Thread by @samthorpe__

For personal and professional reasons, I haven't been vocal about Palestine on this platform. But after yesterday, I want to make a few things clear for the record. (1/6)

First: I am a proud Jew and grandchild of Holocaust survivors. Second: Israel is killing thousands of innocent civilians in Gaza. The actions of the Netanyahu government, and our funding and support of those actions, are morally indefensible. (2/6)

Those two views are not incompatible. They are inextricable from one another. My Jewishness informs my conviction that we are all made in the image of God, and that we have no choice but to oppose the murder happening in Gaza with the nonviolent means at our disposal. (3/6)

My grandmother nearly died in Auschwitz, and my grandfather fought in the Jewish resistance in Hungary and Czechoslovakia. They both fought for the creation of a Jewish state in Israel. They would be appalled by what the Israeli government is doing, now, in their name. (4/6)

I stand with all of the students around the country who are trying, as best they can, to build a more just world. The murder of innocent Jews by Hamas was reprehensible. So is the murder of innocent Palestinians with the tacit support and funding of the US government. (5/6)

I'll leave you with the story of Hind Rajab, who student activists at Columbia renamed a building after. No matter how much media spin you hear about these protests, they are fundamentally about innocent people like Hind who are being killed every day in Gaza. This needs to end.

P.S. - As with everything I post on here, this is entirely my own thoughts and has no relationship to Brookings or any of my coworkers there. These are challenging issues that require open debate and freedom of conscience; this opinion is mine and mine alone!

One last thing - some folks are upset that I waited so long to post this. That's fair. But I've been organizing and protesting in real life since October - below a picture from the first @JVPDCMetro action in October and the statement I made on my personal accounts that same day.

I believe we should welcome new allies to the movement - it's a strategic error to cast people away because they changed their mind and want to fight for justice. But for what it's worth, I'm not a new ally - this has been my cause since day 1.