It’s not clear to me what this post today is about, except a lot of worry. I feel compelled to share a few things. I am continuously reading about the events in the Middle East following the horrid, inhumane attacks by Hamas on Jewish citizens last weekend, and I am consuming news and opinion about the Israel government’s proposed response. Everywhere, I hear calls for revenge, calls for peace, I hear about contentious protests in New York, which has the world’s second highest Jewish population. Passions are running very high.
I believe my opinion has no place here-I cannot speak other than from my heart. I am not an expert, I am not Jewish nor Palestinian. My heart hurts for the families who lost loved ones, for the pain of the brutality experienced. I worry about the pain yet to come—for Palestinians and for Israelis. I read and hear about such hate on social media and in US protest gatherings. My relatives in Tel Aviv share photos, videos, fears, and I worry about them. When will it stop?
But I can share things I’ve read. Below is part of what Thomas L. Friedman of the New York Times wrote today, in which he writes some of what I am feeling:
”Israel has suffered a staggering blow and is now forced into a morally impossible war to outcrazy Hamas and deter Iran and Hezbollah at the same time. I weep for the terrible deaths that now await so many good Israelis and Palestinians. And I also worry deeply about the Israeli war plan. It is one thing to deter Hezbollah and deter Hamas. It is quite another to replace Hamas and leave behind something more stable and decent. But what to do?
Finally, though, just as I stand today with Israel’s new unity government in its fight against Hamas to save Israel’s body, I will stand after this war with Israel’s democracy defenders against those who tried to abduct Israel’s soul.”
Below is a moving speech delivered by NYC Mayor Eric Adams. I thank my daughter for telling me about the video. The Mayor makes me proud to be a New Yorker. I also add some links for informative reading on this topic at the end.
More to opinion to read:
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/14/opinion/israel-gaza-war.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/10/14/opinion/international-world/israel-hamas-war.html
You speak for so many of us right now.
We come at this from so many directions so many origins, so much that we unconsciously carry. I will never not come from my block in Brooklyn, the mothers of two of our friends willing to show us their concentration camp tattoos, friends, one polish catholic, one Jewish. Nearly every dad a WW2 veteran, proud of yet damaged by that trauma.
New Yorkers, Americans though some with accents (most). (My dad)
Let’s follow our tradition of NYC unity of rich cultures that feed us, literally and culturally.
Praying in my humanism that no massacres occur anymore anywhere in the world.
You and I know we can get through anything, connected to one another.
You do have a right to an opinion on this. Injustice ignored allows injustice to continue. Netanyahu has moved his government far to the right. He ran again to run the government like Trump, to avoid prison after being indicted on charges of breach of trust, bribery and fraud. Since 1980 he has been a close friend of Trump. Against international law Netanyahu has expanded Israel settlements in the occupied west bank. How long would any of us quietly accept being removed from our homes without compensation and the home given to our perceived enemy. Like Trump, Netanyahu needs to be held accountable for his racist leadership. The issue is Netanyahu, not the Israeli people.