Tired, scared, isolated. That’s how it’s felt in recent days with the current round of violence in Israel. Even though we aren’t under threat of actual rockets or airstrikes here in Minnesota, it can often feel like we are.
I’m accused of supporting ethnic cleansing, white supremacy and genocide against Palestinians by the left. The right says I support terrorists and don’t stand for my people. I suppose there’s some solace in knowing both extremes disagree with me, but when those are the loudest and most consistent voices coming at you from all sides it sure doesn’t matter.
Like many others, I’ve spent much of my time the last several days trying to combat lies and misinformation about Israel. It’s exhausting and an uphill battle in the age of social media hot takes and celebrity politicians hunting for retweets, but if we don’t do it who will?
There are people on all sides making bad-faith arguments, who claim to stand for peace and human rights but in reality, are just promoting more violence. They use buzzy words and phrases to lure others into agreeing with them when most people lack the context to understand the situation.
Let’s make it simple, let’s change the dialogue.
What do I stand for?
I stand for peace.
I stand for the innocent civilians caught in the violence.
I stand for the human rights of Israelis and Palestinians.
People will make caveats and drop whataboutisms all over the place, but don’t get sucked into that game. If you don’t stand for human rights of all that inhabit Israel and Palestine, Jews AND Arabs, you do not stand for peace.
My Israeli friends and family are constantly in my thoughts as they live through hundreds of rockets being launched at their homes. Innocent Palestinians are also in my thoughts as they are caught in the crossfire of Israel protecting itself against terrorist attacks.
We can’t keep this up, we need a new dialogue, we need to be bold, we need peace.
Matt, Thank you for sharing this. I too stand for peace and for human rights. Praying for peace.