This Day to Night

2023.12.11

*Extreme Trigger Warning*

**Not Safe for Life**

Since October 7th, repeatedly on site, I’ve been asked where I stand.

Repeatedly, I’ve walked the tightrope of striving to keep work on track, while knowing internally, that people keep reading my face, distracted by sensing how heavily this weighs on my mind.

They’re offering space for release—

It’s sincere—

And although it’s appreciated, still I say—

“Guys, this isn’t the place or the time.”

Typically, when people ask my religion—

I respond that today, religion is barely part of my life. 

Although that’s true—

I am not religious—

But I am still a Jew—

And absolutely, that’s informed who I am. 

On October 7th, the morning of—

I saw the headlines—

But initially, I thought little of it—

Because like many others, I could not comprehend the scale and scope of the crisis. 

It took a few hours before I came back.

But when I did…

I understood. 

I’d seen Israel at war when I was young—

But I’d never felt this before—

Israel as vulnerable.

The sheer brutality along the path of destruction—

I was horrified, and also numb—

Watching footage from Gaza, sick celebration on streets as civilian hostages were paraded, beaten bloody and mocked. 

The slaughter, the rape, the mutilation, the abjectly intentional cruelty of the attack—

The photos, horrors, and footage of which—

Now forever burned in my mind—

Is still—

Still…

Still. 

Hell—

Hell…

Hell is for those who cause harm—

Then hide behind God.

What we’re seeing now—

It’s suffering beyond the scope of a tragedy.

Human shields—

Hostages—

Whole cities destroyed—

Humanitarian crises—

And beneath all of it—

Hate. 

Hate what you did—

Hate what they’ve done—

How could you—

Why would you—

And no one can say where it stops.

I’ve seen the footage of October the 7th—

But also—

I’ve witnessed the worst of the footage of war in response.

During the October 7th nightmare—

Infants—

Children—

Women—

Men—

And seniors—

Slaughtered, raped, decapitated, maimed, burned alive, kidnapped, and executed in the most inhumane ways possible.

Still, men, children, and women held hostage in Gaza—

No confirmation if they’re alive. 

And the nightmare in response—

Palestinian lives lost—

Children too young to change life—

Women who see their world broken—

Peaceful individuals, who want nothing of this—

But also men—

And people—

Radicals—

Entrenched in tunnels—

Dug down to Hell—

Either the source—

Or symptom—

Of suffering—

Or even both—

Depending on how deep you go—

Or who you ask.

18 years back, back when Israel retreated from Gaza—

No one expected to change the perception of Palestinians, that Israel is occupying their land.

Their displacement now, they perceive it as Israel extracting the last sliver left.

The aerial bombing campaign—

Ordnances dropped on military targets, embedded within civilian infrastructure—

Bunker busting munitions, strikes hitting underground weapons caches—

And the roof knocks—

Warnings—

Precursors to building destruction—

Shaped battlegrounds, path for infantry march, more free from choke points and dangers of soldiers entering hazards of building to building, dense urban combat. 

These actions—

They are intentional—

They are catastrophic—

But even by the most loose definition—

“Indiscriminate”—

It’s an inaccurate word to describe them.

All war is horrific—

But this hits such a deep nerve here and now. 

The best of Gaza, it deserves better than Hamas.

“Genocide”—

Even the sound of the word—

It’s a trigger.

The heart chilling terror—

Being gathered to die—

Just like Jews know—

Genocide—

It’s what Hamas wants.

Our Israeli failure—

It’s our failure to avoid this war, even though we worked not to fight. 

The Iron Dome—

Our missile defence system—

Was designed with Gazan rockets in mind.

When Israel withdrew from Gaza in 2005–

We accepted rockets as “normal,” hoped they’d stop there, then eventually leave us alone.

But “fences”, have they ever appeased life confined?

Anyone who calls this a genocide—

They’re ringing the bell.

Innocents dead—

All the destruction—

And everyone knows Hamas just won’t help. 

Palestinian people—

It’s tragic watching them learn it too. 

I know people “care”—

But those who really do care—

It’s because they see both sides of truth. 

The “open air prison”?

That’s a border fence, built for Israeli security after repeated Gazan Palestinian suicide bombings. Passage is tightly regulated, but up until October the 7th, properly screened Palestinians had been able to cross for regular, fairly paid work in Israel.

The “blockade”?

That’s a control measure, intended to limit Iran from smuggling weapons and explosives to Hamas, who radicalizes, manipulates and arms Palestinian youth, who then fire unguided rockets indiscriminately at civilian population.

