This is my latest essay for University World News. It builds upon some previous articles I’ve written about nationalism and global citizenship. It’s not my original title but I like it. I know my work is always in good hands with UWN editors.
I was inspired, so to speak, to write it after reading a LinkedIn post written by a US international education colleague who thought a statement on the Israel-Gaza war issued by the Forum on Education Abroad was “weak” and “shameful.” The article practically wrote itself. I was the medium and initial editor. Click on the link above to learn more. (Note: Reading time is 5.5 minutes.)
I welcome your comments below or via email.
Shalom (שלום), MAA
An International Educator in Vietnam 
Yes, of course. End the ethnic cleansing and apartheid going on in Palestinian and Israeli areas.
Enough suffering for millions. Billions of US dollars have gone into that ethnic cleansing effort.
Peace be upon you.
Sent from my iPhone
Recommended reading: https://portside.org/2023-10-19/there-jewish-hope-palestinian-liberation-it-must-survive
No amount of rhetoric from its defenders and apologists can change the reality that Hamas engaged in mass murder. What Hamas horrifically did to more than 1,000 Israeli civilians of all ages two weeks ago meets the dictionary definition of terrorism.
And no amount of rhetoric can change the reality that the Israeli government has engaged in mass murder during the last two weeks. What Israel’s military is horrifically doing in Gaza, already killing several thousand Palestinian civilians of all ages, also meets the definition of terrorism.
Hamas is a Terrorist Organization. So is the Israeli Government.
https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/10/24/hamas-is-a-terrorist-organization-so-is-the-israeli-government/
‘Not in my name’: The European Jews condemning Israel’s war on Gaza
From Glasgow to London to Barcelona, many Jewish protesters take on abuse to join pro-Palestinian rallies. https://www.aljazeera.com/features/2023/10/23/not-in-my-name-the-european-jews-condemning-israels-war-on-gaza
OCTOBER 25, 2023
Statement on Gaza
BY VETERANS FOR PEACE https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/10/25/statement-on-gaza/
Reprinted in CounterPunch: https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/10/26/lets-ditch-the-binaries-and-join-the-all-of-humanity-club/
Israel to refuse visas to UN officials after Guterres speech on Gaza war https://www.aljazeera.com/amp/news/2023/10/25/israel-to-refuse-visas-to-un-officials-after-guterres-speech-on-gaza-war
‘Human Animals’: The Sordid Language behind Israel’s Genocide in Gaza
by Ramzy Baroud https://www.counterpunch.org/2023/10/26/human-animals-the-sordid-language-behind-israels-genocide-in-gaza/
A great post by Robert Reich:
Subject: The inhumanity of humans toward other humans
The morality of a civilized society
ROBERT REICH
OCT 27
Friends,
Many of us feel overwhelmed by the brutality and hatefulness around us — in Israel and Gaza, in Russia’s continued attacks on Ukraine, in mass shootings here at home, in the violence and hostility that erupted at the U.S. Capitol on January 6, 2021, and continues to divide Americans, in Trump’s vicious lies and rants that fuel racism, xenophobia, and misogyny.
How can human beings behave so inhumanely?
And how should we respond? What is a moral life in the face of such barbarism?
Civilization is the opposite of the state of nature. Nature is a continuous war in which only the fittest survive, and where even survivors’ lives are “nasty, brutish, and short,” in the words of English philosopher Thomas Hobbes.
A civil society doesn’t allow the strong to brutalize the weak. It doesn’t incite the weak to terrorize the strong. It doesn’t tolerate violence against innocent people, nor does it tolerate retributive violence.
Without norms and laws preventing the stronger from attacking or exploiting the weaker, none of us is safe. Oppressors can ever be secure from the oppressed. Even the most powerful live in fear of being attacked or deposed. Terrorism always lurks in the shadow of brutality.
No one can be truly free in a society considered by many to be unjust. There can be no liberty where brutality reigns.
Our job — the responsibility of all who seek a just society and a decent world — is to move as far as possible away from hateful violence, toward social justice.
This is often difficult. Sometimes it’s hard to find the root causes of hateful violence — to understand who has brutalized whom, to disentangle accumulated grievances and hostilities that may go back generations.
Nonetheless, our moral lodestar must be to end brutality.
Every time the stronger bully the weaker, the social fabric is tested. If bullying is not contained, the fabric unwinds.
The bullies are white supremacists who make it harder for Black and Latino people to vote.
They are people with great wealth who use their money to lobby for tax cuts and government subsidies that impose costs on the rest of us.
They are giant corporations that abuse their workers and drive smaller enterprises out of business.
They are members of a dominant religion or ethnicity who demean or seek to destroy other religions or ethnicities.
They are powerful men who harass and debase women.
They are police who kill innocent Black people.
They are the native born who denigrate immigrants.
They are shooters who commit mass murder.
They are terrorists who kill, rape, and kidnap innocent civilians.
They are governments that bomb and lay siege to innocent civilians.
They are politicians who use hatefulness and bigotry to build their political base.
Unless these bullies are stopped, an entire society — even the world — can descend into violence and chaos.
Our duty is to stop brutality and minimize human suffering. Our responsibility is to protect the vulnerable and hold the powerful accountable.
Trump must be held accountable.
Putin’s aggression must be stopped.
Election-denying politicians must not be reelected.
Politicians who encourage white Christian nationalism must be rebuked.
Pundits who fuel racism and xenophobia must be denounced.
Social media platforms that amplify hate must be boycotted.
Mass shooters must be punished.
Guns must be difficult to obtain.
Police who kill innocent Black people must be brought to justice.
Powerful men who sexually harass or abuse women must be prosecuted.
CEOs who treat their employees badly must be exposed and censored.
Billionaires who bribe lawmakers with campaign donations to cut their taxes or exempt them from regulations must be penalized, and lawmakers who accept such bribes must be sanctioned.
Corporations that seek larger profits by despoiling the environment must be blocked.
Terrorists who murder innocent people must be condemned. Regimes that brutalize ethnic or religious groups must also be condemned.
None of this is easily achieved. Some will never be achieved.
But it is the only moral stance worth taking in this troubled world.
The killing of civilians continues unabated… “Patrick Lawrence: Deeper Into Depravity”
November 2, 2023
In the U.S., those who oppose Israel’s atrocities are getting hit by accusations of anti-Semitism. This reflects a nation in decline, that no longer knows how to make sense of itself. https://consortiumnews.com/2023/11/02/patrick-lawrence-deeper-into-depravity/
“Text-Book Case of Genocide”: Top U.N. Official Craig Mokhiber Resigns, Denounces Israeli Assault on Gaza (1.11.23) https://www.democracynow.org/2023/11/1/craig_mokhiber_un_resignation_israel_gaza