Gaza | Bob Schwartz

June 19, 2024

Artists Call for Ceasefire in Gaza Now

It is not easy being a creative personality, particularly one who is popular and commercially successful, and taking a position on controversial and divisive issues. The war in Gaza is such an issue.

Below is the message from Artists for Ceasefire along with the list of those who have signed on, 464 so far. Some of my favorites are there, probably some of yours too. Some of my favorites are missing, probably some of yours too.

What intrigues me is that this list of 464 includes some of the most famous and respected names in entertainment and the arts. Yet while Justin Timberlake’s DWI arrest is a top news item, this receives hardly any coverage.

Dear President Biden,

We come together as artists and advocates, but most importantly as human beings witnessing the devastating loss of lives and unfolding horrors in Israel and Palestine.

We ask that, as President of the United States, you and the US Congress call for an immediate de-escalation and ceasefire in Gaza and Israel before another life is lost. More than 36,000 people have been killed over the last 8 months, and over 83,000 injured* – numbers that any person of conscience knows are catastrophic. We believe all life is sacred, no matter faith or ethnicity and we condemn the killing of Palestinian and Israeli civilians.

We urge your administration, Congress, and all world leaders, to honor all of the lives in the Holy Land and call for and facilitate a ceasefire without delay – an end to the bombing of Gaza, and the safe release of hostages. Half of Gaza’s two million residents are children, and more than two thirds are refugees and their descendants being forced to flee their homes. Humanitarian aid must be allowed to reach them.

We believe that the United States can play a vital diplomatic role in ending the suffering and we are adding our voices to those from the US Congress, UNICEF, Doctors Without Borders, The International Committee of The Red Cross, and so many others. Saving lives is a moral imperative. To echo UNICEF, “Compassion — and international law — must prevail.”

Since Oct 7th, more than 45,000* bombs and missiles have been dropped on Gaza – resulting in one child being killed every 10 minutes.

“Children and families in Gaza have practically run out of food, water, electricity, medicine and safe access to hospitals, following days of air strikes and cuts to all supply routes. Gaza’s sole power plant ran out of fuel Wednesday afternoon, shutting down electricity, water and wastewater treatment. Most residents can no longer get drinking water from service providers or household water through pipelines…. The humanitarian situation has reached lethal lows, and yet all reports point to further attacks. Compassion — and international law — must prevail.” – UNICEF spokesperson James Elder

Beyond our pain and mourning for all of the people there and their loved ones around the world we are motivated by an unbending will to stand for our common humanity. We stand for freedom, justice, dignity and peace for all people – and a deep desire to stop more bloodshed.

We refuse to tell future generations the story of our silence, that we stood by and did nothing. As Emergency Relief Chief Martin Griffiths told UN News, “History is watching.”