Zionist deprivation of aid and prosperity?

Gaza gets plenty of aid—

It built Hamas tunnels, and also lines their leader’s deep pockets. 

But the calls for a ceasefire?

That’s also people seeing the truth.

Gaza has a large, defenceless population that’s not only been dragged to war—

But is also being used as a shield.

That reality, it’s beyond Hamas committing a war crime against enemies—

That’s war crimes by Hamas against its own people. 

Not all Palestinians are Hamas—

But Hamas is the elected government of Gaza Strip. 

The calculation they made—

It’s attempting “Zionist” genocide—

And by basing their physical military operations in tunnels beneath Gaza, also strategically embedded within civilian infrastructure itself—

Hamas pushed their population in front of them, threatening the guaranteed deaths of innocent lives as deterrent to fighting back. 

In the past, Israel has backed away from opportunities to eliminate key Hamas targets—

Specifically because of the collateral risk to Palestinian civilian life.

On October 7th—

Where it all changed—

It was Israel’s glimpse of the genocide that would befall its population, should Israel fall.

The joy shown by Hamas killing life, in the most sadistic methods beyond comprehension.

This post is marked Not Safe for Life—

For very just reason. 

Suffering is not “competition”—

But the facts have to be told—

Especially considering the people who outright deny them, just to give cover so they can try to commit them again. 

The absolute truth of October the 7th—

It’s on GoPro footage—

And it hasn’t been scrubbed from online.

Terms—

Phrases—

Dog whistle calls—

“Zionist Propaganda”—

“Zionist Occupation”—

“Resistance is JUST”

They’re thrown around liberally—

And there’s a pocket of people who speak opinions in good faith—

Who use those claims with critical but honest intention—

But the darker side of the truth—

There’s a large body of people using those phrases as cover for genocide and ethnic cleansing of Jews. 

Personally, I pride myself in sorting through facts.

As a matter of principle, when absorbing news, I take nothing at face value, and always do my absolute best to confirm what’s honest and true. 

The darkest realities of October the 7th—

At Kibbutz Be’eri—

A pregnant woman was shot in the head—

Her uterus cut open—

And a knife was used to sever and kill her unborn child.

The order and sequence of what happened first—

That’s beyond my understanding. 

Infants were slaughtered—

Some were beheaded—

Most tied together and burned.

Families butchered—

Women were gang-raped. 

Israeli first responders found a 13 year old girl—

Face down—

Dead on the ground—

Underwear pulled down to her ankles—

And semen covering her back.

At the Nova Music Festival—

Over 200 innocent people were slaughtered—

As they ran for their lives—

Grenades thrown into bomb shelters, crowded with people—

International and Israeli citizens dragged back to Gaza—

And on GoPro footage, shared on TikTok and Telegram—

Palestinian terrorists making phone calls to parents back home—

Celebrating how many Jews they killed with their hands.

The term “Zionist”—

It wasn’t said on the call.  

When Hamas caught Israeli civilians defenceless—

There was no mercy—

There was no humanity.

Breathe and absorb all that truth.

Hamas has claimed—

Proudly—

They’ll commit those atrocities again.

The female Israeli hostages still in captivity—

Hamas wants to keep them—

And any claims that this was deserved—

Or this was just resistance—

Are either coming from terrorist supporters—

Or terrorist sympathizers—

Or those working to justify terrorism who bought false propaganda from both.

Life—

Is an immeasurably precious thing.

Every civilian death matters. 

Numbers aren’t people. 

I’ve heard the argument that because of roof knocks—

Because of evacuation orders—

Because of Israel’s apparently precision bombing—

And especially considering how deeply Hamas embedded their physical operations into civilian infrastructure (and if you need proof, just ask, but it is easy to find)—

Within Gaza City—

Hundreds of buildings were razed—

But hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people escaped—

When by all reasonable logic—

If Israel hadn’t taken those measures—

Or if they had in fact committed indiscriminate bombing—

Hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people would have certainly died.

There’s some fair truth to that take—

But the next tragedy is now more than ever, it seems like the Israeli army has a higher “acceptable” civilian casualty ratio when aiming for Hamas targets—

And with the scale of the bombing—

I can’t shake my distrust in Benjamin Netanyahu as a leader, him having potential invested interest in producing images of wanton destruction, hoping to offset the failure of October 7th from having occurred under his watch.

Where I’m especially torn—

It’s how I can’t fathom any potential response to October 7th that wouldn’t result in overwhelming military strikes.

