"In the coming year, amidst a world filled with horror, may we turn our rage, our grief, and our despair into steadfast action. May we renew our dedication to the Palestinian freedom struggle. May we double down in our commitment to collective liberation." Jewish Voice for Peace - Rosh Hashanah

Rosh Hashanah

Jewish Voice for Peace

Tonight begins the Jewish new year of 5787. When we reflect on the past year, we acknowlege that we lived through the crushing conditions of expanding facism and we witnessed the brutality of the Israeli military’s ongoing genocide. Our grief, rage, and heartbreak know no end.

Our opposition wants us to despair, because it leads to inaction. Yet, in these conditions, fighting despair is a revolutionary act. Palestinians have been struggling for decades, against all odds. We honor our Palestinian comrades and all those who resist empire by honoring our grief, refusing despair, and letting our passion fuel our continued struggle. 

 

On the high holidays, we declare that the year ahead is not predetermined, that we the people have power to determine through our actions the course of the future. This year, we recommit to teshuva: internal and relational transformation. We recommit to t’fillah: personally, publicly, and collectively declaring our dedication. We recommit to tzedakah: material action to change conditions towards justice.

 

In the coming year, amidst a world filled with horror, may we turn our rage, our grief, and our despair into steadfast action. May we renew our dedication to the Palestinian freedom struggle. May we double down in our commitment to collective liberation.

 

In 5787 may we choose life—so that all may live.

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JVP Action, our 501c4 organization, is now doing business as JVP; JVP Lab, our 501c3 organization, continues separately and remains focused on our nonpartisan educational and cultural work.

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The Palestine Industry: The Rats of Gaza and the Opportunists among Us: The struggle for Palestinian freedom must remain anchored in the soil of Gaza. The global solidarity movement must not be permitted to mutate into a careerist industry.- By Ramzy Baroud

Volunteers in Gaza spray pesticides in an effort to combat rodents and insects. (Photo: via QNN)

 By Ramzy Baroud 

It all started with a call to my family in a displacement camp in northern Gaza.

Since internet lines rarely stay connected, I managed to send a message to the widow of my cousin—who was killed along with all of his sons during the ongoing Gaza genocide. I asked her a simple question: what do Gazans want?

My purpose was to gather raw testimonies from her neighbors to weave into a letter to a European official whose country is active in pursuing justice for Palestinians. I chose this approach to bypass clichéd political discourse and avoid the pitfall of speaking on behalf of those enduring genocide and famine. Palestinians in Gaza are entirely capable of speaking for themselves.

The responses, however, reframed my entire approach. While I am deeply tied to my community in Gaza, I had anticipated a direct focus on macro-political language—on statehood, rights, and global justice. Instead, I was met with the visceral reality of immediate physical survival.

“We want a life… we want a dignified life,” she said. “A dignified life with food, water, and even the ability to breathe. One feels so suffocated. We need so many things… so, so many things. We need psychological support, financial support, and moral support.”

Another neighbor said: “They (Israel) fight us with everything, absolutely everything; even when we are sleeping in our beds .. the mosquitoes drain us. Insects and rats are all around us, fleas, and the heat is killing us. There are no fans and there is no electricity.”

Yes, many spoke about Karameh (dignity), hurriye (freedom), and Haq al-Awda (the Right of Return), but these broad political and social rights were almost always tied directly to the everyday struggle for education, for water, for basic medical care, and—against rats.

The rats. This is the recurring nightmare in the minds of Gazan parents who find themselves unable to protect their children even from rodents. Nearly two million Palestinians remain displaced in horrific conditions, trapped in barely 40 percent of an already tiny, besieged Strip.

I spent the day trying to process the pain, grief, and humble expectations of these proud people.

Yet later that evening, a seemingly separate matter came to my attention. I learned of two characters—Aziz Abu Sarah, a Palestinian from the 1948 areas, and Maoz Inon, an Israeli—who have been touring for months, promoting what they call their ‘The Future Is Peace’ tour.

These two individuals have achieved global celebrity status, sitting down with the likes of famed US comedian Jon Stewart on The Daily Show and ultimately meeting with Pope Francis himself.