*Updated as of 6/6/24

Artists

Aaron Frazer
Aasif Mandvi
Abbi Jacobson
Adam Lambert
Adam McKay
Adeel Ahmed
Afshan Azad
Ahamed Weinberg
Aida Rodriguez
Aimee Lou Wood
Aja Monet
Alan Cumming
Alana Hadid
Alena Smith
Alfonso Cuarón
Ali Adler
Alia Shawkat
Allison Russell
Alyssa Milano
Amanda Diaz
Amanda Gorman
Amanda Seales
Amandla Stenberg
Amber Tamblyn
America Ferrera
Aminatou Sow
Aminé
Amy Herzog
Anand Desai-Barochia
Andrew Ahn
Andrew Garfield
Andrew Thomas Huang
Anees
Angela Dimayuga
Ani DiFranco
Anna Konkle
Annie Lennox
Anoushka Shankar
Aria Mia Loberti
Arian Moayed
Ariana Grande
Arooj Aftab
ASAP Nast
Ashley Lukashevsky
Asim Chaudhry
Atsuko Okatsuka
Auliʻi Cravalho
Augustus Prew
Ava DuVernay
Ayo Edebiri
Bassam Tariq
Bassem Youssef
Bella Hadid
Belly
Ben Affleck
Bilal Hasna
Billy Bragg
BLK ODYSSY
Bobbi Salvör Menuez
Bonnie Wright
Boots Riley
Bradley Cooper
Brandon Holman
Brian Cox
Brian Eno
Brigitte Lacombe
Brittani Nichols
Bruce Cohen
Bryan Adams
Busy Phillipps
Cameron Russell
Carl Clemons-Hopkins
Caroline Polachek
Cat Power
Cate Blanchett
Catherine Van-Davies
Celeste Barber
Celeste Yim
Chani Nicholas
Channing Tatum
Charithra Chandran
Charlotte Riley
Charm La’Donna
Chase Sui Wonders
Chella Man
Cherien Dabis
Chicano Batman
Chioke Nassor
Christine Baranski
Cindi Leive
Clairo
Clean Bandit
Connie Britton
Cora Emmanuel
Cree Summer
Cynthia Erivo
Cynthia Nixon
Dan Bucatinsky
Dan Cogan
Daniel Caesar
Daniel Garber
Daniel Goldhaber
Darius Marder
Dave Merheje
David Clennon
David Cross
David Oyelowo
Dawn-Lyen Gardner
Deb Never
Denée Benton
Desi Perkins
Dev Hynes
Devery Jacobs
Diany Rodriguez
Dina Shihabi
Diplo
DJ Snake
Dominic Cooper
Dominique Fishback
Dominique Thorne
Drake
Dua Lipa
Durand Jones
D.W. Moffett
Dylan Mulvaney
Ebon Moss-Bachrach
Edie Campbell
Eisa Davis
Elliott Gould
El-P
Elsa Hosk
Elvira Lind
Elyanna
Emily V. Gordon
Emily Meade
Emma Seligman
Eric André
Eugene Lee Yang
Ewan McGregor
Fai Khadra
Farah Bsaiso
Farah Nabulsi
Farida Khelfa
Fatima Farheen Mirza
Fawzia Mirza
Fayssal Bazzi
Florence Pugh
Fontaines D.C.
Francesca Fiorentini
Frank Ocean
Fred Hechinger
Fredwreck
Geena Rocero
Geoffrey Arend
Gigi Hadid
Girl Named Tom
Gracie Abrams
Hadar Cohen
Hannah Ferguson
Hari Nef
Hasan Minhaj
Helado Negro
Hend Sabry
Howard Rodman
Ido Mizrahy
Ilana Glazer
Imaan Hammam
Imad Izemrane
Iman Vellani
Indya Moore
Ivan Jackson
Jai Courtney
Jalen Noble
James Schamus
James Wilson
Jamila Woods
Janelle Monáe
Jared Goldstein
Jas Lin
Jay Hernandez
Jay Shetty
Jean Smart
Jehane Noujaim
Jena Malone
Jenna Ortega
Jenni Konner
Jennifer Lopez
Jennifer Saunders
Jenny Yang
Jeremy Allen White
Jeremy Strong
Jes Tom
Jesse Peretz
Jesse Williams
Jessica Chastain
Jessie Buckley
Jim Jarmusch
Joaquin Phoenix
Jodi Balfour
Joe Alwyn
Joel Edgerton
Joel Kim Booster
Johan Lindeberg
John Cusack
John Early
Jon Batiste
Jon Stewart
Josh Gondelman
Jordan Peele
Joy Sunday
JP Saxe
Judah Friedlander
Judy Reyes
Julianne Nicholson
Julien Baker
Juliet Stevenson
Juliette Binoche
Julio Torres
Kaitlin Olson
Kal Penn
Kali Uchis
Kamie Crawford
Karen Sours Albisua
Kathryn Grody
Kathy Najimy
Katie Gavin
Kaytranada
Kehlani
Kendrick Sampson
Kenza Fourati
K.Flay
