The Wild Reed

Friday, October 20, 2023

October Afternoon

We’ve been experiencing some truly beautiful fall days here in Minnesota, with the afternoon of this past Sunday, October 15, being particularly memorable for me. This was not only because I spent time with my friend Adnan, but also because I visited one of my favorite spots on the Mississippi River in south Minneapolis – the Winchell Trail, a largely unpaved trail that winds about five miles along the west bank of the Mississippi from Franklin Avenue to Minnehaha Park.

Here I chose to take a sacred pause and cultivate a much-needed experience of centeredness. I did so by, in the words of Mark Nepo, “slowing to the pace of creation.” This experience put me in touch with, again in Nepo’s words, “that unseeable stream in which life is continually vital and refreshed.”

I share today some images from last Sunday, along with an excerpt from Mark Nepo’s The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want by Being Present to the Life You Have.

Slowing how we think and feel and take in the world is directly related to being centered. The wisdom traditions all have some form of meditation or prayer that is aimed at slowing us into this center, where the very pace of creation breathes. In their own way, all spiritual practices help us reclaim this centeredness, because being centered in this way plunges us, again and again, into that unseeable stream in which life is continually vital and refreshed.

At the pace of creation, all things breathe the same way. So, when we slow and open and center ourselves, we breathe in unison with all of life, and breathing this way we draw strength from all life. When we slow down and breathe, we reach like trees into everything open, and whole skies of cloud drift in unison with the dreams of an entire people. If we can slow to the pace of creation, truth will sweep like a flock of birds from the mountains we climb. At the pace of creation, the beginning enters us and we are new.

When courageous enough to relax our soul open, the pace at which our mind thinks slows to the pace at which our heart feels, and, amazingly, together, they unfold the rhythm with which our eyes can see the miracle waiting in all that is ordinary.

– Mark Nepo
Excerpted from The Book of Awakening: Having the Life You Want
by Being Present to the Life You Have
Conari Press, 2011
pp. 338-339

Monday, October 16, 2023

Prayer of the Week

God is the shepherd of Israel and Palestine,
a people who want peace and fear war.

God is a child desperate for water,
and a family terrified for precious hostages.

God is in all souls. God waits on every path.

This week the valley of the shadow of death
is crowded with God's children,
and they have no comfort
but our prayers,
the prayers of the world,

for a table where enemies may sit down
to speak healing words,
receive an anointing of truce,
and shatter the cup of death
before more is poured out
on those who are innocent.

Goodness and mercy will follow us,
even in these days of fear and grieving,
until we build a house of reconciliation
and dwell in it together.

– Maren Tirabassi

NEXT:
In the Midst of the “Great Unraveling,”
a Visit to the Prayer Tree

Related Off-site Links:
Israel and Hamas: An Eye for an Eye Leaves Everyone Dead – Marianne Williamson (Transform, October 13, 2023).
I Wish Americans Could See the Humanity of Palestinians as They Do With Israelis – Sa’ed Atshan (TruthOut, October 13, 2023).
“A Textbook Case of Genocide”: Israeli Holocaust Scholar Raz Segal Decries Israel’s Assault on Gaza – Democracy Now! (October 16, 2023).
“Humanity Must Prevail” in Gaza, Says UN Official as Refugee Shelters Become Israeli Defense Force Targets – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, October 14, 2023).
The Outside World Must Walk Israel Back from the Abyss. It Cannot Be Part of the Choir of Incitement – Daniel Levy and Zaha Hassan (The Irish Times, October 14, 2023).
Gaza Is a Prison Under Siege. This Is My Letter to the World Outside – Ahmed Abu Artema (TruthOut, October 15, 2023).
As Gaza Turmoil Deepens, Some Leaders Dial Back Pro-Israel Rhetoric – But Won’t Call for Cease-Fire – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, October 15, 2023).
Hospitals in Gaza Face Collapse as Water, Power and Medicine Run Out – Najib Jobain, Samya Kullab and Joseph Krauss (AP News, October 16, 2023).
“Cease-Fire Now!”: Dozens Arrested at Jewish-Led White House Protest Against Israeli War on Gaza – Brett Wilkinsy (Common Dreams, October 16, 2023).

