A year of horror, grief and outrage

This has been a year of unspeakable horror, grief and outrage. And now, after a year of genocide against Palestinians, the Israeli government is waging a campaign of death and destruction that has brought the Middle East to a state of war, with millions fleeing bombs — the vast majority supplied by the U.S. — in terror for their lives.

We believe that every life is precious. Every life taken, every parent, child, grandchild killed this past year was someone else's entire world. We mourn the at least 42,000 Palestinians killed by the Israeli military, knowing the true death toll is likely far higher. We mourn the 1,200 Israelis killed in Hamas’s attacks. And we mourn the 2,000 Lebanese killed by Israeli bombardment.

But we cannot only mourn, with millions under current threat — we must fight like hell for the living. Today, we recommit ourselves to that fight: for an end to U.S. bombs and funding to the Israeli military, for a ceasefire and the release of 100 Israeli and 10,000 Palestinian hostages, and for an end to Israeli genocide and apartheid. To a future of liberation for all.

For a year we have warned that if the United States continued to support the Israeli government’s genocide, and allowed it to operate with impunity, that Israel would expand the war across the Middle East. Over the past weeks, we have seen this happen. Last week, the Israeli government escalated its genocide in Gaza, bombarded and launched a ground invasion into Lebanon, and bombed Yemen and Syria. We call on all who are committed to the sanctity of life to join us in demanding the United States government stop funding and arming the Israeli military.

The Israeli government is defying international law, recklessly violating human rights and endangering millions of lives across the Middle East, including the lives of its own citizens. And it has been doing so for decades. Over the last year, the Israeli military carried out a genocide in Gaza, destroying schools, hospitals, refugee camps, homes and rendering life in Gaza nearly impossible. And every day for the last year, the U.S. government continued funding and enabling these atrocities. Calls from the Biden administration for de-escalation or a ceasefire are meaningless and hollow when they are paired with ongoing military funding and weapons shipments.

At Jewish Voice for Peace, our commitment to Palestinian liberation is grounded in our belief that every human must have the right to live in safety and freedom, no exceptions. Our Jewish tradition teaches us that the preservation of life, pikuach nefesh, is the single most important commandment. But for 76 years, the Israeli government has exploited and distorted our thousands of years-old Jewish tradition to justify occupation, apartheid, war crimes, and ethnic cleansing.

This ten-day period between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, known as the days of teshuva, or reckoning, is the holiest part of the Jewish year. It is during this period that our tradition asks us to reflect on our transgressions and to change course. On the most holy week of the Jewish year, we call on the United States government to change course, to stop funding and fueling the Israeli military which is endangering humanity.

As Americans, our tax dollars fund the bombs that the Israeli government drops on Gaza, in Lebanon, and across the entire region. As Jews, many of us are the descendants of those who survived genocide and ethnic cleansing. Our ancestors taught us to never be bystanders in the face of injustice. We are all responsible for taking action to change the course of history and to defend the millions of lives that hang in the balance.