How to talk about Israel and Gaza on a college campus (or anywhere else)
Seeking moral clarity
Friends,
A few months ago I met with a group of students to talk about what’s happening in Israel and Gaza. Some were Jewish, some were Palestinian.
I'm sharing what we discussed again in hopes that it might be helpful to others in discussing this ongoing tragedy.
The purpose of the meeting was to see what they could agree on, morally.
As you can imagine, emotions ran high.
I suggested that, at least for the purpose of our conversation, they not think of themselves as either “Pro-Palestinian” or “Pro-Israel” but instead look deeper into what basic moral principles were at stake.
After several hours, they agreed to seven moral principles.
I list them here — along with the process we went through — in hopes that they might be helpful to others in thinking about and discussing this ongoing tragedy.
What Hamas did on October 7 was morally despicable. (Some of the students wanted to explain why Hamas did it — about the accumulated grievances and gruesome history suffered by many Palestinians, especially those in Gaza — but they finally came around to distinguishing between an explanation and a justification. In the end, even those who understood why Hamas did what it did on October 7 agreed that the killings and kidnappings of innocent civilians were not morally justifiable.)
Hamas’s avowed aim to murder all Jews is morally despicable. (Again, we spent time distinguishing between an explanation and a justification.)
What the Israeli government has done since then in Gaza is also morally despicable. Some students initially wanted to defend Israel by saying that after October 7, Israelis could not feel safe as long as Hamas existed, and therefore Hamas had to be rooted out. This precipitated a discussion about how Hamas could be rooted out without the killing of innocent civilians, including large numbers of children. Which got us to our next principle.
The murder or kidnapping of innocent civilians is morally wrong. This was not a difficult principle for them to agree on, although several argued that warfare always involved the killing of innocent civilians, while others charged that Hamas was intentionally using innocent civilians as shields.
Israel’s policies toward Palestinians have been segregation and discrimination, based on ethnicity and religion, which are morally wrong. This was a hard principle for many of the students to accept, because they had different understandings of history. So the discussion was difficult. But all of them finally came around. (Most, although not all, decided that a so-called “two-state solution” was necessary, but we didn’t get into the specifics or how it could be achieved, because I wanted to keep them on the track of seeking moral clarity and agreement.)
It is morally wrong to urge genocide against any group — whether they constitute a religion, ethnicity, race, or nation. No disagreement on this. Some participants were initially unsure of whether universities should permit such advocacy on campus (the presidents of Penn, M.I.T., and Harvard temporized when asked this at a congressional hearing last week), but all finally agreed that it should not be permitted.
All of us have a moral obligation to do everything within our power to prevent and stop all forms of genocide, all killing of innocent civilians, and the promotion of hate. All agreed on this.
Today is Passover. Go Down Moses. Herer's what I got from J Street.
Daniel,
“On Passover, we're supposed to imagine ourselves coming out of Egypt,” Noam Peri, the daughter of 80-year-old hostage Chaim Peri said last week, “Now we must imagine ourselves, or our 80-year-old fathers, as captives in Gaza.”
I’m a secular Israeli kibbutznik, culturally Jewish. But this year, like so many others, I'm finding deeper meaning in the symbolism of Passover.
Almost every day since October 7, I’ve volunteered with the Hostage Family’s Forum headquarters here in Israel. I have friends who were killed or taken hostage, and I am committed to doing everything in my power to return each and every hostage to their family’s arms.
This Passover will be uniquely painful for those I have worked with. Chairs left empty at the seder table for the very first time. The absence of a brother’s laugh, a daughter’s jokes, a parent’s embrace.
At our seders, we not only remember and recall the story of the Israelites held captive in Egypt and the Exodus, but we re-enact it. We celebrate hard-earned freedom and re-learn the values of compassion and empathy, even for our enemies. We are called upon not to forget the pain of oppression and suffering, and our calling to build a better future.
But while over 130 people remain held hostage in Gaza – and with time running out as dozens are reported to have died – many Jews in Israel and around the world feel that we cannot celebrate that freedom. For many of us too, a family feast of celebration strikes a discordant note while so many families in both Israel and Gaza endure unfathomable grief.
As we gather for the holiday, many of us will leave empty seats at our tables, keeping the hostages vividly in our minds. A reminder that the struggle for freedom is not over. Together, we will draw strength from Moses’ persistent, brave demand of the Pharaoh: “Let my people go!”
Today, on behalf of J Street, I reiterate the call we have made for more than six months now: For the immediate, unconditional release of all those held captive.
There can be no excuse for the crime of hostage-taking. For the relentless pain and anguish Hamas has inflicted on so many families. We will never cease to demand loudly and clearly: Let our people go.
J Street continues to urge American and global leaders to exert firm pressure on all parties involved to reach an urgent deal that reunites families with their loved ones and ends the devastation in Gaza. Currently, this means demanding that countries such as Qatar, Egypt and others with influence on Hamas exert all possible leverage to press them toward compromise.
As hostage families repeatedly tell anyone who will listen: Time is running out.
At this stage, only a negotiated ceasefire can bring freedom for the hostages, end the devastation and allow life-saving aid to safely reach families in Gaza. Longer term, we must work to isolate and disempower Hamas, including by charting a peaceful, diplomatic path toward resolving this conflict once and for all, and ensuring the horrors of October 7 and the ensuing war can never be repeated.
Just as I feel deep empathy with the suffering of hostages, I also share in the pain of families in Gaza struggling to survive – a people hoping to one day achieve their own freedom and self-determination. As the Passover story teaches us, no people should be denied that right.
On behalf of all of us at J Street, I wish you a meaningful Passover. May we draw strength from one another. May we share in our collective pursuit of freedom, safety and security for all Israelis and Palestinians.
Yours sincerely,
Nadav Tamir
Executive Director, J Street Israel
It took SEVERAL HOURS to come to agreement that discrimination based on religion and ethnicity, murder, kidnapping, and genocide are morally despicable and wrong?
Good grief.