I expressed my disgust with the electorate and the election results.
She said, “But things are just as bad for Jews under either candidate.”
I gaped inwardly and probably outwardly and said, “You’re joking, right?”
She said no, and started talking about the war in Gaza: that the Jews are fighting for our right to live, but the Palestinians are fighting to exterminate us.
I said that most Palestinians were not Hamas, but innocent people trying to live, as well.
She said they were not. She said that Palestinian mothers raised their children to sacrifice themselves in suicide bombings.*
I said, “…I don’t believe that.”
She said, “That’s because you’re a good person. But it’s true.”
Then we had to end the conversation because we had to leave. Also, I needed time to process these ideas.
So I processed them, talking through them with my partner, who said flatly, “Dehumanizing people makes it easier to kill them.”
My responses now that I’ve “processed”:
- No mother that is not mentally ill raises a child just to see them die. It also can’t be known fact; the only evidence is apocryphal.
- Pirke Avot: “To save one life is to save the whole world.” In other words, to take a life is to snuff out the whole world. This is a Jewish value. If we are living according to our values, killing forty thousand and more Palestinians is absolutely unthinkable. It is genocide, no matter what jaunty spin you put on it. At this point, you are not “protecting” Israel. You are trying to exterminate The Others. We (Jewish people) should know this better than anyone else, and hold ourselves to a higher standard. Call it what it is: GENOCIDE. You can huff and puff and clutch your pearls about that word, but face your actions. Maybe you’re genociding because you’re afraid, because you feel threatened. Maybe you’re genociding because you need a scapegoat and European Jewry will do. It’s a moot point to the victims.
- And I would like to take this argument back to our side of the world: Electing Kamala would have shouted the statement “we will not put up with racism, mysogyny, and” yes, AND, “antisemitism.” Electing Trump? The country has said, “Most of us have given permission to persecute whomever we feel like, so GO TO TOWN!”
“But groceries are expensive!” Hate to break it to you, but they’re not going to get cheaper. But now people won’t be getting any help for it.
Yeah. I’m disgusted. That’s my reaction to this worst of all timelines. Have a great fucking day.
*Terribly, this is not the first time I’ve heard this.