To the unexamined eye, the two are peddling a message of ‘peace’ and ‘forgiveness’, routinely staging a display where they forgive each other at the end of their talks. All of this serves as a promotional springboard for their week-long ‘peace tour’ inside Israel, sold commercially at the competitive price of $4,200 per person, air tickets excluded.

The sad truth is that this corporate approach to ‘peacebuilding’ is not unique; it is a symptom of a broader trend exploiting Palestine. Even more tragically, many individual Palestinians have capitalized on the well-intentioned but often misunderstood concept of ‘centering Palestinian voices’ to accumulate personal wealth, status, and prestige, while their own brethren cannot find drinkable water and teeter on the brink of starvation.

The Arabic maxim, famous in Palestine for generations, has long contended that “the revolution is a tree watered by the blood of the martyrs, and its fruits are plucked by the opportunists and the cowards.”

Shouldn’t mass extermination be a moral threshold that stops opportunists from feeding their pathological greed?

Desperate for solidarity, Palestinians in Gaza continue to hope that global efforts will eventually aid their raw struggle for freedom, dignity, clean water, and relief from the rats. And millions worldwide are indeed well-meaning; they care about Gaza in ways that no social media post can ever capture.

The crisis is that the balance between genuine solidarity and outright exploitation at times risks tipping in favor of the exploiters. We are witnessing the rise of a lucrative cult of personality, built on high speaker fees and business-class tickets, circumnavigating the globe under the guise of advocacy... READ MORE https://www.palestinechronicle.com/the-palestine-industry-the-rats-of-gaza-and-the-opportunists-among-us/

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“War does not solve problems — on the contrary, it amplifies them and inflicts deep wounds on the history of nations that take generations to heal.” - Pope Leo XIV renewing his call for diplomacy and commitment to peace: “Let diplomacy silence the weapons; let nations shape their future through works of peace, not through violence and bloody conflict.”

“No armed victory can make up for a mother’s grief, a child’s fear, or a stolen future.” - Pope Leo XIV artwork by Be a Heart

Pope Leo XIV after U.S. bombings in Iran: ‘Humanity cries out and pleads for peace’

Reacting to what he called the “alarming news” of U.S. airstrikes on nuclear facilities in Iran, Pope Leo XIV on Sunday [June 22,2025] pleaded with the international community “to stop the tragedy of war before it becomes an irreparable abyss.”

 

 Pope Leo XIV spook to pilgrims gathered in St. Peter’s Square for the Sunday Angelus on June 22, 2025: 

“There are no distant conflicts when human dignity is at stake,” he said. “War does not solve problems — on the contrary, it amplifies them and inflicts deep wounds on the history of nations that take generations to heal.”

The pope also evoked the most heartbreaking human toll of violence. “No armed victory can make up for a mother’s grief, a child’s fear, or a stolen future.”

Finally, he renewed his call for diplomacy and commitment to peace: “Let diplomacy silence the weapons; let nations shape their future through works of peace, not through violence and bloody conflict.”

READ MORE  https://ewtnvatican.com/articles/pope-leo-xiv-after-us-bombings-in-iran-humanity-cries-out-and-pleads-for-peace-5733 

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CSM: Snapshots from Gaza: By sheer will, Palestinian women eke out a life

By Ghada Abdulfattah Special contributor

April 10, 2024 | Rafah and Deir Al-Balah, Gaza Strip

Wafaa Abu Irjilia never dreamed she would become a single mother.

Six months ago, she was a housewife, happy to nurture her growing family with her husband, Ahmed – her rock and “strength” – by her side.

Now she is a widow raising four children between the ages of 2 and 7 in a tent alongside her own two sisters and six other young relatives. “If I need to leave the tent,” she says, “I have to tread carefully so as not to disturb the others.”

Why We Wrote This

A story focused on

Resilience

In any war, women carry an outsize burden. The Israel-Hamas war is no exception. In these snapshots from the Gaza Strip, Palestinian women are holding families and communities together.

There is little time to grieve for her husband, “the kindest and most generous person I knew,” Ms. Abu Irjilia says. Instead, focus is on daily necessities: food, water, and the safety of her children.

“It is a huge responsibility on my shoulders,” she says.

Across the Gaza Strip, Palestinian women say they have been caught in a war of survival and adaptation ever since Israel began...

READ MORE     https://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2024/0410/palestinian-women-gaza-war

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