As a politically involved, progressive, Jewish student, the war in the Middle East, and its subsequent media frenzy, is increasingly troubling for me. I’m fearful for my Israeli friends and my extended family. I’m mourning all of the lives taken, ones I’ve met, and ones I’ll never know. As an American Jew, so physically far from the horror, social media has become my main outlet for spreading awareness and sharing support. But when I open Instagram, I’m met with countless accounts demanding a ceasefire and accusations of ethnic cleansing and genocide.
Performative activists, passionate college students, and informed citizens alike are removing far too much nuance from the situation. It’s become ‘Us vs Them’. Leftists are inclined to support Palestine, and those on the Right are pro-Israel. From an American viewpoint, progressives want to support the suffering, dying, poor, and vulnerable Palestinian people under attack. Conservatives see a strong ally in Israel and want to protect their conservative government from terrorist organizations. These alignments are further strengthened by American discourse and ideological disagreements.
But this war can not be made so simple. The ‘sides’ of the conflict are far more convoluted than American ideas of ‘right and wrong’.
Two things can be true at the same time. Israel’s government and the IDF are corrupt and brutal. But Israel still deserves to exist. Hamas is a terrorist organization that uses its vulnerable people as a human shield. But Palestine still deserves their land and resources.
Hamas is recognized by the UN as a terrorist organization. Israel is committing war crimes.
I don’t believe that an educated and compassionate American can so easily align themselves with a side.
So then why are they?
Media coverage of the ongoing tragedies has been a nightmare. According to Ground News, a news source that reveals media coverage bias, headlines about terror inflicted by Israel are almost exclusively Left-leaning and center sources, and headlines about violence inflicted by Hamas are far more Right-leaning. Headlines are warped based on bias, aspects are left out, others exaggerated, and the factuality of events is disputed. War crimes (which have been committed by all parties) have snowballed into claims of genocide and ethnic cleansing.
This issue is made increasingly more difficult because of the associated racism, enforced apartheid, and economic disparities.
This mass misinformation and division has led to hate and fear in areas far outside of the Middle East. According to The Washington Post, “Jewish students at Cooper Union in New York City sheltered in a library as pro-Palestinian demonstrators banged on the glass walls of the building. At a pro-Palestinian protest near Tulane University, at least two students were assaulted in a melee that began when someone tried to burn an Israeli flag. And anonymous posters flooded a Cornell message board with threats, prompting the school’s president to alert the FBI. ‘If you see a Jewish ‘person’ on campus follow them home and slit their throats’.”
Islamophobia is rising as well. According to NBC, “On Thursday afternoon, a Maryland woman who wears the hijab was in her car with her child at a stop light when a woman called her a Muslim slur and flashed the middle finger… The situation escalated when the victim began recording the incident and the woman began banging on the hood of the car and the passenger-side window. In New York, a man called a teenage girl a terrorist and pulled on her hijab while she was on the subway to school.” Just these few examples of recent hateful incidents are indicative of America’s combative society and dangerous echo chambers of information and opinions.
I am not asking you to change your mind, I am asking you to understand the complexity of this issue, and that commenting “From the river to the sea” under Jewish content is far from productive.