully here because I wish to make myself absolutely clear. I hold no animosity towards Jewish people, nor any religion in specific. I have animosity towards Israel's state; were it a Christian state, or a Muslim state, or a Buddhist state, or any other state with such an affiliation committing to these same actions, I would earnestly hold the same opinion. I do indeed believe that the movement for Palestinian freedom must brook no quarter for antisemitism, both for moral and strategic reasons which I presume to be obvious. Having said that, the root of my animosity is this: I have said before that I am an American by birth, and I must say that while I am not a patriot, I am endeared to certain values which are found in the US Constitution. Among them is the separation of church and state. How can I, a believer in this principle, in good conscience support a state bonded to a religion in its foundation? How can I understand Zionism, so defined as a ideology seeking the foundation of a Jewish state, as anything other than a direct violation of that principle?
Another of mine is this principle is this: only a man has a right. A state can have a right only so far as it defends the rights of men, and Israel has vastly breached that rule in this war. How lucky I am to worry for my right to free expression, to my religion, to my free movement; the people of Gaza must worry about their right to drink, to eat, to live uninjured by bombs, to live, and it is Israel who denies them these rights. If this is what self-defense means on the scale of nations, then it ought be abolished altogether on account of how it interferes with the rights of the subjects of that "defense."
Perhaps there are those among you who would say that there is also an ethnic component to Judaism. To this I have little to say, besides that a state bound to a single ethnicity and a single religion stands apart to me as substantially worse than just one or the other, perhaps even more than the sum of its parts. That is all I can muster on the matter.
Perhaps there are those who believe that this problem, at its root, is intractable. This is something I would consider too pessimistic, though I understand more the trepidation here. The crimes committed are obviously not easy to remediate or reconcile. However, the solution to this is not to stand idly by and allow these crimes to continue to happen. As I have mentioned before, the United States has continued to deliver weapons to the Israeli government in full knowledge of their crimes, and that only serves to make the problem more intractable, not less. The only way to start the process of healing these wounds will be to stop the bleeding. The only way to stop the bleeding is to prevent the continued assault on Gaza. And, though these situations are different, when we look to places like South Africa, we can see that reconciliation is possible. There can be a day - there must be a day - where Palestinians and Jewish people may live in peace together, without oppression, without fear of dispossession, without fear of violence or danger.
That day can only come with great effort, with collective action, with courage, intelligence and patience to see the whole thing through, not just in Israel and Palestine but around the world. We live now in a world more connected than ever, for good and ill, and we may wield that fact for good. The Israeli economy is, like most, reliant upon the global network of trade and commerce. This is why Boycott, Divest, Sanction is doing such important work. I would pay particular attention to their words; their work is to try to strategically force companies to divest themselves from the Israeli economy, disrupting the war machine and their ability to continue these actions, and would suggest that you take part in this effort if you can. This is something almost anyone can do, and every part counts if it is part of these strategic efforts; it only asks that you do not spend your money. But if you do have money to spare, I would suggest donating. There are of course many vetted fundraisers on this site. I don't think you'll need to look far to find them. I would also suggest the UNRWA, who are deeply underfunded in the face of the present crisis and need all the help they can get to in turn help the Palestinian people.
And, of course, I would suggest that you protest. I unfortunately live in an area where there is little opportunity for this, but if you can join a demonstration or protest, I think you ought to. We will not get the attention of our leaders without us letting them know, and public protest is one way to do that. I would also gladly suggest that you write to your leaders. Tell them that this matter weighs heavily on your conscience. Tell them that you are concerned on where they stand on the matter. Tell them that your support may be at risk if they do not stand in favor of Palestine, regardless of whether that is true or not. Get your friends involved. Get your family involved, wherever you are. The genocide can stop. The genocide must stop. The genocide will stop.
I hope, if you were not already convinced, that this has changed your mind, and I am sad that I did not say anything earlier. That is all.