UPDATES: After Blast Kills Hundreds at Gaza Hospital, Hamas and Israel Trade Blame as Rage Spreads in Region – Najib Jobain, Samya Kullab, Ravi Nessman and Matthew Lee (AP News, October 17, 2023).
“Step Back from the Brink”: Ex-Israeli Peace Negotiator Daniel Levy Decries Israel’s Actions in Gaza – Democracy Now! (October 17, 2023).
Selective Empathy Is Not Empathetic at All – Belén Fernández (Al Jazeera via Common Dreams, October 17, 2023).
Biden Sides with Israel After Airstrikes Level Gazan Hospital, Killing Hundreds of Palestinians – Democracy Now! (October 18, 2023).
800+ Legal Scholars Say Israel May Be Perpetrating “Crime of Genocide” in Gaza – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, October 18, 2023).
Palestinians Trapped in Gaza Find Nowhere Is Safe During Israel’s Relentless Bombing – AP News via MPR News (October 19, 2023).
Annexation, Ethnic Cleansing and Genocide: Mustafa Barghouti Decries Israel’s Deadly Campaign in Gaza – Democracy Now! (October 19, 2023).
Israeli Journalist Amira Hass: How Can the World Stand By and Witness Israel’s Slaughter in Gaza? – Democracy Now! (October 19, 2023).
Josh Paul, Former State Dept. Official, Explains Why He Resigned Over U.S. Arms Sent to Israel – Rachel Treisman (NPR News, October 19, 2023).
Ex-State Department Official Explains Resigning Over U.S. Response to Israel-Hamas War – Nick Schifrin (PBS Newshour, October 19, 2023).
“Divide and Rule”: How Israel Helped Start Hamas to Weaken Palestinian Hopes for Statehood – Democracy Now! (October 20, 2023).
How U.S. Media Legitimise Israel’s Barbarism Against the Palestinians – Gregory Shupak (Middle East Eye, October 20, 2023).
What Is a War Crime, and Who Gets Held Accountable? – Scott Neuman (NPR News, October 20, 2023).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• In the Midst of the “Great Unraveling,” a Visit to the Prayer Tree
• Something to Think About – October 12, 2023
• Eric Levitz: Quote of the Day – October 11, 2023
• Phyllis Bennis: “If We Are Serious About Ending This Spiraling Violence, We Need to Look at Root Causes”
• “Nothing About Today is ‘Unprovoked’”
• “The Mistreatment and Discrimination Against Palestinians Is Not Unprecedented. It’s Baked Into the Foundation of the Political System in Israel”
• “Essential Viewing for All Who Care to Understand the Plight of the People of Palestine”
• Noura Erakat: Quote of the Day – May 15, 2018
• For Some Jews, Israel’s Treatment of Palestinians is Yet Another Jewish Tragedy
• Remembering the Six-Day War and Its Ongoing Aftermath
• David Norris: Quote of the Day – August 12, 2014

Sunday, October 15, 2023

Marianne Williamson’s “Radical Idea” of Putting People First

Author and Democratic presidential candidate Marianne Williamson recently appeared on Will Rucker’s podcast Compassionate Las Vegas.

It’s a 20-minute interview, and one that serves as an excellent introduction to Marianne and her presidential campaign. If you’re new to Marianne and her candidacy, this is the interview for you.

Rucker’s interview can be viewed in its entirety below; but first, here is his summary of his conversation with Marianne.

Marianne Williamson joins the Compassionate Las Vegas podcast to discuss her presidential campaign and the importance of compassion in politics. She defines compassion as an aspect of love and emphasizes the need for a more compassionate world. Williamson believes that her agenda reflects the will of the American people, with a focus on universal healthcare, tuition-free college, and common-sense gun safety laws. She criticizes the current political system for perpetuating a dysfunctional and unjust system and advocates for disruptive change. Williamson also addresses the issue of invisibility in politics and encourages young people to participate in hopeful solutions. She emphasizes the importance of reclaiming our first principles as Americans and putting our humanity back into politics. Williamson discusses the challenges of navigating different factions and the need to focus on common needs and responsibilities. She also shares her perspective on merging faith with politics and the power of love in creating positive social change.

As I’ve said previously, I wish Marianne’s voice and message could be heard on a regular basis on the mainstream Sunday morning talk shows. Yet sadly the corporate media/DNC blackout of her candidacy continues.

Following are some comments on Will Rucker’s conversation with Marianne that have been posted on YouTube.

• How brave you are, Marianne. Your message is timely and rings true, and I heartily agree with your way of messaging it, Madame Future President.