The argument that Israel shouldn’t have bombed, they should have fought just on the ground—

That actually increases civilian deaths in the crossfire, prolongs the conflict, and would also mean Israel putting the lives of its soldiers into incalculable risk.

And the argument that Israel should work to resolve this peacefully—

Go back, read and then picture the details of October 7th again. 

If you can’t—

Ask me and I’ll show you the footage I saw.

The argument that this is the humanitarian crime of collective punishment against Palestinian people—

We can try that case—

But let’s try the case of the Qatari-housed Hamas leadership for the war crime of human shields, at the same time.

The argument of proportional response?

The proportional response to October 7th, it definitely isn’t eye for an eye—

But considering the existential threat Hamas has proven themselves to pose against the Israeli people—

The claims they won’t be appeased—

Isn’t the proportional response to eliminate the threat, in self-defence?

Fair criticism of Israel—

I’m completely all for it—

But the displacement of the Palestinian people—

The sheer number of civilian casualties—

Even though human shields are a war crime for this very reason—

I can’t shake the obvious feeling that long-term Israeli security is jeopardized more, the longer the aerial bombing campaign does carry on.

It isn’t just footage—

It’s reality.

Palestinian parents—

Pulling pieces—

Of maybe their children—

Out from the rubble?

Every day, I’m praying that the leaders of Hamas in Gaza, Yahya Sinwar and Mohammed Deif, are captured—

So Israel can say enough is enough—

Slow the pace—

Safe spaces open for aid to be distributed properly—

We secure remaining kidnapped hostages—

Then finally pull back and stop.

And now that Gaza City is Israeli held—

And yes, I believe only for now—

Every Palestinian evacuated from the North, now tragically displaced to the south—

Bombs are still being dropped—

And based on the footage I’m seeing—

The city of Khan Yunis has been ordered to evacuate—

Having first been designated a “safe zone”—

And aside from Rafah Crossing, the southern most point of the strip—

Which hasn’t been free from bombing either—

Palestinians have nowhere else left to go.

The Israeli army—

They’re serious about this not stopping, not until they have the hostages, and not until Hamas is killed or captured, whichever direction they dictate themselves.

The over-arching tragedy of this tragedy—

It’s almost unquestionable that the heart of this conflict—

It’s land. 

The Free Palestine movement—

It’s rooted in Palestinian hearts.

As a Jew—

And again, I am not religious—

I’ve seen the archaeological evidence of Israel being the Jewish homeland for over 3000 years.

It’s compelling—

It’s accessible—

And I don’t think it’s wrong—

But let’s quickly talk history—

And then I’ll explain what I don’t think is right.

History first:

Post First World War—

After the defeat of the Ottoman Empire—

The physical land of Israel came under British control.

In 1917, the Balfour Declaration showed support for a “national home for the Jewish People” in Mandatory Palestine (this was the name of the territory of modern Israel at the time, and the name Palestine is derived from the Philistine people. After the Romans conquered the Israelites and Judea in the 2nd century C.E. / A.D., they “changed” the name of the land to Palestinia, in order to try and sever our ties to the land)—

Then in 1922, the Balfour Declaration was approved by the League of Nations in the British Mandate for Palestine—

And in 1948, the United Nations proposed the Partition Plan for Palestine—

Which proposed to divide the territory into two separate states:

One for Jews—

One for Palestinian Arabs—

Both having Jews and Arabs already there—

Both already fighting for land and their lives.

The Jews were willing to accept the plan—

The Arab world boycotted the plan entirely—

And when the British Mandate of Palestine expired on May 18 1948—

Israel declared their independence—

Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Syria invaded as a response—

Israel fought, then successfully pushed them all back—

And in the most elementary sense, that’s the founding of modern Israel.

With that being said, here’s what I don’t think is right—

And when I say not right-

I’m not referring to incidents that I believe are historically inaccurate—

What I’m referring to, it’s perspectives that I consider unjust.

What I don’t think is right, it’s two separate things, but they’re both still related—

The first—

There’s a modern “Got Ya!” when referring to the legitimacy of the founding of Israel—

It’s the term “settlers.”

In the 1880’s, the first wave of modern Jewish refugees to the territory of Palestine fled from Europe, because of anti-semitic pogroms.

This was early in the Zionist movement, and the refugees called themselves “settlers”.

As a Canadian especially, I’m aware of, and empathetic towards, the damage done by British colonialism against our First Nations, the Indigenous population of this land.

