First a slice of history.  The West Bank, formerly under Jordanian control and Gaza, formerly under Egyptian control, were seized by Israel in the 1967 war, during which many Palestinians were displaced.  Israelis began to establish settlements in these areas which are encroaching on more and more Palestinian land.  Palestinians face continual travel restrictions, home demolitions, and are under the control of the Israeli military where laws are arbitrary and detentions and imprisonment frequent.  While Israel formally withdrew from Gaza in 2005, it established a blockade which rendered Gaza the “largest open-air prison in the world.”  In 2024, the International Court of Justice declared this occupation to be illegal.

Following the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, Israel launched a brutal response which to date has killed over 60,000 Palestinians, injured thouands more and decimated homes, schools, hospitals and other infrastructure in the Gaza strip.  Many respected international organizations have concluded that what’s happening in Gaza constitute war crimes, crimes against humanity and yes, genocide. 

Since early March, Israel has blockaded food, fuel, water and medicine from entering Gaza, using starvation as a weapon resulting in the deaths of over 67,000 people, including children, who are the most vulnerable to this kind of deprivation. Palestinian Lutheran Pastor Munther Isaac tells us that “Gaza is the moral compass of the world.”  Silence is complicity.  We must care about the deliberate starvation of children – of any people –  for political gain.

A second reason to care is because our tax dollars make us complicit in these atrocities. Between October, 2023 and March 2025, about $34 billion in tax dollars has been used to supply Israel with weapons, arms and other financial support.  The US Campaign for Palestinian Rights estimated that in 2024, about $432 million worth of aid to Israel from North Carolina would fund a month’s rent for over 271 thousand people, free groceries for a month for over 909 thousand people or salaries for 4,720 elementary school teachers for one year.  We should care because in providing this funding, the U.S. government is in violation of the federal Leahy Law and other statutes.

A third reason to care is that individuals and groups speaking out about these atrocities are losing their free speech rights.  Examples include numerous crackdowns on student and faculty protester, including many who have been detained or deported.  People’s jobs are being threatened for speaking out. Who’s next? Learn how true anti-semitism is different from anti-Zionism; Jewish Voice for Peace has some helpful resources on this distinction. 

So how do we care?  Learn the history of the region through sources which will tell the Palestinian story:  aljazeera.com; Mondoweiss.net; imeupolicyproject.org; uscpr.org, jewishvoiceforpeace.org.  Get on their mailing lists and use their resources in letters or calls to elected representatives.  Respected historians such as Ilan Pappé also are worth reading, or tune in to one of his lectures on YouTube.  Hold candidates for office accountable.  Democratic candidates are beginning to learn that this is an important issue for their constituents.  In fact, the NC Democratic Party passed a resolution at its June meeting calling for an embargo on military aid and transfers to Israel until respected human rights organizations certify that it is no longer engaged in apartheid rule.  Hold them to it! Many church denominations have passed resolutions condemning these atrocities.  If you’re a member of a church, find out what your denomination is doing and how it’s supporting people in the region. Caring isn’t just empathy; it’s action!

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