• Excellent interview! . . . We don’t need another Bill Clinton playing the sax on Arsenio. We need her! She serves America and its many minority communities through her policies, compassion and deepest level of understanding that she brings.

• I’m a Marianne ambassador – donating, serving in any way. The best is talking to people in my everyday life, wearing my T-shirt. The great thing about Marianne’s campaign is that I can weave her policies into every conversation I am having with people. . . . She’s got my support wholeheartedly!

• Excellent questions, excellent answers! I’m always smarter after listening to Marianne Williamson. Thank you Will, for going deep and being so present to who you are interviewing.

• Marianne has my vote! 💙

Friday, October 13, 2023

Remembering Tina’s Foreign Affair

Since her passing on May 24, I've been exploring and enjoying the music of Tina Turner (1939-2023), the “Queen of Rock ’n’ Roll.”

I noted in a previous post that although I wasn’t what you’d call a dedicated follower of Tina Turner’s career during her lifetime, I did see her in concert at the Sydney Entertainment Centre in December 1985. She was in Australia as part of her Private Dancer Tour. Her 1984 album Private Dancer, considered her big “comeback” album, was a favorite of mine in the mid-1980s.

For reasons I can’t explain, I didn’t really follow her post-Private Dancer career, despite it being an extremely successful one, both commercially and artistically. That's all changed now, however, as I continue to delve into Tina’s wonderful musical legacy. I’ve bought all her post-Private Dancer studio albums on CD – Break Every Rule (1986), Foreign Affair (1989), Wildest Dreams (1996), and Twenty Four Seven (1999).

I’ve also been enjoying the soundtrack album, What’s Love Got to Do With It (1993) and various compilation albums, including Simply the Best (1991), the 2-CD Tina: All the Best (2004), and the 3-CD Tina: The Platinum Collection (2009).

I’ve also greatly enjoyed (and learned a lot from) both the 2021 HBO documentary, Tina and Tina’s own 2018 memoir, A Love Story.

This evening for music night at The Wild Reed I share the music video for “Look Me in the Heart,” one of my favorite tracks from Tina’s 1989 album, Foreign Affair. It’s followed by an insightful review of Foreign Affair by Matthew Hocter, first published in 2019 in celebration of the album’s 30th anniversary. Enjoy!

The ’80s most definitely belonged to Tina Turner. She kicked off her decade of recording with the 1984 release of Private Dancer, which as any Turner fan will know, solidified the singer as not only legendary, but also placed the title and crown of “Queen of Rock & Roll” firmly on the singer’s head, confirmed yet again with album sales in excess of 20 million copies. A hard act to follow, but Turner was able to do it with Break Every Rule (1986) and of course, the decade-concluding Foreign Affair (1989).

In fact, it’s Turner’s seventh studio album that, for many, is likely one of those albums that you’ve heard of, but just why you’ve heard of it remains somewhat of a musical mystery. The irony in this, is that it happens to be home to one of Turner’s most recognizable songs, the global smash hit cover of Bonnie Tyler’s “The Best,” which also happened to be the album’s lead single and a song that would go on to help Foreign Affair achieve sales in excess of 6 million copies globally.

Foreign Affair is, in essence, an album deeply rooted in adult contemporary, a genre that Turner has been associated with for the majority of her solo career. “Steamy Windows,” the album’s GRAMMY nominated third single, is the epitome of said genre and in true Turner style, incorporates elements of the blues and a whole lot of rock. That said, the album also moves into other areas and delivers some solid club tracks like “I Don’t Wanna Lose You” and the beautifully uplifting love song “Falling Like Rain.”

With a solid dosage of ballads like “Ask Me How I Feel” and “Be Tender With Me Baby,” it would be hard to ignore the incredible production value on this album from the late and legendary musician and record producer, Dan Hartman. Hartman not only produced most of the entire 12-track album (he also played various instruments on many of the tracks and even provided backing vocals on “The Best” and “Look Me In The Heart”), but he also penned “Not Enough Romance.”

One track that truly stands out for me is the bluesy and incredibly sensual “Undercover Agent For The Blues,” a song that not only showcases Turner’s Tennessee roots, but reminds the listener that for all the “soft rock” adult contemporary that mostly fills this album, Turner is essentially at her core, pure rock & soul. Few artists have been able to achieve this ability to straddle the very grey area of crossover appeal versus musical core – a tricky balancing act that Turner not only managed to achieve on this album, but has maintained throughout her career, pre- and post-Foreign Affair.

