The West Bank is Burning, Where is the Outrage?
Recently, I caught up with a friend who works at Hillel. Our friendship preceded October 7th, but deepened through our shared alienation from the intense polarization surrounding Israel-Palestine both on and off campus. During our chat, we walked through Washington Square Park and remarked at how eerily silent it was after being the site of so many protests only a few months ago. We chatted about the changes we’d observed since the ceasefire and hostage deal were announced. We both came to the same conclusion: people had moved on.
Deep in my cynical heart, I had always feared this. I witnessed a similar thing during the “racial reckoning” that followed George Floyd’s murder. In the moment, it felt as if we were turning a corner, embracing a more conscious politics that rejects the naked racial grievance of Trump and his far right allies. Yet only a few years later, we have Trump back in office and any effort towards racial justice becomes the next conservative dog whistle.
Just as it felt then, this sense of “moving on” feels especially infuriating because the problem hasn’t actually been solved. While yes, there is a formal ceasefire, which led to the release of the remaining hostages and thousands of Palestinian prisoners, the blood has not stopped flowing. Israeli strikes on Gaza and Lebanon have not fully ceased. Hamas has been reported to be executing political opponents. Peace Now, Israel’s oldest anti-occupation organization, which has been campaigning against settlement expansion for decades, recently declared that “the government’s appetite for annexation and dispossession knows no bounds.” Settler violence is at an all-time high, with Netanyahu’s Kahanist coalition’s disregard for civil and international law reaching new levels of cruelty. In my inbox, I still receive emails from civil society organizations describing the need for more humanitarian aid into Gaza, families struggling to survive amidst the rubble, and Netanyahu’s continued efforts to escape accountability for any of the many crimes he is alleged to have committed.
Yet in the mainstream imagination, Jewish or otherwise, people seem to have largely moved on. The Jewish establishment, which campaigned for the hostages (at least symbolically) has turned further inwards, investing in efforts to address Israel’s “new normal” while being suspiciously silent about the atrocities happening on the other side of the green line. On the progressive side of things, many profess to still be invested in Palestinian liberation, but it now exists alongside other pressing concerns. The New York City Mayor’s race, which many attempted to turn into a referendum on Israel-Palestine, ended up focusing more on local issues, with many people who disagree with Mamdani on Israel ultimately prioritizing his stances on affordability at the ballot box.
Now, there are many legitimate reasons why people may be hesitant to speak out in this political climate. The Trump administration’s attacks on free speech, be it through shaking down universities or his cruel and illegal war on immigrant communities, including a number of international students who have protested the war in Gaza. Earlier this year, I joined a rally protesting the detainment of Palestinian peace activist Mohsen Mahdawi. I did so without fear because I have the privilege of being an American citizen. Given the enormity of the domestic crises we are currently facing, burnout is very understandable. No one can do everything. Yet the silence in the face of such cruelty (alongside other conflicts that have received frustratingly little press, like Sudan) is infuriating.
With all this being said, I do not want a return to Spring 2024. The toxic politics of the last two years have done more harm than good. I actively avoided protests on campus. Rallies for the hostages left little room to mourn Palestinians, and too often, groups claiming solidarity with Palestine indulged in antisemitic rhetoric. When I wanted to express my horror at what was happening in Palestine and Israel, I turned to off campus groups like Israelis for Peace, which was created with the explicit intention of uplifting the humanity of both Jews and Palestinians.
The “conflictedly connected” majority of the Jewish community that is both invested in Israel’s future and horrified by the violence enacted upon Palestinians needs to make itself heard. There are tangible material things we can do. Call your representative to support the West Bank Violence Prevention Act, which would reinstate penalties for perpetrators of settler violence that were removed when Trump took office. Support the efforts of World Central Kitchen and the New Israel Fund to provide humanitarian assistance to civilians in Gaza, oppose settlement expansion, and support civil society organizations leading the charge against authoritarianism on both sides of the green line. The wrong answer to this moment is indifference. The fates, security and human rights of both Jews and Palestinians are deeply intertwined. It’s time we start acting like it.
