Guest Post: We hold all of these truths
This post is by Rabbi Rick Jacobs, head of the Reform Judaism movement in America, which is America’s largest Jewish movement.
https://urj.org/blog/we-hold-all-these-truths?utm_source=TWJL&utm_campaign=Feature&utm_medium=email&utm_content=2021_5_21
The current wave of violence in Israel and Gaza is a heartbreaking human tragedy. The loss of innocent life (including that of children) rends the heart, destruction of homes and endemic fear defy the peace and security in which every human being deserves to live.
We call on Israeli and Palestinian leadership to declare a ceasefire as soon as possible.
It is also hard not to feel whiplash with the competing narratives of what caused this latest round of death and destruction. Too many people hold only the other side responsible while having little or no sympathy for their suffering and pain. But we Reform Jews believe that all of these truths can and should be held together at the same time.
ISRAEL MUST ENSURE THE SECURITY OF ITS PEOPLE
- Hamas has shot over 4,000 rockets indiscriminately at Israel and sirens have been sounding almost nonstop in certain parts of the country. No country would or should tolerate having thousands of rockets fired at their citizens without responding. We mourn the loss of life of every Israeli killed in this violence, no matter their religion or ethnicity.
- Israel has the moral authority to defend its own citizens even if its military might is vastly superior to that of Hamas.
- The launching of thousands of rockets at Israel’s civilian population and the effectiveness of the Iron Dome in substantially reducing casualties reminds us that US support for Israel is indispensable.
PALESTINIANS’ RIGHTS ARE ESSENTIAL
- As Reform Jews, we support the human rights of Palestinians. They should be able to live in dignity and safety in their own country.
- We mourn the tragic death of innocent Palestinians in Gaza.
- Using stun grenades in the Al Aqsa mosque on the holiest night in the Muslim calendar harmed rather than enhanced Israel’s security.
- Our North American Reform Movement has long opposed the military occupation of the West Bank, which humiliates Palestinians and causes much daily suffering. So, too, we have opposed the expansion of settlements and annexation in the West Bank and the eviction/displacement of Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah, elsewhere in East Jerusalem and in the West Bank. Ending the occupation through renewed negotiations between Israel and the PA is essential.
HAMAS’S CONTROL OF GAZA CONTINUES TO POSE A THREAT TO ISRAEL AND TO THE PALESTINIANS
- Life in Gaza is oppressive for which Hamas’s authoritarian rule bears significant responsibility.
- Hamas remains committed to Israel’s destruction.
- Hamas intentionally shoots rockets from within heavily populated civilian areas in Gaza, in effect making the innocent residents of those areas human shields for Hamas and endangering them.
- If there were no restrictions on goods flowing into Gaza, Hamas and Islamic Jihad would have far more deadly arms to use against Israel.
- Despite Hamas’s brutality, the U.S., the international community and Israel must act to expeditiously ensure humanitarian aid to civilians in Gaza.
IRAN CONTINUES TO ABET REGIONAL UNREST AND ATTACKS AGAINST ISRAEL
- Iran has called for the destruction of Israel and supports military operations with Hamas, their ally in Gaza.
- Iran supplies Hamas and Islamic Jihad with weapons and delights in every rocket shot at Israel and every Israeli killed.
FOSTERING HEALTHY DEMOCRACIES AND CURBING EXTREMISM IS ESSENTIAL
- With Palestinian elections canceled, Hamas is winning the popularity vote through its deadly violence.
- The rise of extremism is infecting both Israeli and Palestinian political life, increasing violence (including the emerging internecine violence in some of Israel’s mixed Jewish-Arab communities) and weakening democratic norms.
- Israel must ensure that perpetrators of violence, Arab and Jew alike, be held accountable and ensure at long last, an end to discrimination against Israeli Arab citizens and communities that continues in too many areas of Israeli life, including providing fully equal government services.
AFFIRMING TWO STATES FOR TWO PEOPLES AND COMITY BETWEEN ISRAELI JEWISH AND PALESTINIAN CITIZENS ARE FUNDAMENTAL TO A PEACEFUL FUTURE
- Decades of coexistence efforts between Jewish Israelis and Palestinian citizens of Israel have been challenged but not eliminated by the recent wave of violence. We are proud of the role of many in our own Reform Jewish community who have built strong partnerships with their Arab neighbors including publicly standing together for peace and unity over these painful last days.
- The current round of violence between Israel and Hamas, as well as in East Jerusalem and in Israeli cities, serves only to strengthen those who oppose peaceful co-existence between a Jewish State and a Palestinian State.
All of these complex realities are true. It is also true that we have a responsibility to work toward a peaceful future for Israelis and Palestinians, rooted in two states for two peoples, as distant as that goal seems today. The realization of that future has been delayed for too long. There must be sustained resolve to address the root causes plaguing this blood-soaked corner of land. We believe that we must fight for Israel’s security, the rights and dignity of Palestinians, and a peaceful future for all.
Ron Powell
05/21/2021 @ 9:44 am
“Hamas has shot over 4,000 rockets indiscriminately at Israel …”
As a reaction or response to what?
koshersalaami
05/21/2021 @ 9:55 am
Attempts to evict Palestinians from housing in East Jerusalem
Ron Powell
05/21/2021 @ 11:05 am
“Attempts to evict Palestinians from housing in East Jerusalem.”