Although Foreign Affair failed to enter the top 30 in the U.S, it was a worldwide hit, especially in Europe where the album spawned five singles and entered numerous charts at the #1 position. The UK alone accounted for 1.5 million sales, allowing Turner to realize that her music was and is not limited solely to the US market.

– Matthew Hocter
Excerpted from “Tina Turner’s Foreign Affair Turns 30”
Albumism
September 11, 2019

Thursday, October 12, 2023

Something to Think About . . .

NEXT:
Prayer of the Week
– October 16, 2023

Related Off-site Links:
What’s the Israel-Palestinian Conflict About? The Origin of Wars Explained – Reuters (October 10, 2023).
Historian Rashid Khalidi: Palestinians “Living Under Incredible Oppression . . . It Had to Explode” – Democracy Now! (October 10, 2023).
Mohammed El-Kurd: How Much Palestinian Blood Will It Take to End Israel’s Occupation and Apartheid? – Democracy Now! (October 10, 2023).
As U.S. Pledges More Support for Israel, Global Call for Cease-Fire to Prevent Further Bloodshed Grows – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, October 10, 2023).
“Israel’s 9/11” Is a Slogan to Rationalize Open-Ended Massacre of Palestinian Civilians – Norman Solomon (Common Dreams, October 10, 2023).
“Bone-Chilling” Violence in Israel and Gaza Has Pushed the Region to a “Tipping Point”: UN Relief Head – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, October 11, 2023).
While Israeli Media Examine Government Failure, U.S. Papers Push “National Unity” – Ari Paul (FAIR, October 11, 2023).
Israeli Journalist Gideon Levy: Israel Should Lift Siege and Call Off Plans for Ground Invasion of Gaza – Democracy Now! (October 11, 2023).
How to Think Morally About the Israel-Hamas War – Zack Beauchamp (Vox, October 11, 2023).
Israeli Apartheid Is at the Heart of the Brutality in Gaza and Israel – Phyllis Bennis (In These Times, October 12, 2023).
Palestinian Journalist: Latest Violence Shatters Notion That Israeli Apartheid Is Sustainable – Democracy Now! (October 12, 2023).
Israel Links Gaza Aid to Hostages’ Release as Humanitarian Disaster Looms – Henriette Chacar, Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Humeyra Pamuk (Reuters, October 12, 2023).
Gazans Bombarded by Israel Have No Hope and No Escape – Nidal Al-Mughrabi (Reuters, October 12, 2023).
“Collective Punishment”: Israeli Minister Says No Humanitarian Breaks in Gaza Siege Until Hostages Freed – Olivia Rosane (Common Dreams, October 12, 2023).
Israel Accused of “Blatant War Crime” as Human Rights Weatch Confirms White Phosphorus Used in Gaza – Brett Wilkins (Common Dreams, October 12, 2023).

UPDATES: Palestinians Flee Northern Gaza After Israel Orders One Million to Evacuate as Ground Attack Looms – Isabel Debre, Edith M. Lederer and Wafaa Shurafa (AP News, October 13, 2023).
Noura Erakat: Western Leaders and Media Are Justifying Israel’s “Genocidal Campaign” Against Palestinians – Democracy Now! (October 13, 2023).
The Answer to Hamas’ Brutality Is Not to Eviscerate Innocent Palestinians – Phyllis Bennis (Foreign Policy in Focus via Common Dreams, October 13, 2023).
Benjamin Netanyahu Made Hamas Stronger and Compromised Israeli Security: An Interview with Zack Beauchamp – Rising (October 16, 2023).
Selective Empathy Is Not Empathetic at All – Belén Fernández (Al Jazeera via Common Dreams, October 17, 2023).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• “Nothing About Today is ‘Unprovoked’”
• Phyllis Bennis: “If We Are Serious About Ending This Spiraling Violence, We Need to Look at Root Causes”
• “The Mistreatment and Discrimination Against Palestinians Is Not Unprecedented. It’s Baked Into the Foundation of the Political System in Israel”
• “Essential Viewing for All Who Care to Understand the Plight of the People of Palestine”
• Noura Erakat: Quote of the Day – May 15, 2018
• For Some Jews, Israel’s Treatment of Palestinians is Yet Another Jewish Tragedy
• Remembering the Six-Day War and Its Ongoing Aftermath
• David Norris: Quote of the Day – August 12, 2014

Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Quote of the Day

No small number of supposed leftists found in [Hamas’s recent violent and murderous incursion into southern Israel] cause for celebration. Others, meanwhile, loudly refused to condemn Hamas’s atrocities, insisting it was not their place to decry the “military strategy” or “violent resistance” of oppressed Palestinians.

