[Air-L] The difficult conversation we don't seem to be having

[Sky Croeser]

I was aware that an argument like this would probably emerge. I feel it is
unlikely that we all on this list  are likely to agree on the "trigger" for
this "war" (though I do not agree that it is a war). I don't think that we
need to.

There is, as we all know, a long history here that goes back not just to
October 7th 2023 but also well before it.

I hope that most of us can also agree that however brutal the attacks of
2023 may have been, no action by a small section of a population can
justify the widespread massacre of the broader civilian population,
including thousands of children.

As I have noted, many of us (myself included) live in countries where our
governments have spoken against the attacks of October 7th. Many of our
governments, including the Australian, have also offered Israel diplomatic
or military support in the wake of those attacks. Our governments have not
offered the same meaningful action in support of Palestinian civilians
under attack.

I am aware that many other states engage in unjust violence. I was on the
streets when Australia invaded Iraq. I hope we will all continue to protest
against our governments when we need to, even as protest is criminalised in
many places.

We do not have to offer a diagnosis of the full history of the region to
speak up against the current actions of the Israeli state.

We can say that we will speak up where our governments do not.
We can say that nothing justifies the widespread massacre of civilians.
We can offer solidarity to students, researchers, and teachers in Palestine
who are are among those desperately trying to stay alive.
We can offer solidarity to those in Israel and elsewhere who face
repression when calling for an end to the attacks on Palestinian civilians.




On Mon, 22 Jan 2024 at 6:43 pm, Ayelet Baram-Tsabari via Air-L <
air-l at listserv.aoir.org> wrote:

> Dear Air-Ls,
> As you, I am worried about the loss of life in Gaza, but I cannot but
> wonder about the omission of the trigger for the war: In the wake of
> Saturday, October 7th, Israel was attacked by about 5000 Hamas terrorists,
> who systematically slaughtered and burned alive family after family in
> villages near the Gaza border, rapped women before killing them in the
> music festival in Re’im, and sadistically tortured kids in front of their
> parents.  One of those murdered was Yasmin Zohar, a M.Sc. student of a
> friend of mine. Yasmin, her two daughters, her husband, and her father were
> all brutally slaughtered in their home in Kibbutz Nahal Oz that Saturday
> morning. Only her son Ariel, almost 13, survived. He moved to live with his
> uncles in the city of Rishon LeZion – where I grew up. So many Harry
> Potters were created that day.
> This is a complex situation with a long history. At the moment, Israel is
> responding to an immediate unprovoked terrorist attack against civilians by
> Hamas, who publicly promised to do that again. Looking at the affiliations
> of those responding in the list, I can safely say that your countries would
> have – and in fact have already done so in the past – reacted similarly to
> such attacks.
> Like you, I also follow with horror what happens in Gaza. But sometimes,
> it seems to me, that I care more about the hungry and futureless kids in
> Gaza, than the Western Pro-Palestinians protesters who, in fact, work hard
> to allow the continuation of Hamas control there. As I see it, this is
> practically like supporting the Taliban's control over Afghanistan instead
> of supporting Afghanis who try to get rid of the Taliban.
> Best
> Ayelet Baram-Tsabari
> Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From