[Sundaycommunity] Fwd: Israel at War: Making sense of this week's news
H. Burns
burnsh at hotmail.com
Fri Mar 15 14:01:19 PDT 2024
Sent from my iPhone
Begin forwarded message:
From: JSpaceCanada <info at jspacecanada.ca>
Date: March 15, 2024 at 16:43:02 EDT
To: Helena Burnstein <helena.burnstein at sympatico.ca>
Subject: Israel at War: Making sense of this week's news
Shabbat news and update round up
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Dear Helena,
Since Israel declared war on Hamas following the horrific terror attacks by Hamas on October 7, there has been constant international attention on and scrutiny of Israel.
Much of it is warranted, however, in some spaces, this attention and scrutiny has veered into hate and Antisemitism.
It is sometimes hard to discern and parse out, when tensions are so high, when we are still reeling from the trauma of October 7, what criticism comes from a place of good faith and care for Israel, Israelis, and the Jewish people, and what criticism is being used for sinister purposes and increasing hatred of Israel and Jews worldwide.
What we do know is that all criticism of Israel is not inherently Antisemitic. Israel is not above reproach, and most of all, for many of us who do criticize, it comes from a place of genuine care and concern for the future of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.
It is disconcerting to see some of our Jewish diaspora legacy institutions seemingly unable to make that distinction, with criticisms of the Canadian government's choices to support Palestinian women<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=ZyO_DFWWRDvdu31LHzZ70bZPXMgBKHFMzzZgMXdeimerqK94h4sF6ZIDazBuJIipejVNbnIw_YKDU8bOogg06Q&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shaabatemail_march152024&n=2> who claim sexual abuse and misconduct at the hands of the IDF, or to reinstate funding to UNRWA<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=ZyO_DFWWRDvdu31LHzZ70RhXxGRCY5S_aTB_3V0bBQbznWSIeSz-dfrws4zkfPFwNscekP9jaa6kSKcwPou9oQ&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shaabatemail_march152024&n=3> amid a worsening humanitarian crisis in Gaza.
This rhetoric seeks to isolate Jews from the broader community and make it appear as though this is a zero-sum game - for Israelis and supporters of Israel to "win", Palestinians and supporters of the Palestinian cause must "lose." This causes tensions, divisions, and fear in our community, but it does something else -- it creates a false binary that only moves us further away from peace.
It was former Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin who said, "you don't make peace with friends; you can only make peace with your enemies."
While "enemies" might be a strong word, we should extrapolate this to mean that making peace means compromising with people with whom you have differing views. It means understanding the narrative of "the other", even if it's not yours. It means allowing ourselves to feel discomfort in order to hold the truth of another.
There is no harder time to do this than when we are vulnerable, when we feel hurt, and exposed. But it is also in these times that this is most crucial. That we can come together and say we will not let extremists win, we will not allow hate to divide us, we will step bravely into the space of peacemaking and healing even when -- especially when -- we are hurting.
It is because of this that we chose to support<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=ZyO_DFWWRDvdu31LHzZ70QfoYwHBnRtWPhzCT0zo3nB8C2azncEY88SKtDn4WB0Lm7BlXCiFEduTC0bSMZpE6w&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shaabatemail_march152024&n=4> the NDP motion<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=-3aDUVBO4proBKuokF3ytKcGqsWFHrt6UgDJXRumjN-Vs0KvbXr8KmEKmC8JsCoNtw1e93SBVnzx12Ai3H_Yr0aHgdD9I2CSJnm3RZKfzNdFf9IabmsgdP7u_aZgwQFF&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shaabatemail_march152024&n=5> that will be debated in the House of Commons this Monday. While we don't agree with every call in this motion and might have worded it differently, or added some things, what we see in this motion is politicians bravely stepping into the space of peacemaking and healing and asking our government, our leaders, to do the same.
We must remember that even before the war, during the pro-democracy protests, we were told that we mustn't speak out against the judicial overhaul, our communal leaders called for "unity" above all else.<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=9qFujIoeyobCItbhgVcNfNM7n9qPOFedBCMmNuBbmgd2iRw0PiRCDwCDyd-_jxkDNEFfwofGebrO0xS17oPfgvzt6gEOu6fyDBZPNUukfxmHy-2MtP1eGfr3OCOsrb5neAZyH1X6lnubTMQiNQySNv7xrx6Z2yCA1g0kFvoMGzmuj68tjSfXP3JwsfEJnMc6TRtrZurdCbJDNFP6m0fvZerPN5IQ8b2rcpi-KUdgbnXMtu44Dfn3nfOoyC4_eWYM&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shaabatemail_march152024&n=6>
The stakes now are even higher. Not only is the Netanyahu government still insistent on ramming through judicial reforms<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=9qFujIoeyobCItbhgVcNfLtPpvPAXVozFLtZazbHGaAS_viNH0rRG0xRw6ClOckD2E7BbAOiSLixDmrXAGGsubgROiVuKi6GfuxHeCD8SUldCPaoH3TdJx6pW__UNDeLzR-1KRfyElBst1TEpHI9q4KwScZrdlMOmne33VaU-KFavSvfY39z2gmeFUs-yP1_FrW8qogAYRLZRtszW97BhhvaEWfwm-fFqoGnAZfCfWSPwtxI7jBqDUx98u7L0XqL_IM9yTxRMpFfJRtRz9rhfw&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shaabatemail_march152024&n=7>, but now there are 134 hostages still being held in Gaza. There are families grieving, in pain, begging the government to do something, anything, to get their loved ones back. And a mere 90-minute drive from Israel's centre, there are Gazans who have lost everything - family, friends, their home, their schools, their places of worship. They are starving and have nowhere to flee for safety.
