Thread by @LaraFriedmanDC

To people who today are either staying silent or arguing that they - as Jewish Israelis or Jewish Americans - just want peace:

Too many “we-support-peace people have for years kept their heads in the sand about the clear intentions behind Israeli policies... 1/

... & about the constant and ever-escalating violations of their basic rights and dignities these policies that inflict on Palestinians. 2/

Good intentions, loving peace, holding on to “hope” - it has long been clear that without turning these into actions, they are just stories people who are privileged by the status quo tell themselves... 3/

...so they can feel virtuous as they continue leading lives that uphold, or at least utterly fail to challenge in a meaningful way, a status quo that is *structurally designed* to dehumanize Palestinians... 4/

....to dispossess them of their land/homes, and to delegitimize and erase their political and national identities - all with breathtaking efficiency.  5/

You cannot seriously say you are committed to “peace” or democracy or human rights while upholding & benefiting from a status quo that - whether we are taking about Jewish Israelis or Jewish Americans - privileges you, by design and by default, at the expense of Palestinians. 6/

And of course, lots of people are happy to talk about solidarity & concern for others, but few people, anywhere, are ready to volunteer to challenge a system that privileges them over others, or to fight to end what they themselves have come to see as sacred entitlements. 7/

So no more empty words about “wanting peace” or “sustaining hope.” Either you are taking a stand to end the systematic abuse of Palestinians, or you are keeping your head in the sand, still telling yourself stories that let you see yourself as virtuous. /end