I "enjoyed" reading this perspective -- right on line and to the point. Jeez, it is humanely moral to want the best for all humans, animals, in this world. Takes guts, tho, to speak publicly, when there are so many clueless people, set in their opinions, wanting to criticize and take you down. As an atheist, raised as a good christian, I still admire Jesus the man, what wisdom he tried to impart as a man, since it's hard to live in a world of organized religions.... I think, primarily set up to support the ministers, rabbis, imans, etc, to have their power. I usually keep such knowledge to myself, because there are so many wanting to take an atheist down as being immoral. I act good for others because I want to, not because I'll be punished by a god. If you want the name of my "Higher Power," mine is the wisdom of the universe ... cuz I am a fallible human.
These facts are incredible hard to swallow, and yet I’d rather be informed than turn away. Thank you for giving her your platform to let us know the truth and how we can help.
What the government of Israel is doing to Gaza is absolutely genocide. It's mind boggling that a country created for a people after the genocide of WWII would have that government turn around and do the same thing. This is about power and bigotry toward Muslims. This is not an anti-Semitic statement, it is a fact that the Israeli governments have been headed toward this for a long time. And all the U.S. President sees are golf resorts to add to his grifting empire so he's good with the free demolition. This was an important article and this war has to end (with Israel paying to rebuild what they've been stealing and destroying for decades). That they are actively starving and murdering Palestinian human beings be it through acts of war, disease and injuries that cannot be cared for, rape. The US must stop arming genocide but this administration simply does not care. We can cling to the ideal that was Israel or we can see those in power for what and who they are. I choose the latter and it has nothing to do with religion. Yes, I am angry.
Eve, from another woman who earlier today questioned her ability to repressed wishes of destruction and feelings of fury after the news of the elimination of another individual who showed such excellence of human physical and strategy skills that inspired his community, your message makes me bet all my spiritual and moral values on your human component. I welcome not only your voice that makes me re-establish a sense of human-female community, but rejoice on your recognized distinction on the who and the what of the claim of "never again." Sensitive factor frequently overlooked.
I personally don't blame every single individual of the "Jew" community for the "what" if it only refers to the executioners (my personal denomination only includes the policy makers, the carriers and the enablers of those policies), but I don't find emotional, ideological, political, economical, or ... human justification for the targeted whom/community in this conflict. As a woman, again twice in this day, I wish our bodies could magically revert the laws of nature: just to prevent the reproduction of certain confirmed anomalies imposed on us. Spread the links to prevent these disseminations. I throw another of my irrational bets now: millions of women are out there supporting my dream.
Thank you for this note, Eleanora. I'm glad it's brought some inspiration to you on a hard day. I fear too many women, Jewish women, feel that they dont have the right words or know enough to speak on Gaza but, at this point, we just have to start somewhere and get some words - any words - that speak the truth out there. Now.
Thank you Qasim, for featuring this post on your post. I am having trouble with a close family member, who says that all the Palestinians killed, are killed by Hamas, not Israelis, that I am listening to propaganda. I have sent her articles from reputable news sources, but same story. This is powerful, but can't send her any more. What a time, when the world, families are so divided.
"we have no moral ground in silence. We have an obligation to protect our fellow humans in Gaza, not in spite of our history, but because of it. This is the time to speak up."
Very powerful stuff here! Thanks so much for sharing this perspective.
I will be borrowing this statement for my discussions with the people I know who cannot bring themselves to condemn what is going on in Gaza and the West Bank. They know it is wrong, but they remain silent for reasons I simply can’t understand. I don’t know if it’s fear or apathy or something else. On no other issue have I heard arguments of “what-aboutisms” more than on this issue. It is so enraging and frustrating.
I hate to say that I'm glad you're enraged, Dave, but truly not enough people are. I'm happy for you to use the words I've shared anywhere and everywhere that it might be useful to start conversation that shifts hearts and minds. Change starts at the community level: talking with friends, family and neighbors. Best of luck in your discussions.
Thank you very much, Eve for standing up for Palestinians and to speak out about violence against women there. We must all hear this. It is so important the work that you are doing. And Never Again must mean for everyone, and that means human rights are for everyone! And the work is not ever done until everyone has them! No one may be silent when there is genocide in Palestine or ANYWHERE. I was raised Christian but have Jews in my ancestry and many of my ancestors were running for their lives from the wars or helping others escape war, violence and persecution. I heard an interview with Mandy Patinkin who was so furious that after what Jews have been through that Israel would turn around and do this to someone else. I heard his grief and fury. Can’t emphasize enough that Never Again must mean for everyone. Again, thank you for the incredible work you are doing to speak out for Palestine.