Those British settlers were colonizers, or colonialists–

They caused extraordinary harm—

And the twisted irony of part of Palestine being pledged to Jews by the purist purveyors of colonialism—

That isn’t lost on us—

But now, whenever people hear the words “Jews” and “Israel” and “Settlers”—

It does raise fair questions about the founding of Israel as an ethno-colonialist state—

And to the Westernized perception—

They see the West Bank—

They see the slow creep of aggression and advance from the minority fringe of our own Israeli extremists—

And yes, that fringe minority, I perceive them as that kind of settlers—

And I believe they should be more than reigned in and held accountable to the fullest extent of the law—

But what I consider unjust—

It’s the supposition of the settler colonialist lens as an appropriate lens for this conflict, when even though the Palestinians were native to the land in 1948, in our own incontrovertible way—

So are the Jews.

Historically, if the Romans hadn’t colonized the Judean empire and hadn’t exiled the Jews—

We wouldn’t have left—

And the irony there—

The reason why Zionist settlers sought refuge in Israel in the 1800’s—

They were pushed there by violent persecution all throughout Europe—

And later the Holocaust—

As well as our lives being threatened in all the Arab countries we had called home.

Was the founding of Israel a case of settler-colonialism, displacing the indigenous Palestinian population—

Or was it a case of repatriation, the indigenous people of Israel reclaiming their home?

Is there a statute of limitations for any of this?

Who should define it?

The 1948 Israeli War of Independence—

By and large, the result roughly resembled the same borders as drawn by the U.N. Partition Plan—

But for Palestinians—

1948 marks the Nakba—

When 700,000 Palestinian Arabs were displaced by the founding of Israel—

With no formal founding of a Palestinian state in return—

And since that time—

A mutually fair construct of a formal two-state solution has never been agreed upon by either party.

Without a defined Palestinian state, Israel continues to grow within its own borders—

And historically, this further displaced more Palestinians—

Which I also consider unjust—

As even without Palestinians self-identifying as Israeli-Arabs (Israeli-Arabs are considered formal Israeli citizens), by all accounts, based on the diverse multi-ethnic backgrounds of individuals who do self-identify as Israeli-Arabs, the pre-1948 difference in cultural standing between those individuals and the Palestinians starts to feel like splitting hairs.

Effectively—

If ancestors of self-identifying Israeli-Arabs and also the ancestors of self-identifying Palestinians both resided in Palestine pre-1948—

And both groups still resided in Israel post-1948—

And Israeli-Arab is more or less a “catch-all” term for non-Jewish carry-overs during the transition to Israeli statehood—

The only reason not to afford Palestinians within Israel the same fundamental rights as Israeli-Arabs, it’s their lack of formal citizenship, since they’d be living within Israeli territory, garnering the benefits of Israeli safety and society, which is fundamentally unfair without committing the necessary contributions associated with citizenship obligations.

If these individuals don’t want to be Israeli—

And they’re also lacking a formal state of their own—

I would’ve conceded and incentivized formal Palestinian statehood in Gaza and the West Bank, in order to establish the Arab-Palestinian state the U.N. Partition Plan had called for all along.

That’s what Yitzhak Rabin had led towards—

But then he was assassinated by Israeli right-wing extremists—

Talks fell apart—

Palestinians were displaced on end—

Most of the direct descendants of whom have been displaced again—

In the Gaza strip.

Within that context, as a Jew, you don’t have to be an Israel Apologist to feel for the Palestinian people.

The reason for bringing that up—

It’s not because Israelis (or Jews) are celebrating or even callous to the catastrophe of the reality for Palestinians now—

I’m bringing it up especially because of the deep feelings of empathy we’re feeling today.

To my fellow Jews—

Embrace that empathy.

Never lose touch with that sense of humanity.

But those global liberal voices that Jews keep on hearing—

The voices ringing the genocide bell—

Their broken hearts—

The reason they won’t denounce Hamas as loudly as they voice their desperate concern for Palestinian people—

It’s because to them, denouncing Hamas isn’t as urgent as defending the gravely vulnerable lives of displaced Palestinians now.

In Gaza, the worst complication today—

It’s not lack of aid flowing in—

It’s not Israel’s aid inspections holding up distribution—

It’s truly the complete lack of safe zones for aid to be distributed at all.

Starvation is a real possibility—

And unless something changes, with each passing second, it’s becoming an almost certainty that some Palestinians certainly will.

For Israelis, this war is rooted in Israeli security—

And where I’m at now—

It’s where I’ve always been all along.

In my adult life—

I’ve tried my best not to be a blind defender of anything.

