A recent essay by Norman Sondheimer about marching for Israel has been met with criticism for leaving out the suffering of Palestinians. The essay focuses on the dignity and safety of the Jewish people, but fails to acknowledge the expulsion and flight of roughly 700,000 Palestinians in 1948, known as the Nakba, or catastrophe.

Palestinian Suffering

The creation of Israel involved the depopulation and destruction of hundreds of villages, and a denial of return that endures to this day. The situation in Gaza has been described as a tragedy, with over 67,000 people killed. The International Court of Justice has found it plausible that Palestinians in Gaza face a real risk of genocide, and has ordered Israel to take measures to prevent it.

Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, and United Nations experts have concluded that Israel’s actions constitute genocide. The International Association of Genocide Scholars has also reached the same determination. These organizations are not enemies of the Jewish people, but rather Jews and Israelis who refuse to look away from the suffering of Palestinians.

Moral Selectivity

The essay warns against slogans that erase Israel, but fails to acknowledge the actual erasure happening on the ground, including neighborhoods reduced to rubble, hospitals destroyed, and a population starved and displaced. The author invokes the violence of the wider region to explain why Israelis hear threats differently, but this fear cannot become a permanent license to destroy another people.

Original reporting: The Connecticut Mirror — read the source article.