Khalid Abdulla
Kimiko Glenn
Kimya Dawson
Kirsten Dunst
Kristen Stewart
Kit Yan
Kumail Nanjiani
Kylie Sparks
Laila Nabulsi
Lauren Jauregui
Lee Eddy
Lena Waithe
Leo Sheng
Lily Gladstone
Lindy West
Lionel Boyce
LisaGay Hamilton
Livia Firth
Liz Garbus
Lola Kirke
Lola Petticrew
Lorenza Izzo
Louisa Jacobson
Lucy Dacus
Luis Bordonada
Lupita Nyong’o
Macklemore
Mae Martin
Mahershala Ali
Majid Jordan
Malala Yousafzai
Mandy Patinkin
Manish Dayal
Marcia Cross
Margaret Cho
Maria Cornejo
Marisa Tomei
Mark Ruffalo
Mark Rylance
Martin Starr
Mary Harron
Mary Elizabeth Winstead
Massari
Matt McGorry
Matt Lieb
Matt Rogers
Maxwell Osborne
May Calamawy
Maysoon Zayid
Maz Jobrani
Megan Boone
Mekki Leeper
Melanie Martinez
Melissa Barrera
Mica Argañaraz
Michael Cerveris
Michael Dorman
Michael Malarkey
Michael Moore
Michael Uzowuru
Michael Shannon
Michael Stipe
Michelle Wolf
Mickey Sumner
Miguel
MILCK
Milla Jovovich
Mimi Kennedy
Mira Nair
Miranda July
Miriam Margolyes
Misan Harriman
Misha Collins
Mishel Prada
Mitra Jouhari
Mo Amer
Mohamed Diab
Molly Bernard
Mona Chalabi
Monet McMichael
Morgan Spector
Mousa Kraish
MUNA
Mustafa Ahmed
Nabil Elderkin
Naomi Scott
Natalia Cordova
Natalie Merchant
Naz Riahi
Nelly Furtado
Nia DaCosta
Nicola Coughlan
Nicole Ansari Cox
Niki Takesh
Nikoo Nooryani
Nina Goodheart
Noah “40” Shebib
Noam Shuster-Eliassi
Nori Reed
Omar Apollo
Omar Metwally
Omar Sy
Oscar Isaac
Padma Lakshmi
Paloma Elsesser
Patti Smith
Paul Elia
Paul Walter Hauser
Peter Berg
Peter Gabriel
Peter Rosenberg
Phoebe Bridgers
Poorna Jagannathan
Poppy Delevingne
Poppy Liu
Priyanka Chopra Jonas
Quei Tann
Quinta Brunson
Rachel McAdams
Rachel Sennott
Rachel Zegler
Rain Phoenix
Ramy Youssef
Raveena Aurora
Rianne Van Rompaey
Richa Moorjani
Richard Gere
River L. Ramirez
Riz Ahmed
Roberta Colindrez
Rolla Selbak
Rooney Mara
Rosaline Elbay
Rosario Dawson
Rose Abdoo
Rosie O’Donnell
Rowan Blanchard
Run The Jewels
Rupi Kaur
Ruth Negga
Ryan Coogler
Ryan Piers Williams
Saagar Shaikh
Sabeen Faheem
Sabine Getty
Saif Mahdi
Sam Gold
Sam Richardson
Sami Zayn
Sammy Obeid
Samora Pinderhughes
Sandra Oh
Sara Driver
Sara Ramirez
Sarah Bahbah
Sarah Jones
Sarah E. Jones
Sarah Snook
Sarah Sophie Flicker
Sarita Choudhury
Sasami Ashworth
Sean Miura
Sebastián Silva
Selena Gomez
Sepideh Moafi
Shailene Woodley
Shaka King
Shayla Mitchell
Shepard Fairey
Sherry Cola
Shruti Ganguly
Silas Howard
SimiHaze
Simon Helberg
Simon Rex
Simone Ashley
Simu Liu
Sinéad Bovell
Sinéad Harnett
Smino
Snoh Aalegra
Sophia Bush
Sophia Roe
Stella Schnabel
Stephanie Suganami
Stephen Dillane
Steve Way
Suleika Jaouad
Susan Sarandon
Susan Wokoma
Sydney Lemmon
Tahar Rahim
Tala Ashe
Tanya Selvaratnam
Tara Grammy
Tarek Bishara
Tavi Gevinson
Taylour Paige
Tchaiko Omawale
Tessa Thompson
Thursday
Tien Tran
Toby Haynes
Tom Morello
Tom Hardy
Tommy Genesis
Tony Kushner
Tony Shalhoub
Tracey Seaward
Travon Free
Tyler Johnson
V (formerly Eve Ensler)
Vic Mensa
Victoria Monét
Viggo Mortensen
Vijay Iyer
Vivek Shraya
Wale
Waleed Zuaiter
Wallace Shawn
Wanda Sykes
Yara Shahidi
Yasmeen Fletcher
Yasmine Aker
Yasmine Al Massri
Yumi Sakugawa
Yusuf Cat Stevens
Zach Woods
Zayn Malik
Ziwe
Zoe Chao
Zoe Lister Jones
070 Shake

