Israel and Palestine

Doesn’t matter which side of politics you’re on- it never will justify the amount of innocent lives lost for Israelis and Palestinians. One of my Deaf Jewish friends broke down with me via text- scared and heartbroken. One of my Deaf Palestinian friends is also scared and heartbroken. Don’t let the media or politics make you forget what it’s like to be human. Let’s gear more towards compassion and listening even through hard times. Everyone always has a side of perspective, but it doesn’t mean you cannot check in and listen. Let’s tackle anti-Semitism, Islamophobia, and all of the -isms. 💔 May God be with us all. #israel #palestine #gaza #war #humanity #humankindness #reallyrenca #deafcommunity #stopdivision
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Transcript: I have a question for you- the community. Let’s say you are standing and you see a car coming, but this person is driving and is on their phone. The other car is coming from the opposite direction and the person is also driving and is on their phone too. Both cars collide. You run towards them. You see one person with a severe head injury and they’re bleeding. The other person has a severe arm injury and they are also bleeding. What will you do? Will you approach one of them and scold them that they should not have bought a Kia car because of its’ history of always breaking down? Or will you ask them for their insurance policy to see what they have violated in this collision? While they are bleeding and hurting? No. We will not. We will try to help them and listen to them and try to give what they need. I’d like to take this analogy and apply it to the current Israel-Hamas war that involves Palestinians. It is a bloodbath. War always involves layers of politics, history, etc. It is not possible to have a war with no ties to politics or history. A war does not “randomly” happen. Every war has ties, layers, history, controversy, - it’s always a mess. Now, I am not talking about that today. I am talking about us, the community. We do not need to be divided like how the politics are right now. My point being is you can still check in with your Jewish family and friends AND check in with your Palestinian family and friends. Listen to them. Validate them. Do not try to pick an argument with them and finger point. They are already hurting - they’re bleeding. We do not need to amplify their hurt. I get it- maybe you want to discuss perspectives or want to discuss some related cause and effect- want to educate yourself, do your research, etc. Yes of course, but when your Jewish friend is explaining how they are feeling or even your Palestinian friend- some of us end up discussing to finger blame. Now is not the time. We do need to be careful of seeing numbers as a justification of importance. For example, perhaps you see a specific number of bodies lost with one group then you see another number of bodies lost for a different group, but it is less than the first group- that does not make the first group “more important” than the second group. Every person, even if it is just ONE person, but EVERY PERSON to like 20k or 30k people- is important. I grieve even if it is for one loss of a life. I encourage the community look at our Jewish and Palestinians friends and family- check in with them. We are the community. Do not let war or politics divide us. Right now, my Jewish friends and Palestinians friends are deeply hurting and I am seeing how this affects them. Second thing, do a fact check. Social media is a beautiful thing because it is a platform for awareness and exposure, but it can be an ugly place. There can be a spread of misinformation, misinterpretation, stirring up more arguments, can cause more harm and hate, etc. Remember we are humans and we should value each other. Israelis and Palestinians are hurting and they have lost many of their loved ones. Check in with them. Listen to them. Engage conversations with them. Validate them. Love them. My heart is with you.