Photo by John D. Whiting, American Colony in Jerusalem, 1938, Library of Congress
לֹא תַעֲמֹד עַל-דַּם רֵעֶךָ: אֲנִי, יְהוָה
Do not stand idly by when your neighbor’s blood is shed.
Leviticus, 19:16
On this terrible anniversary, we remember and mourn the men, women and children slaughtered on October 7, 2023, as a result of atrocities, crimes of war, and crimes against humanity committed by Hamas and other armed groups. We extend our compassion to the victims of rape and attempted murder who survived that day, to the orphans who lost their parents and the parents who lost their children, and to thousands of Israelis who remain displaced. We mourn those among the kidnapped hostages who were subsequently executed; we call for the release of all captured men, women and children who remain in captivity.
We remember and mourn more than 40,000 human beings killed in Gaza during the subsequent year, and to more than 1,000 civilians in Lebanon who have been killed, as a result of war during the subsequent year, especially so many thousands of civilians slaughtered as a result of atrocities, crimes of war, and crimes against humanity committed by the Israeli government and armed forces. We extend our compassion to all citizens of Gaza who have been bombed, displaced, traumatized, whose homes have been destroyed, and who have no safe place to go, and to all Palestinians in the West Bank who have been victimized and displaced by violent actions committed by Israeli settlers and their accomplices within the Israeli military.
We mourn the loss of humanity that has engulfed the region and poisoned everyone, including us.
We extend our compassion to all those suffering from post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) following the Hamas atrocities in Israel. We extend our compassion to all Palestinians in Gaza. We cannot cannot use the term PTSD for them because there is no “post” trauma in Gaza, only endless, ongoing trauma, displacement and exposure to death.
This blood feud is an endless cycle of trauma and murder with no justification. Hate begets hate, murder begets murder. Trauma is passed on across borders and generations. This is the path of mutual destruction. It leads nowhere but to the mass grave.
We must remember that every victim is our neighbor, our brother or sister.
We cannot stand idly by when our neighbor’s blood is shed. Each of us must do everything in our power to stop the bloodshed before it engulfs the entire region and the world.
What can we do here in the United States? We must stand in solidarity with humanity and not under the flag of nationalism. Nor shall we accept the lie that the atrocities committed by one side or another justify the commission of atrocities against them in revenge or retaliation. We must equally reject the lie that the survival of one community or the other depends on the escalation of organized violence. We must reject the “killing makes right” ideology shared by Benjamin Netanyahu, Yahya Sinwar, and Donald Trump and all other “strongmen” who seek to maintain power by mobilizing hatred and violence.
We must stand together, Israeli and Palestinian, Arab and Jew, American and Lebanese, to stop this horror now.
To those who live in San Francisco and wish to attend a community gathering of remembrance, mourning and compassion, you are invited to attend the IfNotNow Tashlich service at the beach at 5:30pm today.
This year, my friends Jason Francisco and Peter Habib led a small but deeply impactful initiative at Emory University in Atlanta. Throughout the spring 2023 semester, they gathered together with others to form a vigil, in weekly sessions over many many hours, to read each of the names of the identified men, women and children killed in Gaza and Israel since October 7, 2023, Israelis and Palestinians — to honor and remember each human life that was taken away by bombing, violence and atrocity. Peter and Jason assembled a 320-page spreadsheet of over 15,000 names, identifying the person’s gender and age. Even as this list identifies less than half of the people who were killed, the hard work to put it together reflects a labor of great love. Reading through this list of the dead, or listening to the names read one by one, it is impossible to ignore the fact that the vast majority of those killed are Palestinian civilians.
On October 25, less than three weeks after the Hamas atrocities, I published an anguished essay in this Fierce Urgency blog (“Choosing life, stopping this war“), in which I endorsed calls for a ceasefire and argued for the U.S. to cease providing military support for Israeli bombing in Gaza. I attach this essay below, along with other essays, prayers and poems I wrote during the past year of war in Gaza. I also attach a photo of peace activists Vivian Silver and Amal Elsana Alh’joojh, whose friendship offers us a model of the way forward, and the “Hamsa flag” of shared humanity and peace in Israel Palestine.
Vivian Silver, a life-long activist for Jewish-Arab partnership and peace, murdered in her home in Be’eri, Israel, on October 7, 2023, This photograph shows Vivian with her beloved friend and fellow peace activist Amal Elsana Alh’joojh. The photo was shared by Daniel Sokatch, Director of the New Israel Fund, where both women served together on the board, on November 16, 2023.
With mourning for all souls who were taken in the past year, with care for the displaced, and prayers for peace,
Jonathan