In my view, these responses constitute a betrayal of the left’s most fundamental values. Either one upholds the equal worth of all human lives, opposes war crimes, and despises far-right ethno-nationalist political projects or one doesn’t. What’s more, cheering (or publicly announcing your refusal to condemn) the murder of children isn’t just morally grotesque but also politically self-defeating.

The West’s apologists for Palestinian war crimes have far less power than its apologists for Israel’s brutal domination of the Palestinian territories and discrimination against Arab citizens of Israel. But precisely because left-wing critics of Israeli apartheid lack power, we must not forfeit our moral authority. For decades, the Israeli government’s knee-jerk defenders have sought to equate opposition to the occupation with contempt for the security of Jewish Israelis. Now, a loud minority of Palestine’s self-styled champions are blithely affirming this smear, insisting that solidarity with Palestine requires callous indifference toward (or, at the very least, silence about) the mass murder of Jews. In so doing, they are making it easier for their adversaries to discredit and marginalize the broader cause of Palestinian liberation.

And that cause has never been more vital. It is therefore imperative for progressives to disavow all apologia for Hamas’s atrocities and for the broader public to understand that the left’s analysis of the conflict’s origins, and its prescriptions for its resolution, are wholly extricable from the blood lust of a loud minority of pseudo-radicals.

– Eric Levitz
Excerpted from “A Left That Refuses
to Condemn Mass Murder Is Doomed”
New York Magazine
October 11, 2023

NEXT:
Something to Think About

Related Off-site Links:
How to Think Morally About the Israel-Hamas War – Zack Beauchamp (Vox, October 11, 2023).
Benjamin Netanyahu Made Hamas Stronger and Compromised Israeli Security: An Interview with Zack Beauchamp – Rising (October 16, 2023).

See also the previous Wild Reed posts:
• In the Midst of the “Great Unraveling,” a Visit to the Prayer Tree
• Phyllis Bennis: “If We Are Serious About Ending This Spiraling Violence, We Need to Look at Root Causes”
• “Nothing About Today is ‘Unprovoked’”
• “The Mistreatment and Discrimination Against Palestinians Is Not Unprecedented. It’s Baked Into the Foundation of the Political System in Israel”
• “Essential Viewing for All Who Care to Understand the Plight of the People of Palestine”
• Noura Erakat: Quote of the Day – May 15, 2018
• For Some Jews, Israel’s Treatment of Palestinians is Yet Another Jewish Tragedy
• Remembering the Six-Day War and Its Ongoing Aftermath
• David Norris: Quote of the Day – August 12, 2014

Image: Violeta Santos Moura / Reuters.

For National Coming Out Day

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Phyllis Bennis: “If We Are Serious About Ending This Spiraling Violence, We Need to Look at Root Causes”

I’ve long respected and appreciated the informed perspective of Phyllis Bennis – author, scholar, and director of the New Internationalism Project at the Institute for Policy Studies. Indeed, she’s one of my “go-to” people for information and insights on both U.S. foreign policy and its implications both here and abroad and issues pertaining to the Middle East.

Her latest piece, published October 8 at The Hill, takes an in-depth look at the context of “the most recent eruption of violence in Gaza and Israel.” It’s reprinted in its entirety below.

__________________

As Israel and Gaza Erupt, the U.S. Must Commit
to Ending the Violence – All the Violence

By Phyllis Bennis

The Hill
October 8, 2023
The most recent eruption of violence in Gaza and Israel is a tragic reminder of the human consequences of decades of oppression. The human toll – hundreds of Palestinians and Israelis killed so far – tells that appalling story. Many of the targets, and many of those killed, on both sides, were civilians.

And, as the United Nations’ special rapporteur on human rights in the occupied Palestinian territory noted about attacks on civilians, “whoever launches them (Palestinian armed groups or Israeli occupation forces) commits crimes that must be accounted for.”

But while it’s necessary, condemning attacks on civilians isn’t enough. If we are serious about ending this spiraling violence, we need to look at root causes. And that means – hard as it may be for some to acknowledge it – we must look at the context.