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May 27, 2024

Bibi’s Gaza bonus: Make Biden look bad to help elect Trump

The primary reasons for Netenyahu pursuing his Gaza war, whatever the actual success of the strategies, are to eliminate Hamas, hide his failure in preventing October 7, stay in power, avoid going to jail, and others.

There is a secondary reason, a bonus. Bibi has made Biden look weak and ineffectual. Biden’s rhetoric has been equivocal, leaning towards Israel. His actions have been less equivocal, since his arming of Israel remains intact, whatever he says.

This is exactly what Bibi and right-wingers in his cabinet want. They want Trump. Bibi, an agile politician if not a world-class statesman, can see that all this is costing Biden support and votes, increasing the chance of a Trump victory in what will be a close election. When Trump is back in office, they believe, whatever they want, whatever they ask for, he will be on their side. Unlike Biden, who seems to be having trouble holding steady in the political winds.

So while there are reasons that Bibi has remained stubborn and needlessly brutal in Gaza, helping elect Trump would be another good outcome for him. A bonus.

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May 25, 2024

“No power on Earth will stop Israel,” says Israeli spokesperson. But what about God?

After the International Court of Justice (ICJ) ordered a halt to the Israeli offensive in Rafah, Israeli spokesperson Avi Hyman said, “No power on Earth will stop Israel from protecting its citizens and going after Hamas in Gaza.”

I have no two-way channel with God. Whether or not the age of prophets and prophecy is past or present, whether there are those who had or have revelations, I am not one. This has not stopped me from wondering what God would say or do when faced with the precise way Israel is going about its protection of citizens and its pursuit of Hamas.

It seems that Netenyahu and his war cabinet, and their supporters, believe that everything they are doing is exactly what God wants them to do. Whether that comes from direct communication or is derived from their interpretation of the tradition they haven’t said.

If they asked me how I interpret the tradition, that is, what I think God wants, I don’t think it is this. Again, I’m not a prophet, and they would never ask me anyway.

I imagine God being pretty harsh with these Israeli leaders. I imagine God would tell them that as strategists they are the worst. The word “idiots” might be used, if that is how God talks. I imagine that Israeli lack of mercy and compassion would come up. God might remind them that in biblical times, Israelites who strayed so far from basic moral principles could expect to be smitten.

Maybe this is what the spokesperson is hinting at. Yes, he might be saying, “No power on earth will stop us. But if God intervenes, that’s a whole different story.”

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May 10, 2024

Macklemore releases Hind’s Hall, a track to end the war in Gaza. Millions are listening.

Hind Rajab, age six, senior kindergarten graduation, killed by tank fire in Gaza

The rapper Macklemore just released the new track Hind’s Hall, about the war in Gaza and the protests.

Macklemore is a hugely popular artist. On Spotify, he has 32 million monthly listeners, making him 128th in the world. His tracks have been streamed 13 billion times.

Eleven years ago, his track Same Love celebrated the right of relationships between all people, at a time when same-sex marriage was not yet fully allowed or protected in America. It was a hit and has become an anthem.

His new track about the Gaza war is another powerful statement.

