The Huwara Pogrom – what will we do next?
JVL Introduction
This powerful, furious, moving piece comes from Alternative Jewish Voices in New Zealand/Aoteoroa, with whom Jewish Voice for Labour works on international campaigns.
Like this writer, we call on those with power to do much more than verbally condemn the settler violence, but to take effective action. And we call on the media to, for example, stop referring to the Settlers’ violence as “retaliation”.
Like Ms Garson here, we also
“feel such dread and terror for the Palestinians who must live with Israel’s armed racism every hour of their days and nights. Their exposure is beyond imagining. They will not be safe until they have international protection.”
But we must imagine and, sad and angry as we are, despair is not an option – Palestinians cannot afford to give up, nor can we but redouble our efforts and work until there is justice, equality and peace for everyone.
This article was originally published by Sh'ma Koleinu - Alternative Jewish Voices (New Zealand/Aoteoroa) on Wed 1 Mar 2023. Read the original here.
After the Atrocity - What Are We Doing?
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This piece shows how far things have got, building on what has gone before, the Far Right now in the government call for Huwara to be wiped off the map. https://www.jewishnews.co.uk/far-right-leader-smotrich-palestinian-town-of-huwara-should-be-wiped-out/
The Scape-goating of Jewish People around the world by the Zionists “acting in their name” is a decades old horror. This needs to be spoken out against by all Jews horrified at being involuntarily included in the blame. Horrific.
Now, just recently, I am being bombarded with posts from Labour for Palestine, including Labour Women for Palestine. What is this when so many of us were expelled for our support for the Palestinians which, invariably, included criticism of Israel.
It remiinds me of what the Nazis used to do. Punish the innocent so as to generate fear and terror.
“Our (leaders) choose to enable Zionist nationalism and punish any opposition to it.”
Unfortunately the entire Zionist project from before 1948 is designed to enable Zionist nationalism & punish any opposition to it. This pogrom is only the latest stage of the project. More pogroms will follow. The aim is to absorb the entire West Bank into the land of Israel. So far this has been done in bite-sized increments; the plan now seems to be to complete the project in one fell swoop.
Jew are not collectively responsible for the actions of ‘settlers’ nor the Israeli gov’t, but as long as Israel claims that it is the ‘homeland’ for ‘ALL’ Jews that connection will always be made. ‘Feeling uneasy’.
Labour for Palestine is a grassroots organisation of members still in Labour and supporting Palestinians.
I always worry, when I hear any Israeli official say comments that imply Israel is there for all Jews, we are just a small number compared to those that only have a vague idea of what is happening to the Palestinians, many of them that get to hear of the these atrocities will believe all Jews support Israel and that can cause anti Semitism to rise. Listening to the BBC the other day after 2 Palestinians were killed, they talked about Palestinians fired rockets into Israel and the Israelis responded by…… it’s time the truth was told by the BBC. Every day Palestinian Farms and Villages are being bulldozed and their land stolen, if any Palestinians try to stop them they are beaten or killed, they’ve created the World’s largest concentration camp in Gaza, any excuse to regularly fire missiles into it, killing innocents civilians, I could go on but I’m sure we all know but it’s hidden from the public.
The long-term objective of Israel is to make life for Palestinians “unbearable” to force them to flee and leave the occupied West Bank vacant for Israeli settlement. Israel has given up on Gaza which it merely fences off as an “open air prison”. The only answer is for us to protest and give Palestinians support since no one seems interested in protecting them physically, to their shame.