‘Shock, fear and horror’: Columbus' Jewish and Palestinian communities react to conflict
Columbus residents held a vigil in support of Israel at war and, separately, rallied in support of Palestine at the Ohio Statehouse within the space of a few days following the escalating violence between Palestinians and Israelis.
Greater Columbus is home to a large Jewish community, including some Israeli Americans, as well as to thousands of Palestinian Americans.
Rabbi Alex Braver, of Congregation Tifereth Israel on Columbus’ Near East Side, told The Dispatch he had spoken with community members who lost cousins and other loved ones in Israel.
“This is personal for so many of us in the Jewish world, in the United States and in Columbus,” he said. “We’re praying — ... it's just hard to imagine this being resolved easily, peacefully.”
Mazen Rasoul, a Palestinian American attorney based in Columbus, said he had been on the phone with a friend in Gaza.
“He said the bombings are just everywhere and nonstop for the past couple of days, and extremely random,” he said. “It's extremely, extremely bad in Gaza now.”
The latest cycle of violence began in the early Saturday morning after Hamas launched a surprise attack on Israel unlike anything seen since the Yom Kippur War of 1973, when a coalition of Arab states led by Egypt and Syria invaded Israel.
As of late Monday, more than 900 Israelis and over 600 Palestinians have been killed, with thousands injured on both sides, according to the United Nations. After massacring civilians at a music festival and elsewhere in southern Israel, Hamas took hostage more than 50 Israeli soldiers and civilians, including women and children, the UN has said.
Israel declared war against Hamas, which controls Gaza, on Sunday. It has begun bombing Gaza and is intensifying its long-standing blockade of the territory. Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant has said there will be “no electricity, no food, no fuel” in Gaza as Israeli forces appear to be preparing for a ground invasion.
Eleven Americans, many of them residents of Israel, have been killed so far, according to the White House.
The Dispatch spoke with members of Columbus’ Jewish as well as Palestinian and Muslim communities about their reactions to the latest conflict. Here is some of what they had to say:
‘Terrorism needs to be stopped’
Rabbi Skolnik of Tifereth Israel said he was horrified by the news coming out of Israel.
“I weep and I sob for the families who have lost loved ones and … for the families whose loved ones have been taken hostage into Gaza. … I stand proudly in leading the congregation in prayer for the State of Israel, but with the fervent hope that includes a lasting peace,” he said.
Skolnik added, “I can't begin to try to understand an idea or a concept that legitimizes going into civilian populations and butchering people and murdering them and taking people hostage. … I don't think it is to be understood. It is a terrorist act, and terrorism needs to be stopped.”
‘Palestinians have been warning for years …this is all going to eventually explode’
Rasoul, the attorney, was born in Youngstown and raised in the West Bank. He said he fears for the safety of his cousins, aunts and uncles there, who have been on lockdown since Saturday.
He does not see recent violence in isolation from history.
“This is not a new violence cycle. Violence has been going on since the start of the occupation. … It only comes up on the news cycle, when there's any discomfort or when there are any attacks on Israelis,” he said.
He pointed to what he called “apartheid” policies by Israel as root causes, including the confiscation of land, the blockade of Gaza since 2007, its imprisoning Palestinians without charges, and previous wars that have left more Palestinian civilians than Israelis dead.
“Palestinians have really lost any hope for a future over there. …Palestinians have been warning for years and years and years that this is all going to eventually explode,” he said.
‘Shock, fear and horror’ at Hamas atrocities
Ayelet Ben-David, an Israeli American who sits on the Jewish Columbus board, said she has been watching with “shock, fear and horror” as graphic videos of Hamas' executions and dead civilians are posted to social media.
A few months ago, Ben-David helped organize a protest at the Ohio Statehouse against the right-wing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s efforts to curtail the power of the Israeli judiciary. But she said many on the Israeli left, including herself, have put aside those differences to rally behind the military.
“The rage, the hurt, the fear is so high, that nobody's talking right now about any positive outcome,” she said. “(But) I have to say that I feel very bad for the people on the other side, too — not the terrorist group, not the Hamas people, not the barbarians who've done it — but at the end of the day, there are children and families over on the other side in Palestine.”
More: A mosque, a synagogue and an unlikely friendship that kindled Columbus' interfaith movement
‘I feel like the rage is being selective’
Heba Latif was born in Westerville to Palestinian American parents and is a senior political science major at Ohio State University, where she is co-president of Students for Justice in Palestine. She has traveled to the West Bank on several trips to visit her grandmother and other relatives.
The violence has been “a very devastating time for us and my family,” she said.
“Every human life has value, whether it is Palestinian or Israeli. And, of course, everyone wants the violence to stop. But I feel like the only way to end it is through ending the occupation that Palestinians have been enduring for 75 years,” she said.
“I condemn the killings of innocent lives in Israel, but also what about the killings of the Palestinians in Gaza? I feel like the rage is being selective. I think both are horrible,” she said.
‘Without (Israel), we have no homeland’
Abe Bonowitz, a Bexley resident and executive director of Death Penalty Action, a national anti-death penalty organization, never used to wear a kippah (the Jewish skullcap) in public. But he began doing so after Hamas’ invasion of Israel — to him, it is a form of solidarity as a Jewish American, he said.
“It feels very personal,” he said of the war and rising anti-Semitism in the U.S. “There's a reason that Israel exists and that's because without it, we have no homeland.”
“(I) understand that there are many within the Columbus progressive …community who are also deeply concerned for the welfare of innocent Palestinians. That is appropriate,” he said. “(But) today, even those of us who are human rights activists … our first order of business is making sure nobody's going to come and shoot us.”
‘We have to stop aiding and abetting the occupation’
Amina Barhumi, the executive director of the Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said she has called for the violence to stop, but believes its root cause is the denial of Palestinian human rights and the Israeli occupation.
"(Palestinians') calls to hold accountable the Israeli government for their human rights abuses have fallen on deaf ears for decades," said Barhumi, who is Lebanese American. She pointed to the recent killing of a Shireen Abu Akleh, a Palestinian American journalist who was most likely killed by Israeli security forces last year.
“It is imperative that our nation intervene to end this violence before more innocent people die. But we know only true justice will allow for Christians, Jews and Muslims and others to peacefully live in a land that so many hold so dear to their heart,” she added.
‘The joy has been taken from us’
Rabbi Braver of Congregation Tifereth Israel said he had been celebrating the holiday of Simchat Torah, which concludes the Jewish High Holy Days, when news of Hamas’ invasion began to trickle in.
“It’s normally a really raucous and joyful sort of celebration,” he said. “Part of the rituals (is) you dance in a circle with the Torah. … Normally, you're singing ... (This time) we did it silently … to try to hold on to the sadness …The joy has been taken from us. It was very, very hard,” he said.
Braver is part of an interfaith group that hosted an iftar dinner at his synagogue for Muslims breaking the Ramadan fast in March.
“We’re still committed to being interfaith partners with Muslims, with Christians, with everybody. I don’t want this to stop us from being able to build those bridges,” he said.
More: Columbus community rallies behind teenage refugee who lost his leg
Peter Gill covers immigration, New American communities and religion for the Dispatch in partnership with Report for America. You can support work like his with a tax-deductible donation to Report for America at:bit.ly/3fNsGaZ.
pgill@dispatch.com
This article originally appeared on The Columbus Dispatch: Columbus' Jewish and Palestinian communities react to violence
