Dear Dad,
It was an enormously heavy responsibility you raised me with. You taught me that the Jews have beenoppressed for centuries. You taught me that the holocaust could only happen because the Germans were silent.You taught me that Jews must never, never, never be silent when injustice occurs, because our silence makes uscomplicit.
You taught me about history, and you taught me by your actions. As a rabbi, you preached against racism inthe south, and had to leave a pulpit in Louisiana when they threatened to kill our family. You worked for openhousing laws, insisting that there should be no ghettos in America like the ones your parents had lived in inEurope. You counseled Jewish kids who were conscientious objectors, eliciting the hostility of many whobelieved that the Vietnam war was a valiant struggle for justice in our time.
It is a heavy responsibility I carry now. Because now I am complicit. I have not stood in front of thetanks that are killing other mothers' children in refugee camps. I have not ridden in ambulances to help themget past checkpoints so that the injured could be cured. I have not laid in front of the bulldozers to preventtheir destroying a family's shelter.
What can I do about this injustice?
Palestinians are losing their property, their lives, and their children every day. The Israeli army shootsat unarmed civilians, imposing collective punishments that make it impossible for Palestinians to get food,water, or power. For decades, Israel has paid settlers to move into occupied territory.
International law reflects the consensus of the world’s sense of right. International law seeks toprotect the powerless. And international law is clear. Occupying countries have to protect the lives andproperty of the local population. It is not legal to establish settlements at all. Why do Israel and the USpay Israelis to move into them?
There are Palestinian terrorists. They have been raised under occupation. Know what? Israeli soldiers treatoccupied people the same way other armies have treated occupied people. The stories are horrendous. Arbitrarybeatings. Tauntings. Killings. Arrests without charge. Torture. Threatening parents in front of children.Stepping on "prisoners" trying to move between check points. Strip searches. The use of power tohumiliate.
When people are humiliated, and have no homes to return to because the homes have been destroyed by theoccupying army, When people are humiliated, and have no family to hold them in their arms because they havebeen shot and unable to get medical care, When people are humiliated, and have no hope for the future, Theysee no alternative to violence.
You taught me Judaism’s universal message. "I am a Jew because in all places where there are tears andsuffering the Jew weeps." I believed Edmond Fleg’s words, "I am a Jew because Israel places man and hisunity above nations and above Israel itself."
Dad, we have become the oppressors. One rabbinic student told me years ago when I lived in Israel that thiswas the meaning behind the warning to remember that we were slaves in the land of Egypt. We were warned toremember, because sometimes slaves want to become masters.
We are the oppressors, and we are also the victims. Jews are being killed, and at the same time, the moralimperative that you taught me was part of being Jewish seems to be vanishing. I believe that Jews are beingused by an American administration to accomplish its own ends, ends that have nothing to do with the ideals ofJews. We need to shout aloud that 80% of the billions that the US gives Israel in aid must be spent onweapons, and that more than half of those weapons are built in Texas. And Jews are being used by an Israeligovernment that has no interest except territorial expansion. Sharon is the ideological heir to Jabotinsky.Land for peace was never in that ideology. War makes conquest possible, and all the people of Israel andPalestine are being drawn, tragically and together, into that war.
We must act, and we must act immediately. Jews are being used to legitimize the slaughter of Palestinians.
Please, Dad, tell me how to be like you taught me to be. How do I stop being complicit?
I love you.
Sarah
(Sarah Shields is an associate professor of Middle East history at UNC Chapel Hill. E-mail: sshields@email.unc.eduThis piece first appeared on www.commondreams.org)
