Video: Jews around the world say ‘End the genocide, end the occupation’

Jewish groups in 16 countries publish video and reflections in support of oppressed Palestinians

Jewish groups in sixteen nations, who come together under the banner ‘Global Jews for Palestine’ (GJ4L), have published a short but powerful video calling for an end to Israel’s genocide in Gaza and its occupation of Palestine, together with a set of ‘contemplations’ for the Jewish High Holy Days that take place between today’s Jewish New Year (Rosh haShanah) and the coming Yom Kippur, or day of atonement.

The video looks at the war crimes of the Israeli regime and Israel’s theft of Palestinian land since 1948:

The contemplations written by Canadian Sheryl Nestel, reproduced below, have also been published on the website of the UK’s Jewish Voice for Labour, one of GJ4L’s member groups. They take the traditional religious obligations of the ‘Days of Awe’ between Rosh haShanah and Yom Kippur and link them to Israel’s and the world’s crimes against the people of Palestine:

JVL Introduction

Jewish Voice for Labour is a member of Global Jews for Palestine, Jewish organizations in 16 countries around the world standing for Justice for Palestinians and peace for all who live between the river and the sea.

These contemplations were written by Sheryl Nestel of our sister organisation, Independent Jewish Voices Canada, for issue as Rosh Hashona, the Jewish New Year, comes in at sunset on 2nd October and to be considered over the Days of Awe between Rosh Hashona and Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement.

As Jews standing with the overwhelming majority of people in the world, although sadly not our governments, we always have to ask, are we doing enough?  What will it take? Nothing we do feels as though it is enough while there is a genocide in Gaza, and a brutal military occupation in the West Bank. And now, on top of that and in part a result of the failure of the US and others to bring about the long overdue ceasefire in Gaza, all in that region are at risk of attack, displacement, injury, death and destruction.

Normally we wish people “L’Shana Tova” – for a sweet year. Of course we wish that. We will work as hard as we can for sweetness all over, so that there may be peace for all.

LL

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“Ashamnu” – We are culpable”

Sheryl Nestel, Independent Jewish Voices Canada

On Yom Kippur, Jews traditionally confess our sins in public. We confess in the plural, and we do so not only for our own sins, but for those of the community we live in and for those of the Jewish people as whole – for even if we did not personally commit each and every sin listed, we are responsible for stopping our fellow Jews, and the Jewish communal institutions that act in our name, from committing these sins. According to the great medieval Sephardic Jewish philosopher and Torah scholar Maimonides, the person in whose power it is to prevent sin and does not undertake to prevent it is ultimately responsible for the sin since it was possible for them to prevent it.

This year as Jews worldwide recite the Al Het (list of sins) and the Vidui (confessional) under the shadow of a genocide being carried out in Gaza in which nearly 50,000 Palestinians have been killed let us consider some of the sins that have been committed in our name by people and institutions claiming to act on our behalf – namely by supporting and defending the oppression, historical erasure, degradation, dispossession, and killing of Palestinians in the name of Jewish self-determination.

For each of the ten days of repentance, there is a different sin that our community must rectify in the quest for justice and moral accountability- heshbon nefesh.

ּונ ְמ ַֽׁ ש ָא

“Ashamnu” (we are all culpable for the transgressions of our community). “Jewish communities must make a choice. We cannot continue to deny the injustices committed in our name against Palestinians. We must engage in the work of teshuva (repentance) by facing the truth about Palestinian suffering and by recognizing our complicity and ending our silence.

ּונ ְדַַָּֽֽׁב ג

“Bagadnu” (betrayal) We have betrayed Jewish tradition by failing to acknowledge the humanity and rights of the Palestinians and by supporting the state of Israel as it carries out a genocide.

ונ ְלַֽׁ זָג

“Gazalnu” (robbery) We have participated in the theft of Palestinian land by supporting the Jewish National Fund and the ever-expanding Israeli settlement project.

ּי ִּפונְַֽׁרַֽׁד ב ִּד

“Dibarnu Dofi” (slander) We have slandered and defamed those with whom we don’t agree including Jews who oppose Israel’s violence and human rights abuse

ּונ ְס ַֽׁ מ ָח

“Chamasnu” (acting zealously) In our zeal to protect Jews and Israel we have distorted, misused and weaponized charges of antisemitism.

ר ֶק ֶַֽׁשונְלַֽׁ פ ָט

“Tafalnu Sheker” (lying) We have distorted and denied the truth about Israeli crimes against humanity and justified policies such as the withholding of water, medicine and basic necessities to the people of Gaza.

ּונ ְע ַֽׁ שָפ

“Pashanu” (perverting justice) We have wrongfully exerted influence on institutions so as to prevent legitimate criticism of Israel’s treatment of Palestinians.

ף ֶר ַֽׁוני ִַּֽׁשע ִּק

“Kishinu Oref” (stubbornness) Even when confronted with the deaths of nearly 17,000 children, Israel supporters continue to claim that there are “no innocents in Gaza”.

וני ִַּֽׁע ָת

“Tainu” (straying from a righteous path) We have abandoned the fight for justice by refusing to acknowledge the Nakba – the ongoing Palestinian experience of violence, expulsion and dispossession’

ּונ ְע ַָֽׁת ְע ִּת

“Titanu” (causing others to stray from righteousness) We have caused others to stray from righteousness by miseducating our community and our children about Israel’s role in the Nakba and Palestinian suffering alongside the history of Jewish suffering.

…

May the spirit of justice guide us in the new year so that we may open our ears to truth, open our hearts to the oppressed, and speak our minds courageously in order to begin to stop our community’s complicity in the, oppression, suffering and attempted destruction of the Palestinian people.

In this season of atonement Jews must take an ethical stand:

• Demand an immediate end to the genocide in Gaza.
• Demand that our religious, educational and cultural institutions acknowledge and speak truthfully about the Palestinian Nakba.
• Demand that Jewish institutions stop attacking, maligning and punishing those who speak their conscience about Israel’s genocidal violence and dispossession of the Palestinian people.
• Demand an end to the malicious vilification of fellow Jews who name and oppose Israel’s violations of Palestinian human rights.
• Demand an end to Jewish communal funding for organizations that promote Islamophobia, anti-Arab and anti-Palestinian racism.
• Demand an end to Jewish communal funding for organizations that support and enable illegal Jewish settlements on occupied Palestinian land and which defend settler violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Written by Sheryl Nestel, Independent Jewish Voices Canada; Global Jews for Palestine

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