A War Against Humanity
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A War Against Humanity
עם ישראל חי
This reads, Am Yisrael Chai. It means, The People of Israel Live.
It’s been a very difficult week. I have slept poorly and found it unusually hard to manage my emotions.
Because what happened this week is personal to me. Growing up in the European Jewish Diaspora and for the past 24 years living in the US, antisemitism and attacks against Jews is sadly nothing new. I have had many examples of hate directed at me just for being Jewish. Sadly, most Jews are far too accustomed to being the world's favorite scapegoat at times of despair to be surprised by the existence of antisemitism.
But I have done what I believe most Jews have done. Kept my head down. Done my work. Try to be a good global citizen. Help people when I can. Trying to empathize and help other groups during periods of intolerance and suffering. All the while doing my best to ignore the feelings of revenge, victimization, and injustice that always linger there just below. Living in a society where many people harbor hate towards your culture, your traditions, and your faith is as unacceptable as it is common. In this, we are not alone.
But this time I can no longer look the other way. I have personally reached a tipping point. I am saddened. I am frustrated. I am horrified. I am afraid. I am angry. I am disappointed. And most of all, heartbroken.
As readers of these newsletters well know, those feelings rarely find their way into my soul. I regard myself as resilient, hopeful, and, yes, half-glass-fully. Most of all, I am always on the side of, perhaps naively so, believing in the inevitability of human progress. A die-hard optimist.
But witnessing the barbaric attacks in Israel has left me confused and sad. What is happening is a tragedy for humanity. For all loving and living souls. It’s a tragedy for, Israel, of course, but it is also a tragedy for Palestinians and for all of humanity. Full stop.
What perhaps has made me most angry, and upset has been seeing too many people voicing opinions in support of terrorist actions that simply no freedom-loving soul should ever celebrate. In the face of fundamental disagreement, I always try to look towards common ground. But at times, there are bright lines. Lines that no civil society should ignore. But sadly, and very disappointingly many organizations and institutions failed an important test here. They forgot to disguise their rampant antisemitism in their effort to excuse the inexcusable. Reading and hearing some of the support for these attacks in the name of “oppression” has been hurtful, infuriating, and beyond comprehension.
I realize it is still raw and I find it difficult to express myself in ways that are coherent and that sufficiently cover this complicated territory. But fortunately, there are people who can—and who have.
So, in the spirit of these newsletters, I thought I’d share a few key links from different perspectives. Just to be clear, and also in typical Elevated tradition, I will reiterate that I don’t agree with all of these perspectives completely. It’s a fluid situation and I find my feelings oscillating and trying to find their center. It’s truly disorienting. But collectively, these posts and articles, in my eyes, represent the “center of the fairway” of this incredibly tragic situation. As usual, it’s important to digest and ingest a broad array of options in order to make sure more voices are being heard in addition to our own.
I hope you will take some time today to read and listen to some of these. I know they will help shape your own perspective as they did mine. The events in Israel are not just a local phenomenon. I know it can seem that way. Let me therefore try to make the case for why this matters so much.
The world, geopolitically speaking, both here at home and abroad, is at a tipping point. There are undemocratic, illiberal forces trying to destabilize what you and I believe in. As usual, hatred against Jews is the canary in the coal mine. It’s an early warning sign. Like a smoke alarm for a fire in the house of humanity, democracy, and freedom. If they ever succeeded with their objective of wiping out all Jews, guess who is next?
So here you go. Not in any particular order.
I will start with the President of the United States, Joe Biden. I have been critical of politics, at large, for a long time. I have longed for moral clarity and leadership from both sides. Whatever your view of Joe Biden is (or my own for that matter), I applaud him for the strength of his conviction in this statement. I truly appreciated and needed that.
My good friend, Daniel Lubetzky, has dedicated his life to a peaceful co-existence between Palestinians and Israelis is the person in the world I respect the most when it comes to a balanced view of solutions in the Middle East. He had this to say about what is going on. With him, I do agree 1000%. He also posted this on LinkedIn with further commentary.
