On October 7, in the midst of the Days of Awe, Jews across the country will come together in community, in heartbreak and in grief. We will mark one year since the Hamas-led attack in which over 1,100 Israelis were killed and hundreds more were taken hostage. We will mark one year of the Israeli government’s ongoing massacres and starvation in Gaza, which has killed over 42,000 — and likely tens of thousands more — Palestinians. Our tears are abundant enough, and our hearts are big enough, to grieve for every life taken — every universe destroyed – whether Israeli or Palestinian. It is not either, or. We need one another: Jews cannot be safe if Palestinians are not safe and free. 

It is unimaginable that a full year later, we are seeing similar scenes in Lebanon to those we saw in Gaza: residential buildings bombed to rubble, Israeli and American officials using dehumanizing rhetoric to justify massacres of civilians, and no end to the violence in sight.

It didn’t have to be this way.  It still doesn’t. 

The massacre of October 7th tragically revealed what many have been saying for decades: that decades of occupation, apartheid, and siege that has subjugated Palestinians will never keep Israelis safe. State oppression of Palestinians has only created an ever-escalating cycle of violence, grief and trauma that now risks consuming the entire region. 

We honor the memories of the dead by fighting for the living. We call for an end to the Israeli government’s genocidal assault on Gaza and invasion of Lebanon and to our own government’s enabling of them. We grieve for the hostages who didn’t and won’t make it out of Gaza alive and who have been abandoned by their government, and we pray for the release of all Israelis and Palestinians who are being held captive and we know that only an end to Israel’s assault on Gaza will give them a chance of freedom. And we know that even when the bombs stop falling and the captives are returned to their families, the only way to truly end the violence is by ending decades of occupation, apartheid and siege. Jewish safety is inextricably linked to freedom, safety, and justice for Palestinians. Let us forge a new future together, grounded in equality, justice, and safety for all.

It is time for us all to stand before corrupt, racist leaders — here and in Israel — who are exploiting grief to advance their violent agenda. In our sorrow, anger, and fear, we say clearly:

Your endless violence and bombs have wrought destruction upon Palestinians and endangered Israelis and Jews around the world.

We must bring about an end to the decades of oppression, dispossession, and violence that the Israeli military has inflicted on the Palestinians.

We reject the lie that decades of subjecting Palestinians to occupation and apartheid protects Jews — in Israel or anywhere in the world. We know there is another way.