NPR says that the government will monitor immigrant social media for signs of antisemitism.
I do not accept this trading of our liberties for supposed increased safety for Jewish people. America has been a very hospitable place to Judaism, in my view due to a robust pluralistic society. Transforming away from democracy towards dictatorship does not increase security. One group gets targeted at a time in an autocracy, and the Jews will end up targeted as well as immigrants, and other minorities that are starting to be targeted, with legal frameworks for protection deteriorating.
My great uncle David Bernstein was the president of a commission tasked with celebrating 300 years of the Jewish people in the US in 1954-55. This inspires me to think more broadly about the Jewish people beyond the context of Israel, i.e. in the diaspora. I still don't quite know what to think about Israel. I've never been there and never felt very connected to it. I do know it's an important ritual aspect of Judaism and the Levant is indeed the origin place for the Jews (probably emerging and differentiating from the Canaanites, as far as I have understood.)
I want peace in the middle east. I've been wary of reading too much about the Israel-Palestine conflict since it seems like such a no-win situation. Some criticize this attitude as supporting ethnic cleansing. That may be a valid interpretation of what's going on, though I do also feel support for Israel as an imperfect supporter of the Jewish people, born out of a conflicted Zionism (a conflicted term) tied up in complex geopolitics in 1948 and the holocaust. One touch point for me was the book "The Lemon Tree", a true story about the complexity of a friendship between a Jew and a Palestinian. This direction of seeking common ground and reconciliation is where I put my support. The Palestinian nation may be new, coming out of the broader Arab population with mostly Islamic foundations, and they don't have the same length of history as the Jewish people with their several thousands of years. And, just as I don't support the Netanyahu government of Israel, Hamas is a brutal organization, poorly reflecting aspirations for a Palestinian people. But it is a time in the world where we need all the tools we can to solve our problems. The Jewish experience with history and continuity and traditions of memory (such as Passover), should be used generously to support other peoples and not used aggressively. When the Tibetan people were exiled, the Dalai Lama convened a group of Jewish leaders to seek advice on how to maintain culture in exile. I'd like to see Jewish culture and tradition continue to be used in such helpful ways such that we can all live together and respect the multiplicity of stories making up our world today, at such a time of transformation, in particular.
A good series of videos explaining the history of the Israel-Palestine conflict is Dr. Henry Abramson's "Origins of the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict"
I'm inspired to keep thinking about Jewish history as one thread amongst the many threads of world history. This was a painting I did a few years back when I was reading about Jewish history at the time. These issues are so complicated, but I believe there is a great richness in the Jewish tradition and I want to hold on to that, while also affirming my beliefs in broader human rights- something I've come to understand as consistent and supported by Judaism and many Jewish thinkers through the centuries.