Another friend, Jonathan Greenblatt, who is CEO of the Anti-Defamation League is also among the most tolerant, loving, and peace-loving leaders we have. He had this to say recently about where we must draw the line between tolerance and these kinds of crimes against humanity.
My friend Martin Varsavsky, who is always clear in his posts, had this to say about why this is NOT about Jews and Muslims, but rather about building OR destroying (similar to Daniel’s video above).
If you for some reason have missed the level of atrocity that took place in Israel, please watch Noa Tishby’s post here. Woefully, the demonstrations of the Hamas that I’ve seen this week make Nazis seem timid. This was the deadliest attack on Jews since the Holocaust.
Bari Weiss who has done a remarkable job building The Free Press (please subscribe, as they are the kind of media platform we need) has been very active. In this article, she lays out with brutal clarity why too many reactions around the world feel weak and steeped with antisemitism, which reawakens awful memories from our past.
To me, personally, the state of affairs on US college campuses has been a source of frustration and concern for quite some time. Leaders at Universities (most of them with the University of Chicago being a notable exception) have failed to apply “symmetry” to their defense of free speech. They cancel professors saying something SOME students find objectionable while protecting student groups issuing statements in support of hateful crimes.
This week we saw awful examples of this. On many campuses, Israel was loudly condemned while Hamas, also loudly, was not. In fact, too many instances where people were celebrating deaths in Israel. Bari wrote this post about this here. Larry Summers had this to say about Harvard, while Steven Pinker and a host of Professors at Harvard issued this statement. Perhaps the strongest and most inspired demonstration of what I am talking about was the Squawk Box interview with Marc Rowan on what is going on at the University of Penn. Please watch.
I thought Noah Pollak’s summary of what has happened so far to be comprehensive.
Bret Stephens was rather clear in terms of why the “Far Left” in America ought to look themselves in the mirror. Michele Goldberg, wrote a vulnerable and reflective piece around what she called “the need for a decent Left” that I think is worth reading. And Helen Lewis wrote a piece in the Atlantic around the same theme called The Progressives Who Flunked The Hamas Test.
Ian Bremmer was interviewed by TED and he certainly did a great job summarizing the very complicated history between Israelis and Palestinians. I appreciated his acknowledgment of the interdependency of this conflict on the overall geopolitical balance.
I thought Jonathan Rosenthal in this Tweet shared what I believe many in the Jewish community in particular felt when witnessing how our societies outside Israel have processed this last week.
Yasmine Mohammed, a Palestinian Human Rights Advocate, wrote this piece in Tablet that is really worth reading.
Lastly, I will end with an inspired speech that Douglas Murray gave in a London Synagogue this week. Douglas is not Jewish and presents in absolute clarity what has happened here and what defenders of freedom and liberty must do.
I think I will stop there.
Let me just end with this. Our world is overdosing on hate right now. All over. Love is the only antidote. Hate is what terrorists trade in. They want to destabilize our world. Let’s not let them.
And it starts with us. Yes, that’s also an organization I proudly support. Founded by Daniel Lubetzky, It Starts With Us works against political and social division – you can join and support our work here. (For free.)
Let’s hope for a more human week.
And for those who are wondering how you can help, there are so many organizations you can turn to. Here are a few of the ones we are supporting and I know they all are desperate for any and all help you can give them:
JUF (Jewish Federation of Chicago) has an emergency fund here
Barzilai Hospital is under huge stress due to its proximity to the worst attacks.
United Hatzalah – Israel’s largest independent, non-profit Emergency Medical Service Organization.
Magen David Adom (Israel’s “Red Cross”) Emergency Medical Response. Michael Bloomberg is matching donations.
American Friends of Soroka Medical Center
Natal - specializes in war and terror-related trauma.
Jewish Agency for Israel, of course.
IDF Widows and Orphans is a wonderful organization. Say no more.
Let us all hope for a more peaceful future with less hate and with moral clarity for the kind of humanity, liberty, and democracy most of us so desperate want to protect, preserve, and improve.