While this attack against Israel may have been a surprise to Israel’s political and military officials, it should not have been unexpected. Eruptions of violence have well-known causes; they are no secret. Human rights organizations (Israeli, Palestinian, American and international) and UN officials, parliamentarians and governments around the world have long warned that Israel’s longstanding denial of freedom and equality for Palestinians would continue sparking cycles of violence.

Our understanding of reality is shaped by when we start the clock.

Saturday’s attack from Gaza did not happen out of thin air. It took place in the context of decades of Israel’s domination and control over Palestinians. As the Israeli human rights organization B’tselem describes it, “in the entire area between the Mediterranean Sea and the Jordan River, the Israeli regime implements laws, practices and state violence designed to cement the supremacy of one group – Jews – over another – Palestinians. … [I]n 2007, Israel imposed a blockade on the Gaza Strip that is still in place. Throughout all of these years, Israel has continued to control nearly every aspect of life in Gaza from outside.”

Generations of Palestinians, 80 percent of them refugees, have grown up in the teeming, impoverished Gaza Strip, one of the most crowded pieces of land on Earth. Since Israel besieged Gaza in 2007, most of them have never been allowed to leave the walled-in, military-guarded Strip, have never glimpsed the West Bank or Jerusalem, let alone 1948 Israel, and certainly not the wider world.

In 2012 the UN determined that without “herculean action” by the international community, by 2020 Gaza “will not be livable” – largely, though not only, because of the profound lack of access to clean water. In 2015 the UN again reported that conditions had worsened, particularly because of the Israeli military assault in 2014 and its destruction of water and electrical infrastructure. And once again they urgently warned that Gaza would be “unlivable” by 2020.

Yet more than 2 million Palestinians remain in Gaza, locked into an open-air prison. 2020 has come and gone. The international community did not take “herculean action” to stop Israel’s blockade or to stop the current extremist government’s annexation of Palestinian land. They did nothing (then-President Trump even praised it) when Israel passed a law stating that “the right to exercise national self-determination in the State of Israel is unique to the Jewish people” – so even Palestinians who are Israeli citizens are officially denied equal rights. And Gaza remains unlivable.

In 2018, a series of overwhelmingly non-violent marches, organized by Ahmed Abu Artema, a young Gaza poet, and taking place inside the besieged Strip, called for an end to the blockade and freedom of movement for the Gaza population. They were met with tear gas, rubber bullets and Israeli sharpshooters taking aim at the mostly young protesters.

After two years, the result was 214 Palestinians killed, including 46 children, and more than 36,000 injured, including 8,800 children. More than 8,000 of those injured were hit by live ammunition. By the time the protests waned, in 2019, the United Nations reported that 1,700 of the protesters faced amputation of legs or arms because Gaza hospitals had insufficient health care funding to provide advanced care for those shot by Israeli snipers.

None of this makes attacks on civilians legal or acceptable. But without addressing the root causes, violence will continue to erupt. Israel remains the occupying power. Before today, Israeli soldiers had already killed more than 214 Palestinians, 47 of them children, in the occupied West Bank, and settler violence had escalated, with nearly 600 attacks in just the first six months of this year.

Too many Palestinians and too many Israelis have been killed. If Israel was in fact surprised by the attack, it was an intelligence failure – something that won’t be solved by sending it more weapons. The United States provides $3.8 billion – 20 percent of Israel’s military budget – every year, and that clearly isn’t helping deal with the root causes of violence.

Right now, we need U.S. support for the UN as it calls for an immediate ceasefire. And then we need a serious U.S. commitment to ending the violence – all the violence. That means ending Washington’s enabling of Israeli violations, and instead demanding real accountability for violations of human rights and international law, real moves to end the occupation and apartheid system and real moves to demand equality for all living under Israeli control.

Phyllis Bennis is a fellow of the Institute for Policy Studies and serves on the national board of Jewish Voice for Peace. Her most recent book is the 7th updated edition of Understanding the Palestinian-Israeli Conflict: A Primer (2018). Her other books include: Understanding the US-Iran Crisis: A Primer (2008) and Challenging Empire: How People, Governments, and the UN Defy U.S. Power (2005).