Appreciate you, Jennifer! Your kind words and others like it are what keep us going through all the muck. A there's a lot of muck out there right now! We will never stop fighting for human rights.
I'm so glad to hear that this helped to keep you going through the "muck". Well, you sure are doing amazing work and that's awesome you'll never stop fighting for human rights! And with such a commitment you continue to inspire others to keep going too!
Eve, I, too, grew up in a Jewish family, and I thought of myself as Jewish (Reform). I never, ever, believed there was such a thing as "god." And unlike you, I did go to Hebrew school and Saturday school. And had a Bar Mitzvah, and went to however many others. It was what my family expected, and I hope it meant more to them than it did to me.
As for you brief discussion of "never again" for whom, you have answered your question. One of the off-putting things about the after school Jewish parts of my education was the focus on the Holocaust. There wasn't much else discussed about what it meant to be Jewish. And a number of the holidays are about one victimization or another. I never felt like a victim, so the connection got thinner. Finally, I was in a summer music camp in high school, and a guy I had befriended got mad at me about who knows what one day, turned to me, and called me a "fuckin' Jew." I didn't know how he knew I was Jewish, or why he cared. Eventually, I gave up thinking of myself as Jewish. I was never opposed to anyone or anything (except selfish and mean people) until now. I have been confronted and worked hard not to be antiZionist and antiSemitic, but I have finally lost the battle.
Jews make two essential mistakes. They do not know Niemoller's famous poem, and they never ask the question posed by Lieber and Stoller's Coaster's song, "Charlie Brown:" "why's everybody always pickin' on me?" They never consider if they're provoking other people, even by declaring themselves the "chosen people" over everyone else. Telling everyone else you're mommy's and daddy's favorite is no way to make friends. One of my Israeli-American friends says Jews get singled out as they do because they're smarter (higher IQ) than everyone else, and are able to use their smarts to acquire everyone else's stuff. So the other people get jealous and angry. Setting aside that my friend is inventing the idea that Jews are smarter than everyone else,, I have pointed out that making fools and victims of everyone else to the point that they attack you and throw you out, or kill you, which is the history of the Jews, isn't very smart.
I don't think its justified to paint an entire group of people (in this case, Jewish people) from experiences with a few belligerent power-focused individuals. Humans of every stripe have these characteristics. As a species, we revert to violence and chaos when our social structures are dismantled or corrupted.
Here's an example. I just got an e-mail petition to ask that Holocaust education be supported. Boy, do Jews not need ongoing Holocaust education. They live and breathe it. It's all they know. What they need to know is how not to subject other people to Holocausts. (If they paid any attention to the Haggadah EVERY YEAR, it would do them good.) And that lesson is not of interest to them.
Israelis feel they had their reasons to unload on Palestinians (but only with the support of their daddies, Joe and Donnie), and Germans felt they had their reasons to unload on Jews. Fine. Then no one has a complaint. Read Niemoller's poem. It's short.
Fair enough. I've felt awash in Israeli misbehavior, AIPAC, and many Jews who think this problem started on 10/7/23. (And I'm more than aware of the refusal of various Arabs to accept Israel from the start. I view this as a rejection of the West, which cut up the Arab world after WWI, then gave the Israel part of Palestine to the Jews after WWII. I agreed the Jews needed a safe home, but that one was complicated: 1M Palestinians were displaced to make room for the Jews.)
My Israeli-American friend claims he was opposed to illegal settlements in the West Bank, where there is no Hamas, but he's no longer opposed. But you're right about the mistake of dismissing a whole group of people because of the misbehavior of some. It's worth noting, however, that no Israeli government since the inception of Israel has ever confronted those settlements and the attacks on Palestinians that come with them. I know Jewish people who declare all Arabs/Palestinians evil, as if by original sin, and don't complain about what Bibi and the IDF do to them. As I said, I've struggled not to reject all of them and all of it.
And we're part of the problem. We back the Israelis, and we always have.
Fred, yes. I struggle with exactly these problems.
I believe that the state of Israel is composed of a population that carries trauma and rage from a thousand years of pogroms. This in no way excuses what they are doing, and what they have done for the last 75 years. It is the tragedy of what they are doing, and it may lead to cataclysm.
