In this new year, we have a lot of work to do to marginalize hate, and to bring together the peacemakers, and especially those who are speaking up within their respective communities against war and for a peaceful resolution. A two-State solution is the only solution, which if you’ve been paying attention, is not the intention of the Israeli government as they have made evident on many occasions over the years.
So instead of asking me, “Do you condemn Hamas?”, ask yourself, “What can I do to bring peace, not just for myself but for my neighbor too”.
For us at MPV, we welcome partners on this journey and we are happy to discover T'ruah, a group of Rabbis for Human Rights, and many other faith traditions on the same path.
In the many years of work in human rights, one consistent thread is the dehumanization of the other in the name of religion. In the Israel-Hamas war, that dehumanization is taken on to another level. Israelis calling Gaza a “Black whore" and to "eff’ the whore”, or the annual chanting of killing the Arabs on a religious occasion, all recorded by Israelis themselves, and the anti-semitism in some Arab communities based on a distorted interpretation of the Quran is well recorded.
For my part, I have been invited to speak at the International Conference on the Dialogue of Civilization, its theme is “Building Cultures, Nurturing Diversity” in Abu Dhabi (Feb 19-22, 2024). My talk is about inculcating a culture of human rights through music and the arts as the precursor to the utility of that culture in promoting universal human rights. See more details below.
As the conflict between Israel and Hamas and at the expense of Gazan civilians rages on, thousands of Gazans dead, which include 9,500 children and 6,000 women, and many still buried under the rubble, and as those who are living are starved, our President continues to arm Israel’s genocide even at the expense of his own political demise. In the meantime, reports have also surfaced of the war crimes committed by Hamas on women on October 7th. At the time of writing, zero autopsy have been conducted, as according to Jewish tradition, like Islam, the dead are to be buried within 24 hours. The eyewitness accounts of Hamas fighter raping women, mutilations of genitals, and cutting off the breast of one and lopping it off to fellow fighters as if its a ball is utterly sickening. What is numbing is that these war crimes were the same ones implemented by Zionists in their expulsion of Palestinians during the first nakba in 1948. Watch testimonials of the violence here.
What is it about men in war that victimizes women in the most vile manner?
While all that is happening, here in the U.S., I am officiating interfaith marriages between Muslims and Jews. These young couples give me hope.
