The State of Israel was created in 1948; and for all 76 years of its existence, the region that Israel was established upon has been contested ground. The Palestinians who initially called the region their home were either displaced, or killed, as the Jewish migrants took their homes, and their lives. Thousands of Palestinians were forced into refuge status almost instantly, as what was once Palestine, became Israel, and what was dominantly Muslim, became Jewish. The Jewish migration into Palestine did not start in 1948, however, as the influx of Jews in the region began with the Balfour Declaration from the British Government in 1917. This declaration pushed forwards the idea that Jews not only deserved a homeland of their own, but that this homeland should be in Palestine. After this declaration, the mood shifted; the Palestinians who had already lived in Palestine for hundreds of years did not take the influx lying down. This lead to Amin al-Husayni issuing a fatwa for a war with Britian in 1941, with the understanding that Hitler would assist with the disruption of Jewish migration into Palestine. This alliance between Hitler and the Palestinian leader Amin al-Husayni would ultimately be a grave error, as with the fall of Nazi Germany, any support that the Palestinians might have had for the maintaining of their nation fell with it, and with global sympathies being strong for the Jewish people after the Shoah, aka the Holocaust,the fate of Palestine and Israel seemed all but sealed. And thus, 76 years later, what little land that remains Palestinian is rapidly shrinking. Daily travesties by the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) deprives what little dignity the Palestinian refugees still maintain in the face of genocide. And worse still, the major powers of the western world entirely back this genocide, with nothing but waggling fingers and slapped wrists between the heads of Palestinian children, and the barrels of IDF guns. All of this is to say, I do not support the IDF, the state of Israel, and its actions over the course of this nearly 100 year occupation. Yet, I am Jewish, and value my Jewish identity. How is it that me and my fellow anti-zionist Jews can cope with the genocide being perpetrated on our behalf? And perhaps more importantly, what can we as Jews do to help the Palestinians?
I began reconnecting with my Jewish heritage and identity 2 years ago. In that time, I learned how deeply Judaism ran in my mom's family, and how important faith and community had been to that family going back generations, even before the creation of Israel. Having migrated to the United States in 1890, my family were some of the first Jews to migrate to the state of Missippi, being one of the first 15 founding families of the first Shul in the state. Before long, my family moved to New York, where most of them still live. Although few of them are still religious, all of them maintain their Jewish identity, culture, and community. Thus, in an effort to reconnect to that part of myself, I relearned what it meant to be Jewish, began going to a local Shul, and tried my best to keep Kosher (although if I'm being honest, I very often failed to do so, and am to this day only keeping partially Kosher). I have tried to keep to my Mitzvot, and have loved rekindling that part of myself. This all came with a substantial caveat that I have thus far been unable to properly account for: the genocide my people are continuing to perpetrate in the Gaza Strip.
My people, who ought to know the pains of genocide so soon after the Shoah, are killing thousands. From starvation, to bombs, the cruelty of the Israeli government has been incomprehensible for me. Moreover, the Israeli government was performing this slaughter on my behalf, with the continual gesture and nod that I should join them and make my birthright trip and citizenship to Israel. To put it plainly: I am disgusted. Say what you will about the validity of the state of Israel, it having 76 years of history and all, but their current actions cannot be ignored or excused. People are dying en masse, and they are doing so because we as Jews feel entitled to a land we had not called home for thousands of years. Thus, I and so many other diaspora Jews are left with the nagging guilt for what our brothers and sisters are doing in Gaza, and across Palestine. So, I return to a question that has haunted me: what am I supposed to do? I can't fathom what has happened, and what continues to happen; all those people, displaced and murdered; yet I must. I do not have the luxury of ignoring what is happening, nor does anyone who currently benefits form or supports a government that is allowing this genocide to occur. As an American, and as a Jew, it is my responsibility to do something. I can't stop the genocide, and I can't help much as a single, little person, but what I can do is anything at all to relieve the pain my people are inflicting. Herein lies the method I have taken to cope with the dissonance between my pride in my Jewish identity, and the pain of what my people are doing: do not stand idly by. I may not be Israeli, but my government, and my people, are either committing or supporting a genocide, and because of that, I cannot sit down and join my nation in facilitating this slaughter. Instead, I must support the Palestinians with my words, what money I can provide, and my actions against Israel. Until Israel ceases their genocide and occupation, it does not have a right to exist, and none of us should back their genocidal regime. But in truth, this isn't enough. Because I know that my little actions are nothing compared to the size and scope of the genocide; I am small, and the world is large, and there is little I can do. Thus, in doing what little I can, I must also accept what little control I have. I am not in a position of power, and I have little to no influence on the world at large. But maybe what few dollars I can spend could fill a child's belly, at least for a night.
76 years. 76 years of murder. 76 years of torment. 76 years of starvation. 76 years of occupation. No tragedy, no injustice, no pain could justify what my people have done. The Shoah was a nearly unparalleled evil, yet in watching what the Israeli's are doing today, perhaps it has been matched. But we cannot afford to fall into dispair; we as Jews must remember the pain of the Shoah, the millions of lives lost and destroyed, and do whatever we can to stop the occupation of Palestine from progressing. If we can improve the life of at least one child who has been forced from their home, if we can make them safer than they were yesterday, then we have done an incalculable good. We may be powerless to stop the evil, but we can at least ease the suffering of the innocents caught in the whirlwind of Israeli occupation.
References used:Flapan, S. (1979). Zionism and the Palestinians. United Kingdom: Croom Helm.
Lewis, B. (1984). The Jews of Islam. United Kingdom: Princeton University Press.
Browning, C. R., Matthäus, J. (2004). The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939-March 1942. Israel: University of Nebraska Press.
United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (2024): Data on Casualities. https://www.ochaopt.org/data/casualties
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