One year since October 7.

It’s hard to understate the pain many of us still feel a year in.

The deadliest day for the Jewish people since the Holocaust.

And we’re still in the trauma: hostages remain, the war is ongoing & expanding, and innocent lives are still being taken. For the last year, the loudest voices exploited this pain & trauma to advance extremist agendas.

They’ve celebrated terror; dehumanized Israelis & Palestinians; targeted Jews, Arabs, & Muslims; and pitted communities against one another at the expense of our safety & democracy.

Short 🧵…

It’s been one year since the @WhiteHouse released its historic National Strategy to Counter Antisemitism.

There has been important progress AND too many painful examples of the dire work that remains. 1/ The best way to ensure this strategy is effectively & comprehensively implemented is the Countering Antisemitism Act. This week, we helped organize 61 Jewish orgs from across the political & denominational spectrum to support the bill.

Email your reps: 2/ act.jewishpublicaffairs.org/a/support-coun…

https://twitter.com/thejcpa/status/1793266133748858959

In what may be an ill-fated attempt at nuance on this platform, I want to talk about Jewish Americans, our relationship with Israel, and how that intersects with alarming calls to ban or boycott “Zionists” — like this viral list of authors. 1/jta.org/2024/05/09/isr… No two Jewish Americans have the same relationship with Israel. Some have no relationship. But the vast majority of Jewish Americans DO have a relationship and believe Israel should exist - even if they disagree with the government and its policies. 2/

3 weeks ago marked the deadliest day for Jews since the Holocaust & I’m still heartbroken.

I’m mourning the many killed - Israelis & Palestinians - and terrified for the hostages.

But I’m also broken over the callous antisemitism being normalized in
some progressive spaces. 1/ Some on the right have long considered me insufficiently pro-Israel for advocating peace, democracy, & Palestinian dignity. I’ve been called a “kapo” & a “self-hating Jew.”

And yet now, in some progressive corners, I’m a “genocidal Zionist” for believing Israel should exist. 2/

The Tree of Life massacre is part of a broader cycle of right-wing extremism in which each attack inspires the next.

And in the five years since Tree of Life, the white supremacist conspiracy theory behind it has been fully normalized in our politics and our society.

https://twitter.com/pittsburghpg/status/1669736911567560705

As we saw with our Charlottesville case, trials like this are crucial to getting the facts of these hate-fueled attacks on record — especially at a time when extremists desperately try to subvert the truth.

And at the same time, community healing & safety requires so much more.