Cruel Compendium #63 🇵🇸

Links for solidarity with Palestine

Nov 14, 2023

Solidarity with Palestine

On Sunday I joined more than 10,000 people in a march from the Texas Capitol through downtown Austin in solidarity with a free Palestine. It was the largest protest I’ve been a part of here in Austin, and it was emotional and heartening to see how just many people made sure they were there; dozens of buses that drove in from all over the state lined the streets. I took careful notice of children with their parents, giggling, hugging, laughing, sleeping, a dad pressing his lips to his young son’s face and pulling him in close.

More than 11,000 Palestinians have been killed in the last five weeks, nearly half of them children. I carried them with me that day.

Hundreds of thousands of people have joined protests for Palestine around the world, even in the face of censorship and potential job loss. This is a collective awakening.

I stand for the safety, freedom, and humanity of the Palestinian people. I do not accept the mass killing and forced displacement of Palestinian civilians by the Israeli military. The Palestinian people need each and every one of us to stand up against war crimes, illegal occupation, and oppression TODAY. They are watching their homes crumble, walking miles, losing limbs, starving, dying at this very moment.

I have learned that nothing can be assumed or left unsaid during this time, so I also want to be clear: I am mourning with the Jewish community for the 1200 people brutally killed in Israel by Hamas, including more than 800 civilians from many nationalities. Antisemitism is real, it is on the rise globally, and it is never acceptable. I will stand up to antisemitism whenever I see or hear it. I ache for the fear and pain many Jewish people are rightfully feeling right now. I continue to hope along with the loved ones of those who are kidnapped that each and every one of them will return home safely.

I do not equate all Israelis (or, of course, Jewish people) with the Israeli leadership or military. Nor do I equate the people of Palestine with Hamas.

Now, I must stand in my values to do what I can to help save Palestinian lives. I have been furiously educating myself and practicing careful media literacy. Everything shared below I have read, watched, or listened to myself. I hope these links offer you knowledge and growth, as they did for me.

I am only one, but together we are many.
None are free until all are free.

LINKS

Oct. 10: The UN Independent International Commission of Inquiry “has been collecting and preserving evidence of war crimes committed by all sides since 7 October 2023.
Reports that armed groups from Gaza have gunned down hundreds of unarmed civilians are abhorrent and cannot be tolerated. Taking civilian hostages and using civilians as human shields are war crimes.
The Commission is gravely concerned with Israel’s latest attack on Gaza and Israel’s announcement of a complete siege on Gaza involving the withholding of water, food, electricity and fuel which will undoubtfully cost civilian lives and constitutes collective punishment.”
Oct. 20 from Amnesty International: “Damning evidence of war crimes as Israeli attacks wipe out entire families in Gaza.”
Oct. 30: 120 UN member states demand Gaza ceasefire.
Nov. 2: UN Human Rights experts said a ceasefire was needed to attend to a “humanitarian catastrophe.” “We remain convinced that the Palestinian people are at grave risk of genocide.”

Overwhelming demands for a ceasefire catch Democrats off guard—aka keep calling, it’s working.
The war in Gaza is also unfolding on Instagram.
On social media, people face pressure to speak out about the war.
Top U.N. Human Rights official of three decades resigns and denounces Israeli assault on Gaza.
Ta-Nehisi Coates on his time in Palestine and Israel this summer and the segregation he witnessed there.
Netanyahu plans for Israel to occupy and control the Gaza strip “for an indefinite period” after this war.
David Remnick in the New Yorker: In the cities of killing and In the Middle East, despair is not an option.
I have never been to this Israel before.
The extreme ambitions of West Bank settlers.
Follow @jewishvoiceforpeace.
Our lives are not points on a scoreboard.
A dangerous conflation between antisemitism and anti-Zionism.
A textbook case of genocide.
Most of the people in Gaza are children.
Video of mass Palestinian displacement 75 years ago looks a lot like video of mass Palestinian displacement now.
The best-case scenario is only 11,000 dead.
Obama on how to participate in the conversation surrounding Israel and Gaza when you might be afraid to say or do the wrong thing, or feel you don’t know enough.
American nurse who was recently in Gaza on the desperation there.
Verso’s free ebooks and resources on solidarity with Palestine.

Follow and amplify Palestinian voices. Mosab Abu-Toha, poet and New Yorker author. Young journalists who are documenting their day-to-day lives trying to survive in Gaza: Yara Eid, who shares her incredible diary entries. Motaz Azaiza. Plestia Alaqad. Bisan. Hind Khoudary.

Take action to demand a ceasefire in Gaza:
—Download the 5 Calls app to easily dial your representatives. They give you a script and you can leave a voicemail—be sure to leave your zip code. Remember, these calls are working and can help save lives.
—Join a local protest.
—Use your voice online and IRL to show solidarity with Palestine. The more people speak up, the easier it is for others to as well.
—Links and action items for those in Austin, Texas: @austinceasefire.

Where to donate:
I donated to the Palestine Children’s Relief Fund. Anti-Racism Daily suggests donating to Emergency Relief for Gaza, the Palestinian Youth Movement, or Anera. You could also donate to Doctors Without Borders.

Diversify your news sources:
Follow Al Jazeera English and sign up for the Week in the Middle East newsletter. Follow Democracy Now!

Books I’m reading:
I read The Lemon Tree by Sandy Tolan, a nonfiction story about two families—the Palestinian family forced out of their home by Israeli soldiers in 1948, and the Jewish family who lived there in the decades afterward—their connection to one another, and their struggle to understand each other. There’s also a young reader’s version of this book.
I’m halfway through My Promised Land: The Triumph and Tragedy of Israel by Ari Shavit, whose great-grandfather was a founder of Israel. It is excellent and takes an honest look at the history of Israel alongside its forced displacement of Palestinians.
Next up: The Hundred Years’ War on Palestine: A History of Settler Colonialism and Resistance, 1917-2017 by Palestinian-American author Rashid Khalidi.