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Friends, we decided to post something out of the norm this time. The situation in Israel has deteriorated to a horrifying point.
Bibi Netanyahu and his sycophants have instigated this latest round of violence between Israel and Hamas, Hamas took them up on it and launched rockets over most of Israel, and the Israeli retaliation is severe.
We both believe that Palestinians deserve their own country and the rights that every citizen should have. The violence must stop.
If you’d like more information about what’s going on, our comments and DM’s are open and I’m always happy to give my personal perspective and listen as well. The nature of the events and history that brought us to this point are complicated.
My dear friend, Maya Crabtree, who lives in Tel-Aviv with her partner and daughter had this to say about her feelings regarding what’s happening:
“I’m angry because I know that citizens here and on the other side - we are all pawns being used by corrupt and forceful leaders who make us out to be enemies of each other, when we are actually the same.
�“I’m sad because the siblings of the child who was killed in Sderot and the brother of the children who were killed in Gaza - they will grow up into a life of tragedy and hate, made to be enemies without ever choosing that path.
“I hear the family of the child who died in Sderot from rocket shrapnel, and the weeping father of the child who was burned by a homemade bomb that an extreme-right Jewish faction threw into his home. I imagine that this is my daughter and I get torn up inside.
“These kids are more similar to each other than adults. These kids might not know or don’t understand what religion, race or nationality is yet. They just want to play. And if they would’ve met each other by chance at some playground when they’re hale and healthy, they would get along much better than us adults know how to. They absolutely know better than us. But we adults make the decisions on their future, and we ruin it.”
Thank you also to my friend Shirley Shani for adding her voice and thoughts.
The song I’m singing is called ‘I Have No Other Country’ that Israeli poet and lyricist Ehud Manor wrote in the 80’s and Korin Al’al put to music.
We love you all very much,
Maya, Christopher, and Jackson.
Video and photos of joint Israeli-Arab peace protests via Dov Chenin, Ben Cohen. Videos of bombings via BBC.