Is This Who We Are?
Amber Wood speaking at the Palestine Rally at Goebel Park, Covington on Saturday Feb. 3, 2024.
There is a concentrated effort to keep people in the dark about what has been happening in Palestine for the past 120 days, and the past century. I believe it is not possible to understand what is happening and see the horrors raining down on the people of Palestine as anything other than a genocide.
I am assuming that if you are not already in unflinching solidarity with the Palestinian people now, it's not because you're a monster, but because you just don’t know the things you need to know. And unfortunately, I can’t just tell you. I can’t even just show you. You won’t believe me.
I believe that people cannot receive and process information if they are not first curious about that information, so instead of preaching to you, I’m going to ask you some questions.
Where is Palestine, and who lives there?
Where was it, and who lived there, In 1897? In 1903? In 1917? In 1948? In 1967?
Do you know why those lines moved, and who moved them, and by what power?
Do you know who Theodor Herzl is?
What is the First Aliyah? What is the Balfour Declaration? What is Zionism? Why was Palestine chosen, and not Uganda, or Madagascar, or Algeria, or Argentina?
What is the Nakba?
What does it mean that CNN must release its footage to the IDF? What does it mean that your news networks can lie to you without consequence? Do you remember Iraq and the fictional WMDs? Do you remember the bombs falling on Baghdad? Why do US police forces train with the IDF? What does it mean that Israel has bombed Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iraq since October? How can a select few countries in the UN veto a overwhelming vote for ceasefire?
What is settler-colonialism?
Why does Israel install red roofs, and weld front doors closed in Hebron?
What color license plates do Palestinians have to use? What color IDs? Why?
How many checkpoints does the average Palestinian have to pass through each day at gunpoint? How long does it take?
How long does it take to nurture an olive tree from seed to fruit, and why do Israelis burn down olive trees?
Why does Israel distribute rifles to settlers in the West Bank?
Why would Israel cut energy, food, water, supplies, and travel to Gaza? How are they even able to do that? What have they built that makes it possible for them to do that? What would you call it?
What is a concentration camp?
What is apartheid?
Stay with me. I am Jewish and I was raised to believe that fascism and genocide are evils that we must be vigilant for, and must eradicate, wherever they arise. I believe that you were too, which is why I have to ask you:
What is white phosphorous?
What are earthquake bombs?
What is the hellfire r9x and where was it deployed?
Why would Israel target solar panels and water sources, universities and grade schools, churches and mosques?
Why would Israel airstrike ambulances and hospitals?
Why would Israel evacuate and terrorize people from Northern Gaza to Southern, from Middle Gaza to Deir el-Balah, from southern Gaza to Rafah, from Khan Younis to nowhere?
What does it feel like to be forced to leave your home and community forever? To be forced at gunpoint to leave your premature infant to die? What does it feel like to gather up the pieces of what’s left of your life, your family, into bedsheets, or plastic grocery bags?
What is a war crime?
Who is Shireen Abu Akleh?
Who is Wael Dahdouh?
Who is Plestia Alaqad?
Who is Mohammed Abu Hatab?
Who is Bisan Owda?
Who is Motaz Azaiza?
Why would Israel airstrike the families of journalists, and journalists themselves?
In the past four months, how many Palestinian journalists have been killed? How many US-made bombs have fallen on Gaza? How many US taxpayer dollars have been sent to Israel? How many Palestinians have been killed, and how many of them were children?
How many Palestinians did Israel hold hostage before October 7th? How many are still held hostage by Israel? How many of them are children?
Who is Refaat Alareer, and why was he killed?
How many Palestinians have been killed or displaced in the past 75 years?
Who is Hadiya Nassar, and why was she killed?
What is genocide?
Is this who you are? Is this who we are?
What is our responsibility?
Where is our power?
I know the answers to some of these questions, but there’s no point in me telling you. You’re going to have to answer them for yourself.
As for me and mine, it is solidarity with the people of Palestine. It is solidarity with the beautiful and powerful people of the Congo and Sudan and South Africa. It is solidarity with the UAW and the Writer’s Guild and SAG-AFTRA and the animators and the Waffle House workers and the nurses union and the teachers unions and the rail workers and every single barista and Amazon warehouse worker who had the courage to stand together and try something new. It’s solidarity with Stop Cop City and Jewish Voice for Peace and the champions at the Port of Oakland and the Port of Tacoma who stopped cargo ships of munitions destined for Israel, with the heroes who just this week shut down the entire Port of Vancouver.
It's solidarity with the Yemenis who altered entire global routes of commerce in solidarity with Palestinians, and the Yemenis who are now being killed by the US for trying to stop a genocide, and are still in the streets in the millions for Palestine. A line from a chant from one of their marches is, “By God, living like this is forbidden to me.” Get connected with each other and our members here. Keep showing up and fighting alongside us.
Palestinians are starving to death. People are eating grass. Palestinians are dying of sepsis from lack of water and medical supplies. Children are dying of heart attacks from stress from endless drone strikes. Palestinians are persevering but they are crying out for us to act now, and we must act now, because living like this is forbidden to us.
It is solidarity with all of the colonized, poor, and working people around the world. It is no war but class war. It is people over profits, every time. Ceasefire Now. Stop the Genocide. Free Palestine.