It's Entirely Possible to Protest Without Scapegoating...

 It's entirely possible

to protest the actions

of a nation's leaders

or armed forces

without scapegoating

all members

of that nation,

or its main religion,

race, or ethnicity.

There is no need

to blame all Israelis

or all Jewish people

for the actions

of Netanyahu, Likud,

the Settlers, or the IDF.

To do so is Antisemitism.

Just like there is no need

to blame all Palestinians,

all Arabs, or all Muslims

for the actions of

Hamas or Hezbollah.

To do so is Islamophobia.

Hold the perpetrators accountable

for their violence,

and leave the civilians alone.

There has already been enough

collective punishment

and too many cycles of revenge.

And pay attention

to the brave Jewish people

and Israeli citizens

risking their own safety

to protest in the streets

to bring food to the starving

to free the captives

to be the peacemakers

And pay attention

to the brave Palestinians

and Muslims and Christians

doing the same work

to build peace

and bring healing

and to end this miserable war.

Le Anne Clausen de Montes, 2024

As A Former Humanitarian Worker (in Gaza)...

As a former humanitarian worker who spent time in Gaza (as well as the West Bank, Israel and Iraq for the bulk of my time) and hearing the news about the World Central Kitchen workers... it's been a rough week, to say the least.

Of course, the killing of humanitarian aid workers by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) is nothing new. To date, 196 humanitarian workers have been killed in Gaza since October 7th, and the UN and several other international agencies have said this has been the deadliest war to date for humanitarian aid workers since such records were kept.

https://www.cnn.com/middleeast/live-news/israel-hamas-war-gaza-news-04-02-24/h_56a5326b5a20d73f2c230f452c37c5b1#:~:text=The%20ongoing%20war%20between%20Israel%20and%20Hamas%20has,in%20any%20other%20conflict%20since%20at%20least%201997.

It has also so far been the deadliest war for children, according to the UN and other international sources, since such records were kept. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/11/7/is-israels-gaza-war-the-deadliest-conflict-for-children-in-modern-times

And I do get that in large part, people who haven't lived there, day in and day out, just really do not understand.

Seven international humanitarian aid workers from the World Central Kitchen were killed by the IDF, in targeted drone strikes to their clearly-marked vehicles, leaving their clearly-marked aid warehouse. Seeing the photos of the wreckage, with the holes from the missiles going right through the car-roof-sized agency logos, is simply nauseating.

The official story is that the military leaders forgot to communicate the aid workers' movements to the soldiers in charge of the drones. In response, many international aid agencies have paused operations in Gaza, and people are starving, and without water, electricity, healthcare, fuel, or shelter.

(And yes, while everyone knows that what Hamas did was utterly appalling-- 1,200 Israelis killed and 129 civilian and military hostages still being held-- Israelis are not starving, without water, electricity, healthcare, fuel, or shelter. This is an important humanitarian distinction). Meanwhile, 3,500 Palestinians are being held hostage by Israeli leaders as 'Administrative Detainees,' (held without charges or due process), according to Israeli human rights organization Ha'Moked: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/03/28/world/middleeast/palestinians-detained-in-israel.html#:~:text=More%20than%203%2C500%20Palestinian%20detainees%20are%20being%20held,the%20war%2C%20but%20Israel%20has%20increased%20its%20use.

The WCF workers' deaths caught the attention of the world, but it's been so many more, and this is a pattern that has gone on for years. Decades, actually.

Most people who visit short-term simply do not see or understand the daily realities of the Occupation.

I still believe these folks *can* learn, by reading the reports and testimonies from *both* the Israeli and Palestinian human rights organizations who have been working there for years and decades: Rabbis for Human Rights, B'Tselem, Gush Shalom, Ha'Moked, the Israeli Committee Against Housing Demolitions, Breaking the Silence- Israel, the Women in Black, and so on.

... if they want to, and choose to follow through...

