To the editor:
After decades of apartheid, genocide is taking place in Gaza right now. The world, including the Athens community, cannot sit on the sidelines anymore.
Before 2019, I (as a non-Jewish, non-Palestinian person) thought the situation in Palestine/Israel was too complicated for me to understand, and that these two religions have always and would always hate each other. I thought I wasn’t allowed to have an opinion because I am not Jewish or Muslim. Now I know that these are all myths designed to keep everyday people silent against injustice and too confused to take action. I know now that it’s the obligation of every person to have an opinion on genocide.
Anti-Zionist Jewish friends convinced me to oppose the Israeli apartheid regime. They explained to me that Israel was founded through ethnic cleansing of Palestinians in the 1948 Nakba (“catastrophe”), and has surveilled, displaced, maimed, imprisoned, and murdered Palestinians and other minorities ever since.
These friends taught me that it is not anti-Semitic to criticize Israel, a state that enshrines racism and colonialism in all of its policies and deputizes settlers to carry out its fascist agenda. It is, however, anti-Semitic to assert that all Jews support a country that commits atrocities in the name of their religion and that weaponizes righteous Jewish grief. Judaism and Zionism are not the same thing. There is a long, rich history of Jews who have opposed Zionism from its inception.
We as U.S. citizens must stop genocide now and fight against rampant misinformation that leads to the dehumanization of Palestinians and Muslims everywhere. Athens is no stranger to taking action against Islamophobia. In 2017 when Trump instituted his infamous “Muslim ban,” over 70 protesters were arrested for occupying Baker Center in solidarity with Muslim communities. We are in dire need of this level of disruption of the status quo — and more.
The U.S. government provides billions of dollars in military funds to Israel every year and has stated its intent to send more arms to indiscriminately kill more and more Gaza residents, 47% of whom are children, according to the Palestinian Bureau of Statistics. According to militaryaidtoisrael.org, the city of Athens could house 29 families or power 703 households with solar electricity for a year instead of funding Israel’s military with our taxes.
None of us can do enough, but all of us can do something. Share news from Palestinians and journalists in Gaza on social media, and be discerning of Western media sources. Donate to the Middle East Children’s Alliance, which has years of experience distributing supplies to families in Gaza. Educate yourself by reading about everyday experiences of Palestinians under apartheid and the history of Zionism. Join an organization like Jewish Voice for Peace. Call your members of Congress every day to demand deescalation. Attend the pro-Palestine rally happening at the Athens courthouse October 26 at 6 p.m.
Do not consent to genocide, which is justified by nothing. Be courageous and break the silence. It will take all of us.
Drea Reany
The Plains, Ohio
