One Year Since October 7/War in Gaza began

[AJL]

I wanted to make a post about this yesterday, but I couldn't come up with anything that I thought was meaningful enough or truly encompassed how tragic the events have been that have unfolded since that day a year ago. 

For some people this is a very black and white, a clear aggressor/victim situation. For others, it's murky and confusing and challenges so much of what they believed in. I sit in the latter camp for this. 

Tens of thousands of people have died. Millions are displaced from their homes. Citizens of several counties sit in the middle of a firestorm unleashed by mad men. Most people in the middle east just want to live their lives with full rights and benefits to their land and to a peaceful life. A country built with a desire to protect a people (and yes, I know that is sanitizing things) after the most horrific decimation in its thousands of years history has pushed so far in the other direction that it's lost its way. It has become the aggressor, the belligerent that it fought to save its people from. 

No one wins in this war. No one. We push ourselves further apart when we don't witness and respect the pain and anger the other is experiencing. I think I'm writing this to myself in as much as I'm writing it to y'all. No one mentioned this anniversary yesterday and I didn't want it to go unnoticed. 

I would love this thread to be a place of reflection and kindness to each other. 

[aurora]

Sending Internet hugs to all of our posters who have been so heavily impacted by this conflict. I am still hoping that we can find a way to a peaceful solution that allows everyone to live the life they deserve.

[laladypoet]

I'm not Jewish, but as an American I was raised to believe Israel were the good guys. this entire last year has blown that to pieces, literally. I have seen things I can't unsee, things that will haunt me forever, and I'm very removed from the situation compared to others. so I know my feelings don't matter as much but I'm still so angry. I don't think Biden or Israel have learned anything frankly. now they're moving into Lebanon. I have no kind words.

[AJL]

Oct 8, 2024 8:40:43 GMT -5 laladypoet said:

I'm not Jewish, but as an American I was raised to believe Israel were the good guys. this entire last year has blown that to pieces, literally. I have seen things I can't unsee, things that will haunt me forever, and I'm very removed from the situation compared to others. so I know my feelings don't matter as much but I'm still so angry. I don't think Biden or Israel have learned anything frankly. now they're moving into Lebanon. I have no kind words.

I definitely feel this. I have no kind words for the government of Israel either or hard liners. Zero. And I'm right there with you when you say that your perspective on Israel has been blown to pieces. 

[cville]

My heart is so broken and I am so angry, I didn't even know what to say. The only thing that is inarguable is that the suffering on each side, and now spreading to the larger region, is needless, cruel, and not in the interest of the vast majority of (any?) people.

It feels impossible to acknowledge any of the decades of all-encompassing pain and loss without that acknowledgment being perceived as endorsement of something dogmatic and unforgiveable.

I am growing hopeless about resolution but want to remain hopeful. I am disillusioned with leadership there and at home but want to believe that somehow there is a way for sensitive and thoughtful people to find their way to power and to seek peace.

I, in my not organized religion way, pray in my heart for all of you who are affected.

[laladypoet]

Oct 8, 2024 8:48:26 GMT -5 AJL said:

Oct 8, 2024 8:40:43 GMT -5 laladypoet said:

I'm not Jewish, but as an American I was raised to believe Israel were the good guys. this entire last year has blown that to pieces, literally. I have seen things I can't unsee, things that will haunt me forever, and I'm very removed from the situation compared to others. so I know my feelings don't matter as much but I'm still so angry. I don't think Biden or Israel have learned anything frankly. now they're moving into Lebanon. I have no kind words.

I definitely feel this. I have no kind words for the government of Israel either or hard liners. Zero. And I'm right there with you when you say that your perspective on Israel has been blown to pieces. 

I'm really sorry. that's got to be so difficult.

[fryjack2]

I almost posted yesterday as well but didn’t feel as though it was my place, as I am not Jewish.

I did reach out to my many Jewish friends yesterday to let them know I was thinking of them and hope that this next year is more peaceful. I should have done the same here but to be honest, was waiting for a post like this to do so.

I don’t know how to articulate words for my thoughts. Basically I know many people who are now realizing what they have been told is in fact not true. Jewish people, Palestinians, Americans, People around the world, Israelis….
And watching that awakening , after 78 years of knowing the truth, but not being able to say, “we have not been lying. We are not animals. We are not all wanting to see Jewish people dead. This is not about being Jewish (not Zionist that believe all the land is theirs). This is an immoral apartheid system.” Because the messaging has always been that Israel is the good guy and criticizing it is antisemitic.

I do know that my friends and now family in Gaza, and now my family in the West Bank do not deserve what they are subjected to. And Jewish people do not deserve the antisemitism they experience historically and more so now. And that people in Israel and Palestine deserve to be free and safe with governments that care about peace and their wellbeing.

[fryjack2]

@ajl. I think of you often. I have seen your posts change and I know how hard it must be to question what you have been taught or see Netanyahu continue to do what he is doing.

I have felt that way many times over the years when Palestinian leaders to things that are counterintuitive to peace. Or when I share my views on the region (I believe that Israel should be recognized but that they need to stay within the borders of 1948 for any chance at peace) with other Palestinians who believe that all the land should be returned to them. It’s an uncomfortable place to be when you feel like a “trader” to your people as I have been called.

Sending you and all our Jewish posters love and hope for peace.