How do you define ...?

For those arguing in good faith, I see over and over again people arguing based on interpretations of phrases without clarifying their definition. This simple phrase can be helpful for responding to things like "from the river to the sea" or "free Palestine." Things have gotten so bad that people are unashamed to call for the destruction of the state of Israel. But most who use these phrases genuinely do not understand the implications.

Some more thoughts, these are my own thoughts, I am not making a policy statement, feel free to ask clarifying questions if something hits you the wrong way and I can edit.

We must engage in discourse in good faith, and that means that even while feeling scared or defensive in discourse, we can acknowledge the violence that has been enacted over decades to maintain the state in its current form, especially with far right leadership but even before then.

If we can watch the videos of Palestinian kids being killed or West Bank villagers being attacked, we can condemn that and still support Israel's right to defend itself. It does not have to be all or nothing. We must reject this thinking imho. Israel could maybe have prevented or reduced the impact of 10/7 if Netanyahu was not busy trying to do destructive policies and listened to concerns raised by IDF leaders for months. This is not to blame Israel, it is to realize where we have power and what is truly necessary and what is revenge.

Its a horrible situation that as Jews, our safety in the world feels threatened so deeply that this level of counter offensive feels necessary. We have been genocided so many times throughout history and we want desperately to just live and be safe. But that's the root of this conflict on both sides. Extremists on both sides have made it impossible for decades. We have to get out from propaganda and lies and fear and small mindedness that divide us and build bridges with others who just want to live, or none of us will survive this. We have to acknowledge and reconcile and see others suffering.

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