Banyan, it's likely more than 1000 years, and I still note that Jews never ask the question: "why's everybody always pickin' on [us]." They're content to feel like endless victims, and they never wonder what everyone has against them (and if they have anything to do with it). Many Jewish holidays are about one victimization or another. Back in the '60s, a guy named Tom Lehrer had a song about prejudice, and it contained the line "everybody hates the Jews." Weird coincidence? Lehrer was Jewish. Listen to some of Jackie Mason's stand-up skits about how entitled Jews are. Mason was going to be a rabbi until he decided to be a comedian instead.
The West Bank settlements began after the Six Day War in 1967. And Israeli Prime Ministers Rabin, Peres, Barak, and Olmert negotiated in good faith with Palestinians to resolve the conflict.
Unfortunately, because illegal Israeli West Bank settlements continued to be expanded (although at a much lower pace under these Prime Ministers than under the Likudnik ones) and suicide bombings, the “Peace Process” collapsed.
Prime Minister Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish right-wing extremist in November of 1995 for his willingness to deconstruct West Bank settlements.
Thank you for your efforts. I hope you succeed before all the Palestinians are annihilated.
Maybe you know Jews whose families were annihilated by the Nazis. They talk a lot about that, and even those whose families were not annihilated by the Nazis talk about how terrible the Holocaust was. But I haven't heard any of them express gratitude for the Allies who saved anyone.
What you have to do is prevent these tragedies, not clean up after them.
Thanks so much for posting this. Horrifying but not surprising. 💔
🙏🏼🙏🏼
I "enjoyed" reading this perspective -- right on line and to the point. Jeez, it is humanely moral to want the best for all humans, animals, in this world. Takes guts, tho, to speak publicly, when there are so many clueless people, set in their opinions, wanting to criticize and take you down. As an atheist, raised as a good christian, I still admire Jesus the man, what wisdom he tried to impart as a man, since it's hard to live in a world of organized religions.... I think, primarily set up to support the ministers, rabbis, imans, etc, to have their power. I usually keep such knowledge to myself, because there are so many wanting to take an atheist down as being immoral. I act good for others because I want to, not because I'll be punished by a god. If you want the name of my "Higher Power," mine is the wisdom of the universe ... cuz I am a fallible human.
Not Jewish but am old enough to remember "Never Again"
What the hell happened???
These facts are incredible hard to swallow, and yet I’d rather be informed than turn away. Thank you for giving her your platform to let us know the truth and how we can help.
What the government of Israel is doing to Gaza is absolutely genocide. It's mind boggling that a country created for a people after the genocide of WWII would have that government turn around and do the same thing. This is about power and bigotry toward Muslims. This is not an anti-Semitic statement, it is a fact that the Israeli governments have been headed toward this for a long time. And all the U.S. President sees are golf resorts to add to his grifting empire so he's good with the free demolition. This was an important article and this war has to end (with Israel paying to rebuild what they've been stealing and destroying for decades). That they are actively starving and murdering Palestinian human beings be it through acts of war, disease and injuries that cannot be cared for, rape. The US must stop arming genocide but this administration simply does not care. We can cling to the ideal that was Israel or we can see those in power for what and who they are. I choose the latter and it has nothing to do with religion. Yes, I am angry.
Glad you're angry, still not enough people are! Thanks for sharing your thoughts.
Very profound and important. Thank you for sharing with us, Qasim!
Is Anyone talking about the Canadian AID air drop to Gaza? I dont see Anything!
It's a step but so woefully inadequate. We need to end the blockade, which is illegal and a war crime.
Thank you, Qasim, for presenting this. It only reinforces my respect and admiration for you! Restack necessary!
Agreed! Loved it!
Thank you my friend. Credit to Eve for an excellent piece.
Thank you all so much!
Thank you for this.
And I'll just say this again:
What the Nazis did to the Jews in the Polish ghettos is EXACTLY what the Israeli government is doing to the Muslims in Gaza.
This has been attested to by Israeli scholars of genocide like Omer Bertov and others.
Eve, from another woman who earlier today questioned her ability to repressed wishes of destruction and feelings of fury after the news of the elimination of another individual who showed such excellence of human physical and strategy skills that inspired his community, your message makes me bet all my spiritual and moral values on your human component. I welcome not only your voice that makes me re-establish a sense of human-female community, but rejoice on your recognized distinction on the who and the what of the claim of "never again." Sensitive factor frequently overlooked.
