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I Can't Sleep

February 12, 2024 18:07 +0000  |  Gaza Genocide Israel Palestine 7

Me: "Seth Rogan?"

Wife: "Yeah, what about him?"

Me: "He's one of the good ones"

Wife: "Ah! Good. I always liked him."

It's been a mad couple of months in this house. It probably started on New Years Eve when we kicked off the new year with a screaming match between Christina's parents and the two of us. In one corner, the in-laws insisting that Israel isn't bent on killing everyone in Gaza and that the Palestinians had this coming, and in our corner absolute disbelief that these people who we love and respect are looking into the face of literal genocide and thinking: Meh, it's not that bad.

Update (2024-03-01): my in-laws have come around!

I'm afraid to talk to my parents about it for fear that they too are on the wrong side of this. My brother has already made it abundantly clear that he is, but that's not all that surprising.

It's a crazy position to be in, to see something so terrible in the world and to have people whose views you generally respect be so blasé about 10,000 dead children and a state that clearly has made this a key goal. Somehow, it was easier to be fine with this when Israel was only corralling millions of Palestinians in an open-air prison and restricting their access to food, water, medical supplies and even musical instruments, but now that they've dropped the mask entirely and are just erasing a people before our eyes... I find myself thinking of everyone in my life:

Are they one of the good ones?

It's not really about judgement, but rather solidarity. Most of the time it really does feel like we're out on a limb here, a handfull of people both enraged by this crime and terrified by the silence around it that emboldens it. Israel has managed to conflate criticism of Zionism with antisemitism, and this has had a chilling effect on criticism in the political arena all the way down. People are legitimately afraid of being fired for opposing genocide, and so -- I have to believe -- many of us recognise this for what it is, but stay silent for fear of retribution.

I know it's scary, but I need this right now. I think we all do. I need you to tell me you're one of the good ones, that you recognise this for what it is, and that you wish you could stop it. You may think that you can't do anything about it, and you're probably right, but I'm not asking you to fix this, I'm just asking you to help me feel like I'm not alone out here on this limb, that the people I love and respect in my life are on the right side of history, even if we're powerless to shape it.

Leave a comment, message me privately, tack on a 🍉 or ✊🏾 or 🇵🇸 emoji onto your social handle, or even tweak your avatar to show support for a Free people. Please, just show me that there are still some Good people in my life who are not ok with this. I can't begin to describe to you the degree to which the despair of feeling alone on this limb is taking on my psyche.

Reflections on Israel and Gaza from People More Qualified Than Myself

November 21, 2023 21:47 +0000  |  Gaza Genocide Israel Palestine 0

In times like these, everyone seems to have an opinion, but most people lack the depth of understanding to ensure that that opinion is informed. I'm sure that at times I've been one of those people, so I do my best to seek out smart people with a depth of knowledge I lack and defer to their greater experience. Over the past couple weeks, I've come across some exceptionally well communicated pieces on this, and I want to share them here.

My favourite by far is Dave Meslin's take, shared via an Instagram video in a single take with no script. Dave is deeply thoughtful and passionate person with a great deal of personal insight around how the Jewish community (of which he is a member) has been divided on this issue, and the whole video is worth your time:

Via Instagram

Next is Naomi Klein, another prominent Canadian activist of Jewish background reflecting on antisemitism and militant Zionism, culminating in the idea of "an international left rooted in values that side with the child over the gun every single time". The piece was originally posted in The Guardian, but should that link ever disappear, I've preserved it here.

Then there's the CNN interview with the nurse from Médecins Sans Frontières who recently returned from Gaza and is desperate to go back. It's a remarkable interview. Just watch it.

Via YouTube

I want to include Barack Obama's piece here again, as I thought that it demonstrates a broad grasp of the history. Like Klein's article, I've preserved Obama's Medium post as a PDF.

And finally, John Oliver delivered an exceptional story on Israel & Gaza on his show, Last Week Tonight where he talks about how extremists on both sides are effectively supporting each other at the cost of the civilian population:

Via YouTube

The Blood-Dimmed Tide

October 29, 2023 23:25 +0000  |  Climate Change Gaza Genocide Israel War 0

I've been trying to write something about Israel's attacks on Gaza for a couple hours now and while I have a lot to say about it, my thoughts are too angry to be able to write anything worth reading. For what it's worth, here's what I have:

  • Israel has the right to exist, but it does not have the right to oppress Palestinians, steal their lands, or blockade the people of Gaza as they have been for more than a decade.
  • The Hamas attack was entirely predictable given Israel's actions in the region. That doesn't make it Right, but acting like it happened in a vacuum is intellectually dishonest.
  • I firmly believe that if there isn't enough international pressure to stop them, Israel will kill everyone in Gaza. It's a good bet that there are elements within Israel's military that have been planning for precisely this sort of situation for years and have drawn up their own "Final Solution" to their Palestinian "problem".
  • Yes, I chose that phrase carefully.
  • Barack Obama has written an excellent piece on this subject, worthy of the 5 minutes it'll take you to read it.

I am just so tired of all of this. The world is on fire and we're subsidising the companies with the matches in the trillions of dollars. Russia invaded Ukraine and is targetting the civilian population, and now Israel is doing their best to kill as many Palestinians as they can before someone steps in with a sense of mercy. My home country is stealing indigenous land to build a pipeline, and the country I'm living in is opening a new oil field. The only tools I have in my arsenal to fight any of this are waving a sign at a protest or donating some money to people who help the victims or just wave signs at other protests.

I feel powerless to stop any of the insanity in this world, but I think the most frustrating thing is that so much of this is objectively insane. How many civilians need to die in these wars? How many hectares of this planet have to be rendered uninhabitable before we just stop this madness? Why The Fuck are we even doing any of this, and what else can I do to stop it?

I don't have any answers here. I imagine that a year or so from now the list above will be longer with no new solutions.

For what it's worth, the Canadian government is matching donations for humanitarian aid in Gaza. It's one of the options I had open to me, so I sent some money. Maybe you can too.

The Oppressed have Become the Oppressors

June 02, 2010 19:09 +0000  |  Israel Politics 5

Big news on the other side of the world lately. Israeli troops attacked a ship full of activists in international waters carrying humanitarian aid, killing at least 9 people and injuring anywhere between 30 and 60 more. The "dangerous cargo" they were keeping from Palestinians in the Gaza strip was not weapons, but food and medical supplies.

It's time that we all wake up and accept that Israel's actions are those of a terrorist state. No other nation in the world is afforded the kind of support the West gives them, especially in light of the crimes committed by their government.

The Gaza blockade is now in its fourth year. The people in that region are being denied everything from food to musical instruments, and now Israel has attacked ships flying flags of NATO and EU countries in international waters. Whether or not you can accept that opposition to Israel is not the same as antisemetism is no longer the issue. Israel is using Western support in the form of military and financial aid to do evil.

Note however that I am not making the case for the Palestinians here. Frankly, I don't think that Hamas is any better than the Israeli government. No, this is just a plea that we take a moment to understand the situation for what it is and act accordingly.

Our politicians, and even our media are terribly afraid of being branded antisemetic and so the cheerleading for Israel continues. Seeing the situation for what it is: two terrorist governments duking it out with millions of civilians in-between, has to start with us.

Your action-list:

  1. Accept the above
  2. Contact your MP and help them understand that you and many others have accepted this and that it's about time that they started representing you and call for sanctions.
  3. More ideas are welcome.