Rejecting religious fanaticism

On Monday, the Jerusalem Post reported another downright evil thing from the mouth of Itamar Ben-Gvir, Israel’s Minister of National Security, recently. In case you missed it, in an interview with former hostage Rom Braslavski on his ‘October 8’podcast, Ben-Gvir said that Israel should kill “30-40 Gazans” in strikes every night.

Arguing in favor of carrying out more targeted strikes across the Gaza Strip, the minister claimed Israel should not be satisfied with killing “just those who endanger us in that moment” or “pose an immediate threat.”

Instead, Ben-Gvir argued, “there are people there who aren’t worthy of life; they shouldn’t be alive; they aren’t people at all.”

Ben-Gvir also said that even Gaza citizens whom some “might consider uninvolved” shouldn’t be exempt.

Referring to a woman who brought Braslavski food during his captivity, Ben-Gvir said, “She’s a terrorist for all intents and purposes.”

“She needs a bullet in the head. She didn’t bring you food because she worried about your health - she brought you food because she wanted to preserve you so you could be a resource afterward, in that murdering terrorists would be released. Someone like that needs a bullet in the head.”

(Sarah turns to Camera One)

I’m speaking directly to my fellow Jews here, especially the ones who support Netanyahu and his government, see no problem with Israel building more settlements in the West Bank, and are apparently undisturbed by settler violence against Palestinians because they believe there’s a biblical right to Judea and Samaria:

If you read those words from a Palestinian, is there any doubt you’d call them a terrorist?

Be honest, because we both know the answer to my question.

So why is this kind dehumanizing, genocidal language okay coming from Ben-Gvir? If you’re arguing that what’s happening in Gaza isn’t genocide, the Israeli government isn’t helping your case.

And for those of us who grew up with survivors with numbers tattooed on their arms in our community, how is it okay to mark Palestinian men and women with numbers? Simple answer. It’s not. It’s another step toward dehumanization.

My dislike of extremist views, whether they come from the right or the left, comes from reading George Orwell’s most famous works as a teenager and his deep cuts as an adult. Orwell influenced me as a writer and a thinker.

When I look at Ben Gvir, when I see the things he and other extremist members of the Israeli government have said, and when I see fellow Jews in some of the Facebook groups I’m in making excuses for this behavior, I can’t help thinking of the final line of Animal Farm, where the animals, whose glorious “all animals are equal” revolution had been derailed by authoritarian Napoleon’s coup, are looking through the farmhouse window at the pigs and humans playing poker:

Twelve voices were shouting in anger, and they were all alike. No question, now, what had happened to the faces of the pigs. The creatures outside looked from pig to man, and from man to pig, and from pig to man again; but already it was impossible to say which was which.

In 2016, I left a congregation where I’d worshipped for over a decade because of comments that weren’t even as heinous as Ben-Gvir’s. Extremists of any faith, including my own, are anathema to me.

(Sarah turns to Camera Two)

Now I’m speaking to my non-Jewish readers, particularly those on the left, because, frankly, I don’t think I have many on the right, and it hurts more when you feel abandoned by people you thought of as friends.

Given we face in this country under Trump, I want desperately to believe that you are still my people. I want to believe that we can still march shoulder to shoulder to fight authoritarianism, to make America more equitable, to fight systemic injustice, to get rid of ICE, to move closer to the ideals we share.

Unfortunately, there’s extremely depressing evidence to the contrary.

Two years ago, I wrote about the ridiculous antiZionist spreadsheet that was making the rounds, and the ignorant “criteria” used to sort and color code people.

Librarian Jen Eckhardt has been doing a series of posts on Threads about a recent author boycott list posted by the Sleepy Readers Club. It’s concerning that people who are supposedly encouraging reading are engaging in boycotting tactics, especially based on such ridiculous, flimsy reasons.

Sleepy Readers lists Gabrielle Zevin as one of their “problematic authors.” Their “justification” on Linktree links to a Bahrain-based Instagram account called Books.Tribe.

Here are their reasons for boycotting Zevin:

OMG she included an Israeli character in her book? Where is my fainting couch?

Aren’t we fighting book bans because we think everyone should be able to see themselves in a book? Or is that only true for some people and not others?

Apparently it’s not not true if they are Israeli or if the author is an American Jew who spoke to a Hadassah gathering prior to October 7th, because hello……appearances sell books! And authors need to sell books to pay for their very expensive self-employed health insurance.

