When I was growing up in Whitefish Bay, I had the privilege of belonging to Congregation Shalom and learning from Rabbi Ronald Shapiro.
His soft-spoken, heartfelt sermons always struck a chord, and I find myself thinking about several to this day.
One sermon told a parable about the futile attempts of a man to throw innumerable beached starfish back into the sea, saving the lives of only a few. Shapiro taught us the sanctity of all life, and how the most important thing a person can do is save it, even just one.
I joined Jewish Voice for Peace as a way to follow that principle. We understand a major cause of violence against Israeli Jews to be Israel’s role as a settler/occupier.
JVP seeks a U.S. foreign policy based on peace, democracy, human rights and respect for international law. We desire an end to the Israeli occupation, an end to all violence against civilians and peace among the peoples of the Middle East.
What also drove me to join JVP is the desire to connect with other Jews who can no longer stomach what is being done with our tax dollars and with the support of many of our friends and families.
The people of Gaza, told to leave when the bombs started dropping this summer, had nowhere to go. The thousands of stories of lives lost were too much for many of us, and we joined a rapidly growing group that stands up and says “Not in Our Name!”
In the Torah portion of my bar mitzvah, I read the story of the Golden Calf. This familiar story cautions against the raising up of idols over God. Increasingly today, some are making the State of Israel that Golden Calf.
Not supporting every aspect of Israeli policy does not make one any less Jewish, just as questioning our government here doesn’t make one less American. We are concerned with the survival of Jewish humanity.
Many Jewish organizations supported the violence in Gaza this summer, and many of those directly support the Israel Defense Forces. These rallies caused many JVP members to feel estranged from our communities, religion and loved ones.
On Dec. 7, JVP-Milwaukee held its inaugural event, presenting Rabbi Brant Rosen, co-founder and co-chair of JVP’s rabbinical council.
He spoke of the genuine Jewish spiritual commitment to justice and tikkun olam (repair of the world). He has crossed the country helping build a movement of Jews who stand with Palestinians in their struggle for human and civil rights.
But as Rosen said, “Zionism as a litmus test is pushing out [of the Jewish community] our best and brightest.”
During protests for peace organized in Israel during Operation Protective Edge, bands of what can only be called young fascists were roaming the streets, looking to beat Arabs and Leftists, and succeeding in some cases. This type of violence is absolutely intolerable to us as Jews, and specifically as JVP.
Recently we saw how Israel is not a serious partner in the peace process. During a non-violent protest to mark International Human Rights Day on Dec. 10, Palestinian Authority minister Ziad Abu Ein was grasped in the throat and struck to the ground by an Israeli policeman and died as a result.
[Editor’s note: News reports state that Jordanian and Palestinian physicians disagree with Israeli physicians about whether the confrontation or a heart attack caused by Abu Ein’s pre-existing high blood pressure and diabetes killed him.]
Abu Ein, who called for 2015 to be the year of Palestinian non-violent struggle, represented the kind of partner for peace that Israel claims to look for. As the Israeli human rights organization B’Tselem pointed out on its website on Dec. 10, it is Israeli policy to prohibit and to disperse, often violently, any form of Palestinian protest in the West Bank.
Even if you ignore state violence against the Palestinians, Israel shows itself to be insincere in its desire for a peaceful two-state solution when it continually appropriates more land for settlements.
Around 40 percent of the West Bank is “state land” and is for (illegal) settlement by Jews only.
One of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s potential challengers in the coming elections, Naftali Bennett, Minister of the Economy and leader of the Jewish Home party, has said, “There will not be a Palestinian state west of Jordan” (YNet News, Oct. 1).
JVP does not take a stance on the one- versus two-state solutions. It does, however, have a slogan that I believe works for us as American Jews: “Israelis and Palestinians: Two Peoples, One Future.”
It is up to those people to determine their joint future. It is our job to make sure each side is given equal opportunity to do so, and that our Jewish identity is not used in support of more violence against innocent people.
Matt Sostock is one of the founding members of the new Milwaukee chapter of Jewish Voice for Peace.
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