An echo, two data points, and more resources
I want to echo these words from a statement put out by over twenty human rights organizations in Israel, including some organizations that we work with: B’Tselem, Parents Circle-Families Forum, Breaking the Silence, Rabbis for Human Rights, and Combatants for Peace.
“Even now – especially now – we must maintain our moral and humane position and refuse to give in to despair or the urge for vengeance. Keeping our faith in the human spirit and its inherent goodness is more vital than ever. One thing is clear: We will never surrender our belief in humanity - even now, when doing so is more challenging than ever.”
Initially, I thought this war would play out like previous Israel-Hamas wars. I was wrong. No one knows where this is going. The world may never be the same when this is over. Here are two grim figures to give you some sense of the scale of this tragedy.
Hamas militants killed more than 1300 Israelis in one day, Oct 7. Adjusted for population, this is the equivalent of losing 46,000 Americans in one day. This figure of 1300 casualties is higher than Israel suffered during the roughly five most intense years of the Second Intifada (Sept 2000-Feb 2005), in which Palestinian militants carried out 138 attacks and killed 1,038 Israelis.
On Thursday, the Israeli Defense Force announced that it had dropped more than 6000 bombs on Gaza. That’s roughly 1000 bombs a day on area roughly twice the size of Washington, D.C U.S. military records show that “the highest number of bombs and other munitions dropped in one year during the war in Afghanistan was just over 7,423.” This is an astonishing abandonment of morality.
I have three podcast episodes that offer informative and fair analysis:
The Daily: Michael Barbaro interviews former Jerusalem bureau chief at the New York Times, Steven Erlanger
Lever Time with David Sirota: Journalist David Sirota with two foreign policy experts, Matt Duss and Daniel Bessner
Pod Save the World: Another episode with ex-Obama foreign policy advisors Tommy Veitor and Ben Rhodes, and guest Gregg Carlstrom, the Middle East correspondent for The Economist
Here are some links to articles/tweets. These lean toward information/explanation from the Palestinian perspective. I am assuming that the Israeli viewpoint is more mainstream and accessible to most of you.
This short article outlines the infrastructure damage in Gaza from Israeli bombardments.
This is yesterday’s entry from a running diary by a Palestinian woman named, Maram Humaid, who lives with her family in Gaza.
This is a Twitter thread on a brief history of Gaza and Hamas from 1967-1986 from an expert on Palestinian history, Zachary Foster. Dr. Foster’s thread is biased, purposefully so, I assume. Perhaps he would disagree. I see his thread as an attempt by a reputable scholar to explain the Palestinian side of Gaza and Hamas, in which Israel plays a bigger role than most people might assume.
Contrast Bernie Sanders to President Biden. Israel/Palestine is a huge blindspot for Biden. Sanders continues to demonstrate bravery.
Love on your people this weekend.