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ONE YEAR AFTER OCTOBER 7, JEWISH PEACE GROUP SAYS: ‘WE CANNOT ONLY
MOURN’  
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Jake Johnson
October 7, 2024
Common Dreams
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_ "We must fight like hell for the living," said the anti-occupation
group Jewish Voice for Peace. "Today, we recommit ourselves to that
fight." _

Palestinians flee the Naser neighborhood after an Israeli airstrike
on Gaza City on Nov. 8, 2023. Israel's offensive has turned much of
northern Gaza into and uninhabitable moonscape. , AP Photo/Abed Khaled


 

Monday marked a day of mourning for those appalled by the deadly
Hamas-led attack that took place exactly one year ago and the
devastating Israeli response, which continues in the present with no
end in sight.

But while mourning is necessary, it is not enough, said the
anti-Zionist advocacy group Jewish Voice for Peace (JVP) in its
statement on the somber anniversary.

"We believe that every life is precious," said JVP, which has spent
the past 12 months organizing tirelessly in support of a cease-fire
and hostage-release agreement and against U.S. complicity in Gaza
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population is displaced, hungry, and at growing risk of disease due to
Israel's relentless airstrikes and siege that began hours after the
Hamas-led attack.

"Every life taken, every parent, child, grandchild killed this past
year was someone else's entire world," the group continued. "We mourn
the at least 42,000 Palestinians killed by the Israeli military,
knowing the true death toll is likely far higher. We mourn the 1,200
Israelis killed in Hamas' attacks. And we mourn the 2,000 Lebanese
killed by Israeli bombardment."

"But we cannot only mourn, with millions under current threat—we
must fight like hell for the living," said JVP. "Today, we recommit
ourselves to that fight: for an end to U.S. bombs and funding to the
Israeli military, for a cease-fire and the release of 100 Israeli and
10,000 Palestinian hostages, and for an end to Israeli genocide and
apartheid. To a future of liberation for all."

IfNotNow, a youth-led American Jewish group, echoed that sentiment.

"October 7 is not where the story begins or ends, and the pain we feel
today has spanned generations. We reject the lie that decades of
occupation, apartheid, and siege that has subjugated Palestinians will
ever keep Jews or Israelis safe," the group said in a statement
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to social media. "To truly honor the lives lost, we must commit to
building a world where freedom and safety are not reserved for some,
but for all."

"Mourn the dead. Fight for the living," the group added. "Not another
bomb. Free them all."

Israel's yearlong, U.S.-backed bombing campaign has left much of Gaza
in ruins: According to United Nations estimates
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Israel's airstrikes have left roughly 40 million tons of debris and
rubble that could take a decade and a half to clear.

Officially, Israel's assault has killed just over 41,900 people in
Gaza, more than half
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them women and children. But the Gaza health ministry's tally is
likely a dramatic underestimate, given that tens of thousands of
people are missing
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believed to be dead under the enclave's destroyed homes and buildings.

A group of American medical professionals who served in Gaza wrote
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President Joe Biden last week that "it is likely that the death toll
from this conflict is already greater than 118,908, an astonishing
5.4% of Gaza's population."

Biden's role in fueling Israel's catastrophic military
campaign—which has relied heavily on American weaponry
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diplomatic support—was a major subject of reflection on the one-year
anniversary of the war's start.

"The Hamas attacks of October 7, 2023 were an abominable crime. The
Israeli government had both the right and responsibility to protect
its people. Biden was right to respond with support and solidarity,"
Matt Duss, executive vice president of the Center for International
Policy (CIP) and a former foreign policy adviser to U.S. Sen. Bernie
Sanders [[link removed]], wrote
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New Republic_ on Monday.

"It was also right to expect him, at some point over the last year, to
pivot to real pressure to end the war and save human lives. He never
did," Duss noted. "By taking the option of suspending military aid off
the table, Biden signaled from the outset that his red lines were
meaningless. His stubborn refusal to impose any costs on Netanyahu
(except for a token suspension of a few shipments of bombs that was
quickly superseded by massive deliveries of new weapons) is what all
but ensured that his May cease-fire proposal
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wither and die."

Duss' organization published a brief Monday outlining five steps
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is urging the Biden administration to take to bring Israel's war on
Gaza to an end, prevent the entire region from plunging into all-out
war, and lay the groundwork for a sustainable peace.

The steps are:

* Finally use U.S. leverage to press for a full cease-fire;
* Fully enforce U.S. law and arms policy to ensure accountability
and adequate humanitarian aid delivery;
* Focus diplomacy toward a just resolution of the
Israeli-Palestinian conflict on multilateral rather than bilateral
normalization efforts;
* Take meaningful anti-occupation, anti-annexation steps; and
* Substantially expand support for the Palestinian people and
Palestinian leaders who seek peace with Israel
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"We see the anguish of Israelis who lost loved ones and whose
government has prioritized clinging to power above the return of
hostages taken among other atrocities in the Hamas-led attacks against
Israeli communities one year ago," said Nancy Okail, CIP's president
and CEO. "We cannot look away from the tens of thousands of
Palestinian civilians killed, wounded, orphaned, and malnourished as a
result of Israel's ongoing and often indiscriminate assault on Gaza."

"And we are outraged," Okail added, "as the United States government
continues to arm this carnage in violation of its own laws, hobbling
the diplomacy it is engaged in to end the fighting and stop its spread
to Lebanon and beyond."

Since October 7, the Biden administration has sent Israel over 50,000
tons of weaponry and other military equipment. A report released
Monday by the Costs of War project estimates
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the U.S. government has approved $17.9 billion in "security assistance
for Israeli military operations in Gaza and elsewhere since October
7."

That aid, along with the assistance of other world powers and
the inertia of global institutions
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has helped Israel's military inflict incalculable physical
and psychological
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on Gaza's population, which is overwhelmingly young.

"These last 12 months are not only a marker of the brutal violence
inflicted on Palestinians but an indictment of our collective
humanity," said
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Association of International Development Agencies, a coalition of more
than 80 aid organizations. "It reflects the failure of the
international order—particularly powerful nations whose inaction and
enabling of Israel's actions have compounded Palestinian suffering and
shattered international norms. This failure extends far beyond Gaza,
undermining the very foundations of what the global community has
strived to uphold since its establishment."

Amnesty International
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Agnès Callamard, who previously served as a U.N. special rapporteur,
also decried
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violence of the past year and the inability to secure a cease-fire as
"a collective failure of humanity."

"This anniversary is a sobering reminder of the urgent need to address
the root causes, cut the supply of arms to all parties, and end
longstanding impunity that have seen Israeli forces, Hamas, and other
armed groups flout international law for decades without fearing any
consequences," said Callamard. "The world must never forget the
victims and the anguish of the affected families. Humanity must
prevail."

_Jake Johnson is a senior editor and staff writer for Common Dreams._

* Israel-Gaza War
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* October 7 Anniversary
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* Fight for peace
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