We must be talking about how this ends. We must be talking about a day after. We must be pushing our community, our government, our leaders to have this conversation, and work toward a new reality for the region - one of peace, recognition, self-determination, and sovereignty for Jews and Palestinians alike.
That's the work JSpaceCanada, and our other progressive Jewish Zionist partners in Canada are doing right now.
While others want to scare us, and motivate us through fear, we want to motivate with hope. Because we know hope is still alive, and we know, even though it may only be a glimmer of hope, it's enough to bring peace.
When we talk about brave conversations, we talk about our friends at Canadian Friends of Peace Now, who are hosting a webinar this Sunday<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=HTmIsSKWgGOQ_juasl6uxQpnwJ5Wj4yFLjevi3l8lyd9_JQU5HW7gs2S50D8-Kc5edtldGOfCJi3r5itjboVOWZNVRGR6stz8EmQF_RfMPEDFPBsUcSKFr7I_R5OBsBN&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shaabatemail_march152024&n=8> with Amira Mohammed & Ibrahim Abu Ahmad, two Palestinian citizens of Israel who, post-October 7 began a podcast called Unapologetic: the Third Narrative with the goal of rejecting tribalism and creating a better future for Israelis and Palestinians.
When we talk about pragmatic policy steps that Israelis, Palestinians, and international allies such as Canada can take to ensure a peaceful resolution to the conflict, we talk about our joint conference, After October 7th: A Political Vision for Israel-Palestine<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=BDFbNwO6Sj6Iw7zEL0naSXQv3UUy7xwvCef-FtP4PzjDcLtme0r7bVVGiwVfKNbbAShJBYGksqhl2PsKpI8FMd02wYIvY_zunHXtaRyUH-Ku-P3C6vSOPOqwe6CY7AHh&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shaabatemail_march152024&n=9>, with our friends at New Israel Fund of Canada and Canadian Friends of Peace Now.
When we talk about finding hope, even in despair, trauma and loss, we talk about our upcoming webinar with Maoz Inon and Hamze Awawde<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/making_hope?e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shaabatemail_march152024&n=10>, an Israeli and Palestinian who have both lost family and friends as a result of the conflict, who refuse to be enemies, and who work every day to show that peace is not only possible, but that we can all play a part in making it happen.
These days, there's a lot to be scared of. A lot of uncertainty. A lot of pain. But we have a choice - we can let it consume us, or we can reject it in favour of hope. Because hope conquers fear.
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In the Washington Post, the growing humanitarian crisis of Israel's making in Gaza. <https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=kVUWmItxtFnUu22T0yqCZkMNiDmg6-CPtGuf2aOCIbi94svtgnrO3seK7WUnOWXsL5_CO4CwDwyLEPjWId2q4qwI88MuBunmpA6kYDc3vrCfD_b_Ct8ooVTcE2Fa859W&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shaabatemail_march152024&n=11>
In the Forward - five months into the war in Gaza, it's clearer than ever that Netanyahu must go.<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=RZP2DqGq_HoVGefyzkYODyjZbxZAB_sIB6g6ipktMZtKX_PibFG83aIi0FCvZ3xt3HYISRlgrfVB3p0WfZQ3-Q&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shaabatemail_march152024&n=12>
Ishay Rosen-Zvi examines Israel's messianic right, and why they don't care about the hostages held in Gaza, in Haaretz.<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=9qFujIoeyobCItbhgVcNfFY8LbWg74vbLAapnzzQcYM37SeZz_gc_ZrZDTBGrGnqF2m9jtOZ2GscgFMg6sli5BaZ7A7Yq28gVsUgC9WQHiC6_tlwYB1jkM09gLtCH-cZRqa5D-ODJPlnHYosOTnGfXM7wSwL9MVoGZLca5yaJF_oOVjMrnQeMfoTTf5wk2YIVXJt7JsrUyM6gXFPlB_IXUwcn9vUGmVVyuPzDuwWoUI5_8b2erLB2GPdME2v784P&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shaabatemail_march152024&n=13>
What the long road to recovery for Gaza looks like, and if it's even possible, in Foreign Policy.<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=aBQiQLgDspHzmaKu5ZYngA5KatcCM5GvYmfS6fTEvzWRGZ6zQV6oXlibm1NE4Ow0AEq4TbLEBVy8f7GyppIDXsSAQqX1OCgOBEutXbKt84WDPpiTNr7zTDFFfz9rrwq9&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shaabatemail_march152024&n=14>
Thomas Friedman once again makes his disdain for Netanyahu known in the pages of the New York Times, accusing the Prime Minister of making Israel "radioactive."<https://www.jspacecanada.ca/r?u=xWyc99KFp7AscA2doXHD0dOT4niMaDzxwheo5RR3zGk_ujXU7gbTDMKp5w0Cb-iAGYH3NpOQZ7oAOxg2_BGp5Qd0ICU3KTV_xCjBoevNE78&e=e01a8ccbbbe0751f0a6034ddfd2979fa&utm_source=jspace&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=shaabatemail_march152024&n=15>
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