Human Rights stories
Barber tells of his trip to various schools throughout the Strip in 1995 to meet students. A young man implores him:
“Please go home and tell the world that we are not all terrorists.”
Ascherman said, “One thing I can promise [to Palestinians], you will not be alone.” His voice broke. “Like when our doors were broken down. You will not be alone. We will do whatever, whatever, whatever we can.”
Common threads are apparent worldwide. The populist right stokes economic fears, nationalism, and anti-immigration sentiment, mixed with “culture war” talking points, to foster an environment of ongoing turmoil. These approaches are combined with attacks on checks and balances, freedom of the press, and scapegoating specific groups.
Clearly, it will be the people who can hold two narratives simultaneously that will lead the fight for change in the “Holy Land.”
A long-time fixture in New York politics and former President of the human rights organization, American Jewish World Service, Ruth Messinger, told me, “I’m here because Torah states we can’t stand idly by. Starvation is not an appropriate weapon of war.”
Reading Postcards to Hitler: A German Jew’s Defiance in a Time of Terror during the first one hundred days of the Trump regime, it was impossible not to see the equivalencies to America and to feel inquietude at the parallels.
Khouri and Wilkinson advocate for a commitment to “deep listening,” stressing that engaging with stories from the other side will allow a shift from prioritizing internalized viewpoints to being open to new perspectives despite the angst it triggers.
With Jewish extremists trying to present Palestinian citizens of Israel as a fifth column, Standing Together is focusing on the de-escalation of those inflammatory messages, reframing the dialogue with their code words: “We’re in this together.”
Explaining the genesis of her book, Day said, “I’m trying to memorialize what the average person should know about sex trafficking.”
Rabbi Jill Jacobs of T’ruah gave the final speech. An article in Haaretz recently profiled her as one of the new female leaders challenging the entrenched structure of the male Jewish legacy organizations. She told the demonstrators, “It’s important for me to be here. We’re dealing with a settler government. Occupation is destroying Judaism.” She referenced the Biblical metaphor: “A calf doesn’t have to be golden. It can be a state.”
"The Jump Rope Line" by Marcia G. Yerman is included in the Seal Press anthology Dancing at the Shame Prom.
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