Hamilton Hall/Hind’s Hall, Columbia University

Artists in various media have taken on the war in Gaza. Slowly, tentatively, because many are concerned about being dropped or rejected. Musical artists have been the slowest. Macklemore, who has built a career independent of record labels, laments:

Yet the music industry’s quiet, complicit in their platform of silence
What happened to the artist? What do you got to say?
If I was on a label, you could drop me today
I’d be fine with it ’cause the heart fed my page

Macklemore isn’t a hater, except of thoughtless war and repression. The millions who will stream this track (all streaming proceeds going to UNRWA) are not haters, except of thoughtless war and repression. It is notable that Spotify, in today’s New Music Friday playlist, doesn’t include Hind’s Hall.

Thank you Macklemore. Thank you all artists—writers, filmmakers, musicians—who have stood up and those who haven’t yet but will.

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May 4, 2024

May 4, 1970: National Guard shoots and kills students at Kent State University

On May 1, 1970, President Richard Nixon said:

“You see these bums, you know, blowing up the campuses. Listen, the boys that are on the college campuses today are the luckiest people in the world, going to the greatest universities, and here they are burning up the books, storming around about this issue. You name it. Get rid of the war there will be another one.”

Three days later, on May 4, 1970, the National Guard shot and killed four and wounded nine at Kent State University in Ohio.

Nixon won election in 1968 on a platform of law and order. He had no use for student protests. But even those Americans who still supported the Vietnam War and agreed that student protestors were “bums” were troubled. So Nixon ordered a Commission on Campus Unrest. The Commission, under the leadership of former Pennsylvania governor William Scranton, investigated and issued a 537-page report. It included a special section on Kent State, containing a detailed day-by-day, minute-by-minute description, leading up to this moment:

Major Jones said he first heard an explosion which he thought was a firecracker. As he turned to his left, he heard another explosion which he knew to be an M-1 rifle shot. As he turned to his right, toward Taylor Hall, he said he saw guardsmen kneeling (photographs show some crouching) and bringing their rifles to their shoulders. He heard another M-1 shot, and then a volley of them. He yelled, “Cease fire!” several times, and rushed down the line shoving rifle barrels up and away from the crowd. He hit several guardsmen on their helmets with his swagger stick to stop them from firing.

General Canterbury stated that he first heard a single shot, which he thought was fired from some distance away on his left and which in his opinion did not come from a military weapon. Immediately afterward, he heard a volley of M-1 fire · from his right, the Taylor Hall end of the line. The Guard’s fie was directed away from the direction from which Canterbury thought the initial, nonmilitary shot came. His first reaction, like that of Fassinger and Jones, was to stop the firing.

Canterbury, Fassinger, and Jones–the three ranking officers on the hill–all said no order to fire was given. Twenty-eight guardsmen have acknowledged firing from Blanket Hill. Of these, 25 fired 55 shots from rifles, two fired five shots from .45 caliber pistols, and one fired a single blast from a shotgun. Sound tracks indicate that the firing of these 61 shots lasted approximately 13 seconds. The time of the shooting was approximately 12:25 p.m.

Four persons were killed and nine were wounded.

A map from the report:

Any lessons for today and beyond?

Whenever a university or a government decides to enforce its standard of order against gatherings and protests, that enforcement should be pursued carefully and judiciously, if at all. Things can and will happen when those forces are let loose. The choice of enforcement should be pursued only if there are no other options, which there almost always are. Emotions run high on all sides. Whenever weapons are officially introduced—from batons to rubber bullets to tear gas to guns and rifles—they can easily be used indiscriminately. And fatally.

Few things are more tragically ironic than anti-war protestors being injured or killed. It doesn’t have to be.

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April 30, 2024

In case you have forgotten what civil disobedience looks like

Above is a photo of Martin Luther King Jr. being arrested in Atlanta for taking part in a sit-in. Below is an excerpt from Dr. King’s Letter from a Birmingham Jail, where he was being imprisoned for taking part in nonviolent demonstrations against segregation.

You will not hear much mention of Dr. King from those cracking down on campus protests these days. It is inconvenient, because they would then have to make some fine distinctions between demonstrating for civil rights and demonstrating for human rights. Silence combined with force is easier.

It should not be necessary to explain the role of nonviolent protest and civil disobedience in American and world history. But apparently, the current thinking is that protesting this way proves that your cause is unworthy and wrongheaded. It is implied that if protestors don’t remove their campus encampments by a deadline, they are obviously illegitimate. Just as the civil rights movement was unworthy, wrongheaded and illegitimate to some.

