A Writer's Notebook, Day Nine-Hundred-And-Forty-Two

As a Jew, watching the events unfolding in Israel right now, I cannot help but feel a deep sense of betrayal.  I was taught the importance of a Jewish homeland, how it was a necessity after so many nations had denied Jews refuge from the Holocaust, even sending back those who had already escaped.  I was taught to believe in Israel as a place that would always protect our people, would always be welcoming to any Jew who wanted or needed to go there.  Over the past week, I have seen images that chilled me, have made me wonder what good it is to have a homeland for my people, if it is a place where others are subjected to this kind of abuse and mistreatment simply because of their culture?  I saw the broken windows, and of course, I thought of Kristallnacht.  I have seen images and videos of children fleeing missiles, have watched as buildings were exploded into rubble, and I cannot imagine how any nation whose very existence came about in the aftermath of genocide and as a bulwark against its return can act in such a way, and it hurts me.  It hurts me to see what is being done, and to know that I am, in some way, inculcated, simply because I am a Jew.  Israel's actions are evil on their face, but it is also clear that this endangers Jewish people around the world, that whatever is gained, whatever is stolen away from those being attacked, will come at a great cost for all of us, all around the world.  It is, as I said, a deep betrayal, not only, or even mostly, because it encourages anti-Semites, but because each of the traumatized, the wounded, the displaced, the murdered, is a judgement against this land that should be sacred, that should know the necessity of providing a peaceful home to any who need it, even those who are not ourselves.