I personally don't blame every single individual of the "Jew" community for the "what" if it only refers to the executioners (my personal denomination only includes the policy makers, the carriers and the enablers of those policies), but I don't find emotional, ideological, political, economical, or ... human justification for the targeted whom/community in this conflict. As a woman, again twice in this day, I wish our bodies could magically revert the laws of nature: just to prevent the reproduction of certain confirmed anomalies imposed on us. Spread the links to prevent these disseminations. I throw another of my irrational bets now: millions of women are out there supporting my dream.
Thank you for this note, Eleanora. I'm glad it's brought some inspiration to you on a hard day. I fear too many women, Jewish women, feel that they dont have the right words or know enough to speak on Gaza but, at this point, we just have to start somewhere and get some words - any words - that speak the truth out there. Now.
U.S. ARMS SALES & TRANSFER TRACKER
https://www.forumarmstrade.org/
Thank you Qasim, for featuring this post on your post. I am having trouble with a close family member, who says that all the Palestinians killed, are killed by Hamas, not Israelis, that I am listening to propaganda. I have sent her articles from reputable news sources, but same story. This is powerful, but can't send her any more. What a time, when the world, families are so divided.
Martha - Thank you for staying true to your values of justice and humanity. It is deeply appreciated.
"we have no moral ground in silence. We have an obligation to protect our fellow humans in Gaza, not in spite of our history, but because of it. This is the time to speak up."
Very powerful stuff here! Thanks so much for sharing this perspective.
I will be borrowing this statement for my discussions with the people I know who cannot bring themselves to condemn what is going on in Gaza and the West Bank. They know it is wrong, but they remain silent for reasons I simply can’t understand. I don’t know if it’s fear or apathy or something else. On no other issue have I heard arguments of “what-aboutisms” more than on this issue. It is so enraging and frustrating.
I hate to say that I'm glad you're enraged, Dave, but truly not enough people are. I'm happy for you to use the words I've shared anywhere and everywhere that it might be useful to start conversation that shifts hearts and minds. Change starts at the community level: talking with friends, family and neighbors. Best of luck in your discussions.
Thank you very much, Eve for standing up for Palestinians and to speak out about violence against women there. We must all hear this. It is so important the work that you are doing. And Never Again must mean for everyone, and that means human rights are for everyone! And the work is not ever done until everyone has them! No one may be silent when there is genocide in Palestine or ANYWHERE. I was raised Christian but have Jews in my ancestry and many of my ancestors were running for their lives from the wars or helping others escape war, violence and persecution. I heard an interview with Mandy Patinkin who was so furious that after what Jews have been through that Israel would turn around and do this to someone else. I heard his grief and fury. Can’t emphasize enough that Never Again must mean for everyone. Again, thank you for the incredible work you are doing to speak out for Palestine.
Appreciate you, Jennifer! Your kind words and others like it are what keep us going through all the muck. A there's a lot of muck out there right now! We will never stop fighting for human rights.
I'm so glad to hear that this helped to keep you going through the "muck". Well, you sure are doing amazing work and that's awesome you'll never stop fighting for human rights! And with such a commitment you continue to inspire others to keep going too!
Eve, I, too, grew up in a Jewish family, and I thought of myself as Jewish (Reform). I never, ever, believed there was such a thing as "god." And unlike you, I did go to Hebrew school and Saturday school. And had a Bar Mitzvah, and went to however many others. It was what my family expected, and I hope it meant more to them than it did to me.
As for you brief discussion of "never again" for whom, you have answered your question. One of the off-putting things about the after school Jewish parts of my education was the focus on the Holocaust. There wasn't much else discussed about what it meant to be Jewish. And a number of the holidays are about one victimization or another. I never felt like a victim, so the connection got thinner. Finally, I was in a summer music camp in high school, and a guy I had befriended got mad at me about who knows what one day, turned to me, and called me a "fuckin' Jew." I didn't know how he knew I was Jewish, or why he cared. Eventually, I gave up thinking of myself as Jewish. I was never opposed to anyone or anything (except selfish and mean people) until now. I have been confronted and worked hard not to be antiZionist and antiSemitic, but I have finally lost the battle.