This war—

It opened my eyes—

When I already believed they couldn’t be wider.

Extremism—

It isn’t an option.

My sentiment towards Hamas—

That’s obvious—

But on the Israeli side, there must be a much larger reckoning of Israeli and Jewish majority voices to reign in any minority extremist settlers committing violence in the West Bank.

Not just condemnation—

But action to bring them to legal justice—

And acknowledgment that that land isn’t ours.

The settlers in the West Bank—

No, they don’t outright delegitimize the State of Israel—

But they do chip away at the fullness of our total truth.

In addition, I believe the Israeli army should commit themselves to protecting innocent Palestinian civilian lives, as if they’re our own.

It’s an extraordinary ask in times of war, especially against the challenge that human shields pose, but I’m of the mind that the army can do substantially more to defeat the challenge than what they’ve enacted so far.

Civilian casualties are tragic, which speaks to the distinct evil of Hamas’ human shield strategy. There’s never been a “liberation” group more committed to threatening the lives of their own population than Hamas.

Still, much more needs to be done to protect civilian Palestinian lives.

And to the global “moderate” Palestinian voices—

Those chanting “From the River to the Sea”—

Committing harassment and intimidation of diaspora Jews—

The argument of collective punishment applies to us too.

Absolutely, stand for what you believe in—

But if you believe in that vision of Palestine—

A one-state solution where Israel doesn’t exist—

Try and explain how that realistically and peacefully happens, without murdering, ethnic cleansing, or displacing ten million Israelis who also don’t want to move.

To the truly moderate supporters of Israel—

As much as Israelis can point fingers at Palestinians for letting Hamas co-opt Gaza and radicalize youth—

In the time since Hamas was elected in 2006—

How much have we as Israelis ever tried to win enough Palestinian trust for them to reject Hamas altogether?

As most recently recorded—

The average age in Gaza is an astonishing 19 years old.

The average Palestinian didn’t vote in the last Gazan election—

And as much as someone can argue—

“This war, it’s just created more radicals”—

How much does that possibility change, if these Palestinians are awakened to the truth that UNRWA’s radicalized education system and its textbooks espousing martyrdom and military jihadism have indoctrinated them into lives destined for tragedy since early schooling, guiding them blindly towards the heart-ripping suffering that’s befallen them now?

And no—

Absolutely by no means am I suggesting to tear down the border fence immediately, now—

In this darkness right now, we’ve seen where that goes—

But the Israeli army, it’s currently conducting an irreparable blow to Hamas operations.

Once this is done—

There’s going to be a fragile—

Traumatized—

And again—

Neglected population—

And either we neglect them again—

They resent us and we start this hate cycle all over—

Except this time, much worse—

Or maybe we try something different, and maybe things change?

Don’t get me wrong—

There’s an extraordinary amount of bad blood right now—

And if healing is possible—

For both sides, it’ll take meaningful time.

No this war is not over—

God willing, please don’t let it get worse—

But to me—

Having watched these horrors closely—

I’ve seen something powerful—

And it whole-heartedly has me believing that the Palestinian People will survive this war…

I’ve witnessed their soul.

I won’t assume Gaza can be rebuilt—

But if Palestinians are intent to try, they should try.

With pride, I’m certain they certainly will—

Yet peace—

Not endless war—

The pragmatic path—

It’s both sides’ acceptance of potentially being made whole with fair piece.

An equitable, liberating and lasting two-state solution—

It’s for those who have had enough—

And for those who can see what we see.

And to anyone at home saying right now—

“So, why don’t you roll back your border, give them some land?”

Well, after what we just saw—

And the context of on-going, well-funded, concerted effort of certain countries to ethnic cleanse the Middle East of Jews—

For unquestionable security reasons—

Land concessions—

As well as a reasonable two-state solution—

They cannot be possible—

Not without acknowledgement and guarantees for Israel’s legitimate statehood and right to security, as well as a meaningful, effective global effort put forward by Muslims to disarm violent extremist factions like Hezbollah and Hamas, or any other terrorist group with Jihadi views.

That opinion right there—

It’s not Islamophobic, as I acknowledge the vast majority of peace loving Muslims who abhor violent religious extremism.

In my experience, I’ve seen Islam and Judaism as religions of peace—

And it’s the perversion of religious values by humans themselves that distorts minds into committing incomprehensible acts.

The reason why the global effort must be put forward by Muslims—

It’s because Jihadi extremists will never be reached by the West or by Jews.