Then there’s their “reasons” for boycotting Glennon Doyle:

So seeing murdered Israelis as human makes you worthy of a boycott according to Sleepy Readers Club. That’s silly enough, but wait, there’s more:

This isn’t enough for Sleepy Readers and their boycott network. Recognizing the humanity of murdered Israelis isn’t okay. Feeling pain for Palestinians is. Why is it so hard for these Sleepy Readers to do both?

They’re anti-Rick Riordan, too, for having the chutzpah to see both Palestinians and Israelis as human.

What really blew my mind, after having had to read and listen to more Jordan Petersen for book research than I ever wanted to in my lifetime, is that they have Petersen and NIC STONE on the same list! Even more so because they don’t even seem to have done any research on Petersen. Or more than the slightest perfunctory research on anyone.

Nic’s crime is that she visited Israel and Palestine when she was an “intensely evangelical Christian” in her youth.

I wonder how the Sleepy Readers would like it if they were judged by everything they did in their youth. Should we search through their social media to judge their teenage posts?

Do they not believe that people have room to learn and grow?

Because folks, that’s not a very bookish sentiment. Reading helps us develop empathy. It helps us understand, even if we don’t agree. We should celebrate those who continue to learn and grow. Being able to take in and synthesize new information, even if it conflicts with our existing beliefs, and possibly even changing our minds is an essential part of being a mature human being.

I can’t help feeling that the Sleepy Readers are what Mo Husseini (who you should totally follow) called “quote post revolutionaries” in this absolutely glorious rant.

It makes me despair, it really does.

But enough about these performative virtue signalers. If you are still reading, and I hope you are, I want to ask you, my fellow progressive Americans a question:

DO YOU WANT TO BE JUDGED BY THE ACTIONS OF THE TRUMP ADMINISTRATION? DO YOU WANT PEOPLE ABROAD TO HATE YOU BECAUSE OF A PRESIDENT THAT YOU DIDN’T VOTE FOR AND HAVE BEEN PROTESTING IN THE STREETS AGAINST?

If your answer is no, then I’d like to ask why it’s okay to judge all Israelis by the actions of a government they despise and didn’t vote for?

Look, I get it. The devastation of lives in Gaza is unbearable. The attacks by settlers in the West Bank are terrible, and it makes me even more angry that the perpetrators are folks who claim to be “more Jewish” than me. That they are so fanatical and dogmatic that they rationalize unethical and immoral behavior because they keep kosher and strictly observe Sabbath, unlike us heathen Conservative and Reform Jews.

But THEY AREN’T ALL ISRAELIS.

A reform synagogue in Jerusalem was attacked for having a Pride flag - and not for the first time.

The Israeli government is trying to crack down on dissent the same way Trump is doing here.

Ruth Ben Yakar, the woman pictured above, wrote an op ed about her experience:

This incident shook me. Perhaps because of the contrast between the Pride parade – a celebration of love, acceptance, liberalism, a point of light in an increasingly darkening Israeli reality – and the reality of violence, racism, anxiety, hatred and division. I came to the parade to breathe a moment of freedom and absorbed another dose of violence.

…

On my way to the parade, at almost every intersection, two or three electric bicycle riders ran red lights, flouting the law without fear. A few days ago, another woman was murdered by her partner, after he had previously threatened her and after she had complained about him several times and pleaded for help. Almost every day, we hear about murders in the Arab community – children, women, men. No one seems to care. Violence rages in the streets, crime flourishes, government thugs are embraced by ministers, yet in the eyes of the police – I am the criminal.

Instead of protecting the weak, the police protects the thugs. Instead of deterring criminals, it deters citizens and serves as a tool for those seeking to weaken democracy. The entire system sends a clear message: police officers are above the law. In the spirit of the commander, it is possible, and even encouraged, to use the power entrusted to them as they wish – and those who do so most enthusiastically will be promoted. Citizens are not to be served or protected, but controlled and harassed.

Wait - doesn’t that sound familiar? Isn’t that what we face here in America under Trump?

So I have to ask my fellow progressives - why is it okay to judge Israelis as a monolith? Do you want all Americans to be judged as a monolith? All men? All women? All Muslims? All Christians?

Of course not.

Eleven years ago, I wrote a post calling out Judy Mozes, an Israeli TV personality who has since moved to NY, for her racism toward Barack Obama.

In it, I quoted this from Seth Godin:

One of the reasons I had a following when I was a columnist was because I was willing to write about unethical behavior, even if it was from the party I tended to vote for. Because ethics shouldn’t be a matter of party, or of faith, or of nationality. Neither should be having empathy. Neither should being able to see each other’s humanity.

I’m not afraid to call out line-crossing behavior, even though it has made life difficult. I beg you all to do the same in your own in-groups.