From Letter from a Birmingham Jail

In no sense do I advocate evading or defying the law, as would the rabid segregationist. That would lead to anarchy. One who breaks an unjust law must do so openly, lovingly, and with a willingness to accept the penalty. I submit that an individual who breaks a law that conscience tells him is unjust, and who willingly accepts the penalty of imprisonment in order to arouse the conscience of the community over its injustice, is in reality expressing the highest respect for law.

Of course, there is nothing new about this kind of civil disobedience. It was evidenced sublimely in the refusal of Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego to obey the laws of Nebuchadnezzar, on the ground that a higher moral law was at stake. It was practiced superbly by the early Christians, who were willing to face hungry lions and the excruciating pain of chopping blocks rather than submit to certain unjust laws of the Roman Empire. To a degree, academic freedom is a reality today because Socrates practiced civil disobedience. In our own nation, the Boston Tea Party represented a massive act of civil disobedience.

We should never forget that everything Adolf Hitler did in Germany was “legal” and everything the Hungarian freedom fighters did in Hungary was “illegal.” It was “illegal” to aid and comfort a Jew in Hitler’s Germany. Even so, I am sure that, had I lived in Germany at the time, I would have aided and comforted my Jewish brothers.

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April 22, 2024

Passover message: “No stranger shall you oppress, for you know the stranger’s heart, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt.”

גֵ֖ר לֹ֣א תִלְחָ֑ץ וְאַתֶּ֗ם יְדַעְתֶּם֙ אֶת־נֶ֣פֶשׁ הַגֵּ֔ר כִּֽי־גֵרִ֥ים הֱיִיתֶ֖ם בְּאֶ֥רֶץ מִצְרָֽיִם׃
Exodus 23:9

One line from the Book of Exodus crystallizes our moment.

As with all biblical Hebrew, the translation is challenging and varied.

Exodus 23:9

You shall not oppress a stranger, for you know the feelings of the stranger, having yourselves been strangers in the land of Egypt. (NJPS)

You shall not oppress a resident alien; you know the heart of an alien, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt. (NRSV)

No sojourner shall you oppress, for you know the sojourner’s heart, since you were sojourners in the land of Egypt. (Robert Alter)

Alter addresses one of the translation challenges, the Hebrew word nefesh/נֶ֣פֶשׁ:

“The Hebrew is nefesh, “heart”, “life,” “inner nature,” “essential being,” “breath.””

Another word needing expansion is the Hebrew ger/גֵּ֔ר. Scholars Mark Allen Powell and Dennis R. Bratcher explain in the HarperCollins Bible Dictionary:

alien (ger): In the Bible, one who is not a member of a particular social group. Accordingly, Abraham was an alien (NRSV: “stranger”) among the Hittites at Hebron (Gen. 23:4), as were Moses in Midian (Exod. 2:22) and the Israelites in Egypt (Deut. 23:7; cf. Ruth 1:1). The Hebrew word is ger, and it has often been translated “sojourner” in English Bibles. The NRSV is inconsistent, translating it “alien” in some instances and “stranger” in others. After the settlement in Canaan, the term not only designated a temporary guest but also acquired the more specialized meaning of “resident alien,” one who lived permanently within Israel (Exod. 22:21; 23:9). No doubt because the Israelites were keenly aware of their own heritage as aliens without rights in a foreign land, they developed specific laws governing the treatment of aliens. Strangers or aliens were to be treated with kindness and generosity (Lev. 19:10, 33–34; 23:22; Deut. 14:29). The basic principle was, “You shall also love the stranger, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt” (Deut. 10:19). And, again, “You shall love the alien as yourself, for you were aliens in the land of Egypt” (Lev. 19:34)….