What is the legal basis for the ‘evictions?
We’re the ‘evicted’ Palestinians given notice and accorded due process?
We’re the Palestinians to be displaced offered alternative housing?
How were the ‘evictions’ being executed and carried out?
Peaceably or forcibly?
Ron Powell
05/21/2021 @ 11:09 am
The haptic key board gremlins are at it again:
Please read ‘we’re’ as were.
koshersalaami
05/21/2021 @ 11:25 am
From what I understand, the Israeli Supreme Court still hasn’t ruled. I would assume Israel is in the wrong here.
koshersalaami
05/21/2021 @ 8:13 pm
I have
jpHart
05/21/2021 @ 11:51 pm
Curious as a thirsty hummingbird if VIOLENCE is PRIMAL?
koshersalaami
05/22/2021 @ 8:09 am
Is violence primal? Good question. I think the issue is more about what leads to violence. The priorities that trigger violence may be more primal, such as a sense of entitlement as to what belongs to whom, whether it be in the form of physical possessions or power/status. But that’s a damned big question.
Ron Powell
05/22/2021 @ 12:21 am
How did more than 4,000 rockets get into the hands of Hamas without Israeli, or US intelligence operatives, agencies, or entities becoming aware of it?
Seems to me that the violence might well have been avoided and averted altogether with a bit of proactive or anticipatory law enforcement.
jpHart
05/22/2021 @ 4:29 am
Scintillant question!
I’ll table from the hip conjecture such as: spuds in rugs? Home grown?
Operative question like blunt force trauma.
Wish I had James ‘Jeopardy’ Holzhauer on speed dial…
Your adroit crosshairs ques a ‘real hard fact finder question’ and if answered will save lives as hell as ferret resolution toward keeping the genie in the bottle.
You got me flashing back to all those descriptors about V2s exploding on London —WWII— as unforgettably penned by Thomas Pynchon in his ‘Gravity’s Rainbow.’
This morning A/P’s website has rather optimistic deescalating report.
And (for what it’s worth) the venerable Wikipedia has a recommendable definition of HAMAS.
Gaza, at day’s end, is not sundry kitchen table edification.
Maybe the shoe drops on the adage: ‘{sic} …and tired of old men dreaming up wars for young people to die in.’
koshersalaami
05/22/2021 @ 8:00 am
Ron,
Smuggled in however they could, primarily from Iran. This is why there are blockades: to slow this down.
For years the Israelis carefully limited construction materials going into Gaza (they probably still do) because they were afraid they’d go to military use. Their fears were founded: a lot was diverted into tunnel networks.
So the Israelis essentially try to search everything going into Gaza. That’s a Hell of a lot of searching. It slows down and limits supplies going into Gaza, causing humanitarian problems. But without the searching it would be 40,000. Keep in mind that unlike in the West Bank Israel has no territorial designs on Gaza. They left. They physically hauled the settlers out, sometimes by carrying them. Without the shooting Israel wouldn’t touch Gaza. Or blockade it.
As to anticipatory law enforcement, you have no idea how extensive that is.
Ron Powell
05/22/2021 @ 8:06 pm
“As to anticipatory law enforcement, you have no idea how extensive that is.As to anticipatory law enforcement, you have no idea how extensive that is.”
I beg your pardon.
Do you recall when I said that profiling is the weaponization of the stereotype?
If profiling isn’t anticipatory law enforcement, there’s no such animal.
The problem is that the practice of profiling is predicated solely or entirely on the color of the ‘suspect’s ‘ skin., rarely, if ever, legitimate or accurate forensic or circumstantial evidence.
When white cops shoot an unarmed black person in the back it’s almost always because of the anticipated threat posed by a retreating black man.
Anticipatory law enforcement is what gets military equipment placed in the hands of police departments that are thousands of miles away from southern borders and zero people of color in their sparsely populated communities.
koshersalaami
05/22/2021 @ 8:58 pm
Ron,
You have no idea how extensive it is when it comes to policing cargo going into Gaza. You OBVIOUSLY have an idea how extensive it is in the US. How stupid do I look?
Ron Powell
05/22/2021 @ 8:13 pm
If you believe that I have no idea of the nature and extent of Israeli anticipatory law enforcement.
By any, and all, means, school me…
I’ll understand if you refuse to do so on the grounds that doing so could compromise material that has been classified by the crack Israeli national security forces…
koshersalaami
05/26/2021 @ 9:30 am
https://youtu.be/t5JbNNtNKLc
This is for background. It is not a commentary on recent actions, it is an explanation of who the actors are.
Jonna Connelly
05/26/2021 @ 11:13 am
A good, concise summary.
(LB put it on facebook and credited a “brilliant Jewish friend” 🙂
koshersalaami
05/26/2021 @ 2:03 pm
Well, as I said, this is a guest post. I didn’t write this, Rabbi Rick Jacobs, head of the Union for Reform Judaism, wrote it. I quoted it so people would know what movement I come from and also to understand the views of the largest Jewish movement in the US.
Jonna Connelly
05/26/2021 @ 5:33 pm
I meant the youtube video, but the other, too.