Wake up, America. I see your lack of moral outrage following murder on the streets. Is it bigotry or cowardice?
You tell me.
Let me be clear.
At this moment, I am not worried about anyone’s “right” to protest what is happening in Gaza. What I care about is the climate of hate that endangers my family. I do not care if your entitled & privileged student can't cosplay in a keffiyeh on an Ivy League campus while calling for a global intifada.
Firstly:
What is happening in Gaza, is not *just* happening in Gaza. If you STILL think this situation is about Israel vs. Palestine, you do not understand the conflict.
Secondly:
I strive for expansive empathy. I have written about trying to hold space for multiple perspectives in many different kinds of instances, not just geopolitical ones.
I feel deeply, but I’m also intellectually rigorous. Yes, I can understand the legitimate concerns related to the shutting down of free speech.
But at what point do we agree that the so called free speech is hate speech? That the calls to globalize the intifada have unleashed the world’s oldest bigotry & led to murder? How much blood must spill before we admit to a problem here?
Right now, I do NOT prioritize an American college student’s right to protest a war they do not understand when actual persons are being murdered in cold blood on American soil because they are Israeli and/or support Israel’s right to exist.
That a huge swath of Americans showed up across social media on behalf of someone arrested by ICE but cannot express even a fraction of such empathy for a young couple murdered on the street—I do not know how to process this.
Show me a single marginalized population that is getting crushed by both ends of the political spectrum right now other than Israelis/Jews.
Radical Islamist rhetoric has invaded society by way of Qatari funding of our college campuses. It’s a modern day Trojan horse.
Please get it straight. The Arab world is enormous. Jews make up 0.2 percent of the global population. We are David. Not Goliath.
I’m done.
Moreover, every American who values their way of life ought to learn about the very real threat of radical Islam. The left is happy to critique Christian evangelicals & their impact on our government. They are also happy to demonize Jews and Israelis. Why the reluctance to call out radical Islam’s threat?
I think it’s because the average American is a literal fool. Our college students, having been spoon fed a curriculum funded by Qatar, think colonialism began and ended with the British empire. They think world domination is a “White” thing.
What is happening HERE in the USA right now is happening to Israelis and Jews. Where is the outrage? Who will stand up and shout on behalf of our safety?
And do people really think it ends with the Jews and Israel? If we all suddenly disappeared in one giant poof, do you think “problem solved?”
If you haven’t expressed any despair about the murders of Sarah & Yaron, but you are quick to denounce other hate crimes, I want to know why. Have you already demonized the victims? Or are you simply a coward?
I no longer believe that the average person actually cares about anyone else. In the silence now, I hear echoes of past performance. All the rage on behalf of George Floyd—I realize now that it wasn’t real. I don’t think people actually cared about Black lives. They just jumped on what was trending at the moment.
I’m jaded and disillusioned. I hope I don’t become the very type of person I despise—I can see how it might happen. When my body feels powerless, there’s a temptation to let hate and anger fill me up. I want some armor. I want to feel protected too.
My devastation is a multilayered misery:
I’m sad about the brutal murders of two young people who were more than innocent—they worked for peace.
I am angry that so many people have responded with silence. Or worse—some have demonized the victims.
I’m scared for the physical safety of my own family.
AND I’m damn pissed that I need to consciously work on not becoming an actual asshole myself. A part of me wants to throw my hands up in the air and just give up on humanity altogether.
I know it’s going to keep happening, and I’m trying to figure out when it’s time to roll out of here. This feels a bit like awaiting a hurricane and being in the cone of uncertainty. Do we stay or do we go? And if we leave, where to? Would we be safer in Israel?
xoxo Jen xoxo
Bigotry or cowardice? Could be both 🤷🏽
Hang in there, Jen. You're expressing what a lot of us are feeling, and I'm grateful for your ability to do that, to admit to some of the uglier reactions we have because of the ugliness of the outside world. You have a community here and, I trust, in your actual vicinity IRL. Let us support you, lift you up and help you move forward, one step at a time.
Holding Sarah and Yaron's families, and each other, close.
Shabbat Shalom 💙
One thousand percent agree. We just have to keep reminding each other that we're here even as everyone else bloviates or turns a blind eye. What scares me in addition to all this is this generation of idiots being raised on hate disinformation funded by Qatar graduating and being unleashed on the rest of society.