The Hamas-led attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, was unjustified and monstrous, but the response by Israel has been massive and greatly disproportionate. The slaughter of so many innocent noncombatants, widescale bombing of housing, hospitals, schools, refugee camps, and infrastructure, and resulting starvation and disease spreading among the Palestinians in Gaza, far exceed any validation of the violence waged by Israel pursuant to its necessary defense.
Tragically, this has been largely enabled by our nation’s arming of Israel. I find this complicity in such violence, criminal. Moreover, it seems to be infectious, increasingly in our institutions and society. This is deeply troubling for me.
My struggle with what is happening in Palestine has brought me to protest for an immediate embargo against U.S. military weaponry and munitions being sent to Israel, accompanied by a permanent ceasefire in the region.