NEXT:
Eric Levitz: Quote of the Day
– October 11, 2023

Related Off-site Links:
What’s the Israel-Palestinian Conflict About? The Origin of Wars Explained – Reuters (October 10, 2023).
Historian Rashid Khalidi: Palestinians “Living Under Incredible Oppression . . . It Had to Explode” – Democracy Now! (October 10, 2023).
Mohammed El-Kurd: How Much Palestinian Blood Will It Take to End Israel’s Occupation and Apartheid? – Democracy Now! (October 10, 2023).
As U.S. Pledges More Support for Israel, Global Call for Cease-Fire to Prevent Further Bloodshed Grows – Julia Conley (Common Dreams, October 10, 2023).
“Israel’s 9/11” Is a Slogan to Rationalize Open-Ended Massacre of Palestinian Civilians – Norman Solomon (Common Dreams, October 10, 2023).

UPDATES: “Bone-Chilling” Violence in Israel and Gaza Has Pushed the Region to a “Tipping Point”: UN Relief Head – Jake Johnson (Common Dreams, October 11, 2023).
Israeli Journalist Gideon Levy: Israel Should Lift Siege and Call Off Plans for Ground Invasion of Gaza – Democracy Now! (October 11, 2023).
A Left That Refuses to Condemn Mass Murder Is Doomed – Eric Levitz (New York Magazine, October 11, 2023).
On the Humans, Animals, and Children of Gaza and Israel – Richard Eskow (Common Dreams, October 12, 2023).
Palestinian Journalist: Latest Violence Shatters Notion That Israeli Apartheid Is Sustainable – Democracy Now! (October 12, 2023).
Israel Links Gaza Aid to Hostages’ Release as Humanitarian Disaster Looms – Henriette Chacar, Nidal Al-Mughrabi and Humeyra Pamuk (Reuters, October 12, 2023).
Gazans Bombarded by Israel Have No Hope and No Escape – Nidal Al-Mughrabi (Reuters, October 12, 2023).
Israeli Apartheid Is at the Heart of the Brutality in Gaza and Israel – Phyllis Bennis (In These Times, October 12, 2023).
Noura Erakat: Western Leaders and Media Are Justifying Israel’s “Genocidal Campaign” Against Palestinians – Democracy Now! (October 13, 2023).
The Answer to Hamas’ Brutality Is Not to Eviscerate Innocent Palestinians – Phyllis Bennis (Foreign Policy in Focus via Common Dreams, October 13, 2023).

For more of Phyllis Bennis at The Wild Reed, see:
• Phyllis Bennis On the Need For a Ceasefire in Ukraine
• Phyllis Bennis On the Crisis in Afghanistan
• Progressive Perspectives on the Ongoing Israeli-Palestinian “Nightmare”
• Progressive Perspectives on the Ilhan Omar “Controversy”
• Progressive Perspectives on U.S. Military Intervention in Syria
• You, O Comforter, Are Ever Near
• In the Wake of the Paris Attacks, Saying “No” to War, Racism and Islamophobia
• The Tenth Anniversary of the U.S. Invasion of Iraq
• Phyllis Bennis: Quote of the Day – February 2, 2011
• A Voice of Reason

See also:
• “Nothing About Today is ‘Unprovoked’”
• “The Mistreatment and Discrimination Against Palestinians Is Not Unprecedented. It’s Baked Into the Foundation of the Political System in Israel”
• “Essential Viewing for All Who Care to Understand the Plight of the People of Palestine”
• Noura Erakat: Quote of the Day – May 15, 2018
• For Some Jews, Israel’s Treatment of Palestinians is Yet Another Jewish Tragedy
• Remembering the Six-Day War and Its Ongoing Aftermath
• David Norris: Quote of the Day – August 12, 2014

Opening image: Israelis in Ashkelon in the aftermath of rocket barrages launched from Gaza – October 7, 2023. (Photo: Reuters)
Image 2: Phyllis Bennis (photographer unknown).
Image 3: Members of a Palestinian family rush out of a bombed house during Israeli airstrikes on Gaza City – October 9, 2023. (Photo: Eyad Al-Baba/AFP via Getty Images)

The Wild Reed

Friday, October 20, 2023

October Afternoon

Monday, October 16, 2023

Prayer of the Week

Sunday, October 15, 2023

Marianne Williamson’s “Radical Idea” of Putting People First

Friday, October 13, 2023

Remembering Tina’s Foreign Affair

Thursday, October 12, 2023

Something to Think About . . .

Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Quote of the Day

For National Coming Out Day

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Phyllis Bennis: “If We Are Serious About Ending This Spiraling Violence, We Need to Look at Root Causes”

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