The argument of Israel as being a colonial state—

Although I disagree with it—

That’s a modern Westernized dialogue that’s fair to debate—

But to groups like Hamas, “smash colonialism” is not their true motivation.

The original 1988 Hamas Covenant clearly declares their intent—

And article fifteen of the Covenant is especially blunt—

“The day that enemies usurp part of Moslem land, Jihad becomes the individual duty of every Moslem. In face of the Jews’ usurpation of Palestine, it is compulsory that the banner of Jihad be raised. To do this requires the diffusion of Islamic consciousness among the masses, both on the regional, Arab and Islamic levels. It is necessary to instill the spirit of Jihad in the heart of the nation so that they would confront the enemies and join the ranks of the fighters.”

And again, emphasizing that first sentence especially—

“The day that enemies usurp part of Moslem land”—

And the prevailing Hamas “sentiment”, it’s all Israel as Muslim—

Renders the prospect of a peaceful two-state solution with Hamas in the governing picture as self-evidently impossible.

And those calling for cease-fire—

Your heart is in the right place.

You’re lending your voice, willing the way you know best for this nightmare to stop.

I desperately wish this war never happened—

And I desperately wish this war would end too.

Extend your heart to civilians—

But extend it to the hostages too.

137 Israeli hostages remain captive in Gaza—

And 104 Israeli soldiers have been killed in combat, working to extract them, while eliminating Hamas.

I will never glorify war.

I will never chase war.

I will never excuse war either.

The tragic reality—

When wars aren’t your choice, the worst way you lose, it’s by settling for half-measures that don’t re-establish any conditions for peace.

A ceasefire must be contingent on the release of the hostages—

But a ceasefire alone still won’t remove Hamas.

A ceasefire alone won’t end the suffering of the Palestinian people.

If Palestinians made a plea to the world today to be freed from Hamas—

Hamas would still use them as shields.

These are heartbreaking truths—

And I also believe that Hamas is holding Palestinians hostage too.

Winning the hearts and the minds of Palestinians after this war—

Having them wholeheartedly renouncing Hamas—

Bonded in mourning with Jews—

If it is possible—

We’ll need Muslim help.

It’ll take global pressure.

My belief in a two-state solution—

It’s honest and true—

And as alarming as this sounds at first—

I personally believe—

That after this conflict—

For a duration—

No, I don’t know how long—

There will be a demilitarized zone separating Israel and Gaza—

It will be in Gaza—

Manned briefly by Israel—

But soon passed off to a coalition led by Arab countries with normalized relations with Israel.

What Palestinians deserve—

It’s its own state—

It’s its own leaders—

With honest respect for Palestinian lives.

Indefinite Israeli occupation of Gaza isn’t the answer—

It simply won’t work—

It’s not what we want—

And we know that too.

No, this won’t be cultural genocide occurring—

Not if the coalition is there to help Palestinians get back on their feet—

Then leave them in peace—

So they can choose their path forward themselves.

The Arab coalition won’t be forever—

And the reason it’s there—

It’s because the international aid will flow in—

And the coalition will ensure it does really reach the right people.

Palestinian right to self-determination—

That’s just—

But Israel’s right to security is truly just too.

To the people of Palestine—

Again, I’m not religious—

But I’ve felt an indescribable peace in my heart—

The first—

And not just the last time—

I saw the Dome of the Rock for myself.

I want you to feel that peace too.

Open borders—

Normalized relations—

Just like from us—

It’ll take an awakening that you’ve never had too.

Throughout this war—

I’ve seen the horrors Palestinians have lived through—

I’ve felt their fear—

And the more they keep getting cornered—

The more there’s a quote I keep coming back to.

It was only days after October 7th, and Joe Biden was speaking, re-affirming his support for Israel.

He told the story of the first time he visited Israel—

And the first time he met Golda Meir.

These are his words, not mine—

“Without her looking at me, she said to me, knowing I’d hear her, “Why do you look so worried, Senator Biden?” And I said, “Worried?” Like, “Of course, I’m worried.” And she looked at me and – she didn’t look, she said, “We don’t worry, senator. We Israelis have a secret weapon. We have nowhere else to go.”

Together, we can talk history—

We can talk faith—

Identity—

We can talk proof—

But with Palestinians, I’d like to talk what we do have in common—

How much we’re all sick of war—

Mourning the innocent—

Having nowhere to go—

And the love it’d take to make peace.

These have been dark enough nights.

From Matthew tonight,

שלום בכל בוקר, בכל יום, ובכל לילה

Peace every morning, each day, and each night.