I am deeply disappointed in friends who would never give credence to anything reported on Fox News, or anything our own Authoritarian MAGA movement leader says in the United States, and who consider themselves progressive on every other issue imaginable... and yet they fall for right-wing extremist propaganda that even most Israelis wouldn't accept. Even the Ha'aretz newspaper (the most widely-read English/ Hebrew Israeli news source) states in its daily update, Israel at War:

"The war comes after ten months of the most significant domestic [Israeli] political and social crisis in decades, due to legislation promoted by the Netanyahu government aimed at dramatically weakening Israel's judiciary and potentially rescuing Netanyahu from the three corruption trials he faces – and amid an escalation of violence between West Bank Palestinians and Israeli settlers, the latter empowered by Israel's most right-wing government ever."

(Hmm...Sound like anybody we know here in these United States?)

Why any decent person would admire Netanyahu or believe anything he says or does is beyond me. Again, his own people know better--and that's why they've been out in the streets by the tens of thousands protesting his government since last summer. That's why the families of the hostages are among the most vocal for his removal from office.

And yet people in the United States fall for him, and everything he stands for,

hook,
line,
and
sinker.

Along with all the pro-war propaganda from the weapons lobby.

Working for nonviolent resolutions to conflict just doesn't sell as many megabucks, megaton bombs.

And they ignore not only the Israeli human rights and peacemaking organizations, but also U.S. Jewish peacemaking organizations, like Peace Now and A Jewish Voice for Peace.

Ugh. Will they ever learn?

On a Veterans' Day in the Midst of Yet Another War

So very often,

Those who make decisions about waging war

Do not pay the consequences of war

And what I want for you

Although I know you are strong,

and brave,

Is to come home with all your fingers and toes

your arms and legs, yes

your beautiful faces, yes, and

your Whole soul.

I know pieces of my soul

are scattered

across Iraq, Afghanistan,

Syria and Lebanon

Palestine and Israel

and Central America

I saw a lot of war, after all,

and death

even though I never held a gun

I met a lot of young soldiers

who were alive, yet

something in them had died

or was slowly dying

I think about all who left

chunks of their souls

and perhaps also

chunks of their bodies

In Viet Nam, Korea, Germany

All over the earth

In ways most of us can only begin to fathom

And so we might say,

'Thank you for your service' today

It's harder to say,

'How are you...really?'

and to listen

It's painful to say,

'Here we are again...'

Heal your children, O Lord

Inside and out

Set aside the egos of the powerful

so no more of our young must die

or be destroyed

Bring forth among us healers,

so that we may work together

to heal our broken world

Because You have made this world

Beautiful,

O God,

And You

have created it

for Peace.

(c)2023 LCdM

Unholy War in a Land We Call 'Holy'

Perhaps, like myself, you are following the news from the land we call 'Holy,' with a mixture of grief, horror, and dread.

So many dead, in just a few brief days.

Even though twenty years have now passed since the years I lived there (2000-2003), I still think of my friends--both Palestinian and Israeli--every time I hear the news, which is nearly every day.

I am ever more firmly rooted in my belief that there is no military solution to this crisis. Every death, every killing, merely prolongs the conflict.

Killing civilians is wrong.

Targeting civilians is wrong.

'Civilians' is not a religion, a nationality, nor an ethnic group; but rather the people who choose not to be armed combatants-- they are children, mothers, the elderly, and people with disabilities. And yet so often, they pay the heaviest price in times of armed conflict.

There is no human life that is more valuable or precious than any other human being's life on this planet, regardless of religion, race, age, disability or ability, language, nationality, ethnicity, wealth or poverty, or any other human factor.

And even the mothers and families of armed combatants--whether those in an officially recognized military, or an unofficially-recognized 'militant group'--mourn their dead. And so often the ones who are sent to fight are not the ones who made the decisions to go to war.

The only path forward is one that recognizes the full humanity of each human person; full human and civil rights; a path that provides for each human being's need for food, shelter, water, clean air, an education and vocation; and the ability to live next to each other as neighbors in a civil society.

I believe such a path is possible, and I lament that so much time has been wasted pursuing so many other dead ends.