Jews make two essential mistakes. They do not know Niemoller's famous poem, and they never ask the question posed by Lieber and Stoller's Coaster's song, "Charlie Brown:" "why's everybody always pickin' on me?" They never consider if they're provoking other people, even by declaring themselves the "chosen people" over everyone else. Telling everyone else you're mommy's and daddy's favorite is no way to make friends. One of my Israeli-American friends says Jews get singled out as they do because they're smarter (higher IQ) than everyone else, and are able to use their smarts to acquire everyone else's stuff. So the other people get jealous and angry. Setting aside that my friend is inventing the idea that Jews are smarter than everyone else,, I have pointed out that making fools and victims of everyone else to the point that they attack you and throw you out, or kill you, which is the history of the Jews, isn't very smart.
Fred,
You seem to have the wrong idea about Jewish folks.
You should enlighten me.
I don't think its justified to paint an entire group of people (in this case, Jewish people) from experiences with a few belligerent power-focused individuals. Humans of every stripe have these characteristics. As a species, we revert to violence and chaos when our social structures are dismantled or corrupted.
Here's an example. I just got an e-mail petition to ask that Holocaust education be supported. Boy, do Jews not need ongoing Holocaust education. They live and breathe it. It's all they know. What they need to know is how not to subject other people to Holocausts. (If they paid any attention to the Haggadah EVERY YEAR, it would do them good.) And that lesson is not of interest to them.
Israelis feel they had their reasons to unload on Palestinians (but only with the support of their daddies, Joe and Donnie), and Germans felt they had their reasons to unload on Jews. Fine. Then no one has a complaint. Read Niemoller's poem. It's short.
Fair enough. I've felt awash in Israeli misbehavior, AIPAC, and many Jews who think this problem started on 10/7/23. (And I'm more than aware of the refusal of various Arabs to accept Israel from the start. I view this as a rejection of the West, which cut up the Arab world after WWI, then gave the Israel part of Palestine to the Jews after WWII. I agreed the Jews needed a safe home, but that one was complicated: 1M Palestinians were displaced to make room for the Jews.)
My Israeli-American friend claims he was opposed to illegal settlements in the West Bank, where there is no Hamas, but he's no longer opposed. But you're right about the mistake of dismissing a whole group of people because of the misbehavior of some. It's worth noting, however, that no Israeli government since the inception of Israel has ever confronted those settlements and the attacks on Palestinians that come with them. I know Jewish people who declare all Arabs/Palestinians evil, as if by original sin, and don't complain about what Bibi and the IDF do to them. As I said, I've struggled not to reject all of them and all of it.
And we're part of the problem. We back the Israelis, and we always have.
Fred, yes. I struggle with exactly these problems.
I believe that the state of Israel is composed of a population that carries trauma and rage from a thousand years of pogroms. This in no way excuses what they are doing, and what they have done for the last 75 years. It is the tragedy of what they are doing, and it may lead to cataclysm.
Banyan, it's likely more than 1000 years, and I still note that Jews never ask the question: "why's everybody always pickin' on [us]." They're content to feel like endless victims, and they never wonder what everyone has against them (and if they have anything to do with it). Many Jewish holidays are about one victimization or another. Back in the '60s, a guy named Tom Lehrer had a song about prejudice, and it contained the line "everybody hates the Jews." Weird coincidence? Lehrer was Jewish. Listen to some of Jackie Mason's stand-up skits about how entitled Jews are. Mason was going to be a rabbi until he decided to be a comedian instead.
The West Bank settlements began after the Six Day War in 1967. And Israeli Prime Ministers Rabin, Peres, Barak, and Olmert negotiated in good faith with Palestinians to resolve the conflict.
Unfortunately, because illegal Israeli West Bank settlements continued to be expanded (although at a much lower pace under these Prime Ministers than under the Likudnik ones) and suicide bombings, the “Peace Process” collapsed.
Prime Minister Rabin was assassinated by a Jewish right-wing extremist in November of 1995 for his willingness to deconstruct West Bank settlements.
Fred,
There are a number of Jewish organizations that go out of their way to advocate for Palestinian human rights and self-determination.
I am active in one called IfNotNow.
Thank you for your efforts. I hope you succeed before all the Palestinians are annihilated.
Maybe you know Jews whose families were annihilated by the Nazis. They talk a lot about that, and even those whose families were not annihilated by the Nazis talk about how terrible the Holocaust was. But I haven't heard any of them express gratitude for the Allies who saved anyone.
What you have to do is prevent these tragedies, not clean up after them.
A higher percentage of Jewish Americans fought in World War II than any other demographic in the U.S.
I don't understand the point.