The deadliest massacre of Jewish people since the Holocaust

I am horrified at the stories, reports, videos and images I see coming out of Israel. The biggest massacre of Jewish people since the holocaust. Of civilians. Of entire families surgically targeted in their homes. Brutalized by terrorists who follow a morally bankrupt and abhorrent world view.

In these moments I feel the comfort of assimilation to the United States violently pull away to reveal a fundamental truth: I am Jewish, and we have for hundreds of years been the target of violence and threatened with extermination. 

With only about 20M Jews in the world, there are billions of people who have never met a Jew. Who are fed stories of the sheer power of the state of Israel. Who are shown example after example of wealthy Jewish entrepreneurs, leaders in global finance, and in Hollywood. 

Israel as the Jewish state gets treated by the global media in a way that would be considered anti-semitic if applied to an individual Jewish person. Prior to the establishment of Israel as a Jewish homeland in 1948, Jews were routinely slaughtered, persecuted, and controlled by their political overlords. The strength comes from an existential necessity.

Why is it anti-semitic to talk about how Jews are smart, rich, and powerful? Well, it’s because that is the permission structure to be frightened of them or to justify bad things happening to them. And that’s what we’re seeing.

In the face of horrific attacks on Israeli civilians — brutality towards non-combatants, women and children in their homes or at a music festival — there are people rejoicing in protests in the streets of New York and London. Supposedly in support of the human rights of Palestinians. But you can’t celebrate a massacre of innocent civilians AND be for human rights.

I am saddened by the impact any conflict has on the civilian population of Gaza. I’m saddened that Hamas is not only willing to accept the collateral damage to civilians in Gaza — but that it actually hopes for it. It advances their cause, their consolidation of power, and perhaps their quest for martyrdom.

The irony of this all is that Hamas and Islamic Jihad and Hezbollah — all pawns of Iran in its quest for geopolitical power — are ultimately the worst offenders of Palestinian human rights and self-determination. I firmly oppose the current Israeli right-wing, religious government’s policies quite broadly. I oppose settlements in the West Bank. I supported Ariel Sharon’s dismantling of settlements in Gaza. There is deep complexity and nuance when it comes to Israeli politics, but there is no complexity when it comes to denouncing terror and targeting civilians.

It’s almost inevitable that Palestinian civilians will die in any incursion into Gaza to fight Hamas. It’s important to note that Israel has the capability today to level all of Gaza in a matter of minutes killing every single person, but it doesn’t. It goes to great lengths to limit impact to civilians. However, if the tables were turned and Hamas had the ability to wipe out every single man woman and child in Israel, they’ve told us and shown us that they absolutely would.

I don’t understand how Hamas leadership can be taken seriously as political actors when the conditions for Israel to truly hand over self-determination to them are public and straightforward: recognize Israel’s right to exist and adopt the Oslo Accords. I don’t understand how anyone seeking self-determination and peace for Palestine could align with Hamas. Or how people in the west can conflate a terrorist organization with the will of the Palestinian people.

Israel has to respond to protect its citizens. To show that when you massacre innocent Jews — elderly, women, and children — there is a response. Just as it would be insane to assume that 9/11 wouldn’t provoke a US response, citizens of any nation should understand that there is pressure and a mandate to first secure Israel and then root out the people who did this.