“Alien” or “stranger” also appears in a figurative sense, usually in appealing to the generosity and mercy of God in dealing with undeserving people (Pss. 39:12; 119:19; 1 Chron. 29:15). The idea of dwelling in a land owned by someone else is also applied theologically to the relationship of the Israelites to the land; it belonged to God and they were the strangers in it (Lev. 25:23). (emphasis added)

This Passover, we give a thought to the nefesh—heart, life, inner nature, essential being, breath—of the ger—stranger, sojourner, resident alien. As the Bible reminds us, we were strangers too.

Hag Pesach sameach.

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April 18, 2024

This Passover donate to the International Rescue Committee

Passover begins on the evening of April 22, 2024.

Some people, Jews and others, believe that the Israeli strategy in Gaza is justified and that the deaths and suffering of innocent people are unfortunate collateral damage of an important goal. Some people, Jews and others, disagree.

One thing we all can agree on is that when people, especially children, suffer, justifiably or not, it is our duty to help relieve that suffering in any way we can. People of all religious traditions or none can agree on this.

The International Rescue Committee is one of the most respectable and responsible organizations in the world working on this:

The International Rescue Committee (IRC) helps people affected by humanitarian crises—including the climate crisis—to survive, recover and rebuild their lives.

Founded at the call of Albert Einstein in 1933, the IRC is now at work in over 50 crisis-affected countries as well as communities throughout Europe and the Americas.

As Jews, on Passover we recall how our storied ancestors suffered—under the hand of a wicked ruler, wandering in a desolate desert. As we have suffered and suffer still, how can we deny the suffering of others and fail to relieve it?

When the Israelites were starving in the desert, we are told that God provided manna:

In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron. The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the Lord’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve this entire assembly to death.” Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather enough for that day. (Exodus 16:2-4)

We cannot wait for manna. It is up to you.

Please donate to International Rescue Committee. Chag Pesach sameach.

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April 4, 2024

This

This

You say this is what God wants
God told you
Or told someone who heard
And told you
Told someone
Who wrote it down
Figured out
That this is what God wants.
I am no more than Moses or others
But no less.
Here is what I read and heard
And write.
“Bereshit bara elohim et hashamayim v’et ha’aretz. V’ha’aretz hatah tohu v’bohu.”*
In the beginning was tohu and bohu, a formless wasteland.
All the rest is commentary
For us not God to write create destroy.
Write we did
Create we did
Destroy we did
And do.
This is what we want.

*Genesis 1:1-2

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March 30, 2024

Gaza is more and more Biden’s Vietnam

Rhetoric doesn’t end war and save lives. Whatever the rhetoric he and his administration announce, Biden continues to arm a nation pursuing a questionable war strategy that is killing thousands. Reported just yesterday:

US reportedly approves transfer to Israel of bombs and jets worth billions
Sources say weapons package authorized even as Washington expresses public concern over anticipated offensive in Rafah
Friday, March 29, 2024

The US in recent days authorized the transfer of billions of dollars worth of bombs and fighter jets to Israel, two sources familiar with the effort said on Friday, even as Washington publicly expresses concerns about an anticipated Israeli military offensive in Rafah.

The new arms packages include more than 1,800 MK-84 2,000lb bombs and 500 MK-82 500lb bombs, said the sources, who confirmed a report in the Washington Post.

Whether you lived through the Vietnam War or know it only as history, this is seeming oppressively and depressingly familiar, not just as an unnecessary tragedy, but as a political nightmare.

LBJ accomplished a lot of important things for America, but his stubborn support of the war in Vietnam doomed his reelection in 1968, leading him to drop out of the race, and leading to the horrors of the Nixon White House.

Biden has also accomplished a lot of important things for America. But he already goes into the 2024 election with widespread questions about his age. Now added to that is his stubborn support, despite his rhetoric, for a war that is already tragic and a situation that will not look better by the time of the election.

The analogy isn’t perfect. But as the saying goes, history may not repeat itself, but it rhymes. This is looking a lot like Biden’s Vietnam. And as terrible as the Nixon presidency was, the Trump regime would be more evil and dangerous. Is there still time for Biden to do more than talk, to stand up and use American military support as leverage? Even if he does, is it too late to make a difference in what is almost certainly a toss-up election, with Biden in the eyes of some voters—especially some Democratic voters—a villain?

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Tag: Gaza