Responding to the ‘Stabbing Intifada’

Although we live thousands of miles away from Israel’s borders, most U.S. Jews stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters there as yet again they are experiencing a continuing wave of deadly violence.

The attacks against Jewish Israelis by mainly young West Bank Palestinians and Arab citizens of Israel using knives and vehicles to sow fear and confusion and injure or kill innocent civilians rend our hearts.

And we know that this horrific violence only further poisons the environment and despite our hopes and prayers for peace and conciliation makes that an even more distant prospect. As always, every pro-Israel individual can take some simple actions to express feelings and make his/her voice known. These include writing pro-Israel letters to the editor of your local newspaper, praising the media if the coverage has been fair and criticizing it if it has not. But today it is also important to monitor all the media – newspapers, TV, radio, internet and social media platforms — for inadequate or unbalanced coverage of the events in Israel and contact them with your critiques.

In addition, please communicate with your elected representatives, especially members of Congress, and ask them to speak out for Israel. Their privately expressed support, too, can go well beyond the halls of Congress – to the White House, the United Nations, the European Union and beyond. An action perhaps most important is to talk to your neighbors and co-workers about Israel. Tell them why you support the Jewish State, sharing personal stories of your visits and about the friends and family you have there. The positive attitudes of all Americans toward Israel when made known can affect how our nation sets its policies toward the Jewish State and influence how the U.S. acts in international forums where Israel is being attacked. Israel advocacy and activism is needed now in response to today’s ‘Matzav’ (the situation in Israel).