Paul Von Blum reflects on his first and last visit to an Israeli settlement, activism, and how writing can be a powerful tool to channel political anger.
Healing Israel/Palestine
Mourner's Kaddish for Gaza Palestinians
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Instead of mourning privately––a betrayal of Jewish values––Andy Ratto encourages us to follow his example and publicly mourn the death of Palestinians in Gaza in a “not only personal, but also a public act of spiritual and political solidarity.”
Healing Israel/Palestine
URJ's Statement on Gaza and IfNotNow's Response
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We thought our readers might be interested in the Union of Reform Judaism’s statement on Gaza and the response from people aligned with the young people’s activist group “If Not Now.”
Healing Israel/Palestine
Israel@70: Fixing the way we pray for the State
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As we approach Israel’s 70th birthday, Rabbi David Seidenberg, reminding us that peace requires more than inclusion, revises the traditional prayer for the State of Israel so that “our prayer for peace [is] a prayer that teaches peace.”
Healing Israel/Palestine
Sign statement supporting B’tselem’s call to Israelis soldiers to refuse orders to shoot into crowds of unarmed civilians
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B’Tselem recently launched a media campaign calling for Israeli soldiers to refuse orders when asked to open fire on unarmed demonstrators. Please stand in solidarity with B’Tselem and sign our statement!
Healing Israel/Palestine
Finding My Place as an Anti-Occupation Reform Jew
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Netanya Perluss writes about the experience of being an anti-occupation Reform Jew: “My Jewish life encouraged me to call out injustices and work to make our world a better place.”
Healing Israel/Palestine
Why A Ramah Counselor Spoke-Out About the Occupation at Ramah Headquarters Last Week
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Not once, in my combined ten years at Ramah in the Berkshires and Ramah in the Rockies, did anyone mention the Occupation. We don’t talk about it because we want to pretend it doesn’t exist every summer.
Healing Israel/Palestine
"Complicated" isn't good enough. It's time for the Conservative movement to address the occupation.
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Instead of nurturing young leaders and teaching them to confront the injustice of the Occupation, I worry the Conservative movement has insulted their intelligence by teaching them the word “complicated.”
art
Seeing Double: A Middle Eastern Comedy of Errors
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In the 1980’s, few Americans knew much about life in the territories Israel had occupied in 1967. Fewer still understood the PLO’s historic offer to settle for a state in less than half what had been Palestine. Yet in 1989, the San Francisco Mime Troupe produced Seeing Double, a mistaken-identity farce that argued for a two-state solution. The seeming unfitness of the genre for the topic proved the secret of the show’s success: laughter allows room for hope.
Twenty-eight years later, the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is better understood, but no closer to resolution. Indeed, decades of US military and diplomatic support for Israel’s actions and its “facts on the ground”, have made a solution increasingly unlikely. Last summer, the writers of Seeing Double decided we would update the play, to fit today’s harsher realities and to address the U.S. role.
Healing Israel/Palestine
Justice for Girls Trial to Commence
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As part of Israel’s Operation Cast Lead that began in late December 2008, tank shells killed three daughters and a niece of Dr. Izzeldin Abuelaish and severely wounded other family members.
Since this tragedy, Dr. Abuelaish has worked hard to promote reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians. Following his relocation to Canada, he told his story in his book I Shall Not Hate: A Gaza Doctor’s Journey on the Road to Peace and Human Dignity.
Healing Israel/Palestine
Movement of the US Embassy to Jerusalem
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THERE’S A REASON WHY EVERY PRESIDENT SINCE JOHN F. KENNEDY HAS NOT MOVED THE US EMBASSSY TO JERUSALEM AND EIGHTY FOUR COUNTRIES HAVE THEIR EMBASSIES IN TEL AVIV AND NONE ARE IN JERUSALEM.