Israel/Palestine Primer 3-Pack

Includes:

Protest, Zionism & Gaza

On December 5th, 2024, Amnesty International determined that “Israel committed and is committing genocide against Palestinians in Gaza.” In the landmark 296-page report entitled “You Feel Like You Are Subhuman,” Amnesty documents how, “during its military offensive launched in the wake of the deadly Hamas-led attacks in southern Israel on October 7, 2023, Israeli forces have carried out acts prohibited under the Genocide Convention, with the specific intent to destroy Palestinians in Gaza.” Amnesty goes on to say, “By continuing to supply weapons to the Israeli government, the U.S. government is violating its obligation to prevent and punish genocide and is at serious risk of becoming complicit in genocide.”

History, Trauma & the Lack of Empathy

History, “The past” as Faulkner wrote, “is never dead. It's not even past." Trauma, a Greek word for wound, takes on myriad shapes and forms. It often remains and reverberates through generations. There is individual trauma and collective trauma. However, just because you suffered does not give you permission to inflict suffering on others. Angela Davis said, “Victimization cannot be permitted to function as a halo of innocence.” Empathy is the ability to take on another person's perspective, to understand, feel, and possibly share and respond to their experience. Victims need our empathy, our compassion but not according to the world’s richest man. Elon Musk has said, “The fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.”

Israel, the U.S. & Palestine

Noam Chomsky calls the Israel, U.S., and Palestine relationship a “Fateful Triangle.” He says,“ In no other region of the world are the problems so likely to lead to devastating regional conflict.” He adds, those problems “have only been aggravated by the irrationality and intolerance that has dominated discussion in the U.S. It will be unfortunate if this state of affairs persists,” he warns. Alas, Chomsky wrote those words more than 50 years ago. The U.S. has given Israel hundreds of billions in aid over the years. In addition, Washington provides crucial diplomatic, political and military support. Internationally, because of Gaza both the U.S. and Israel are increasingly isolated. General Moshe Yallon, former Israeli chief of staff and defense minister, says Israel is committing war crimes and ethnic cleansing. Interviewed by David Barsamian. Recorded at the Boulder Public Library.

Speakers

Peter Beinart

Peter Beinart is a professor of journalism and political science at the City University of New York. He is a contributing opinion writer at the  New York Times and editor-at-large of Jewish Currents. He is the author of The Crisis of Zionism and Being Jewish After the Destruction of Gaza.

Gabor Maté

Gabor Maté, a Holocaust survivor, is a Hungarian-born Canadian physician with a special interest in childhood development, trauma and potential lifelong impacts on physical and mental health, including addictions. He is the author of the award-winning In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts: Close Encounters with Addiction and co-author of The Myth of Normal: Trauma, Illness and Healing in a Toxic Culture.

Richard Forer

Richard Forer has spent time in the West Bank and Gaza. He has orthodox Jewish relatives living in West Bank settlements. He is a former member of AIPAC, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, the influential lobby. He is the author of Wake Up & Reclaim your Humanity: Essays on the Tragedy of Israel-Palestine, winner of the New York Big Book Award.