It was so deeply special and powerful to spend the last few days with friends and visionary Israeli and Palestinian leaders building peace through partnership, grounded in equality, shared humanity, and the belief that we are helping bring a future where all people, from the river to the sea, are safe and free. Israelis and Palestinians. Deeply inspiring and courageous.
It’s much harder for Palestinians to visit the US because of Trump’s racist policies. But peace will come.
Life has become painfully cheap in the holy land. The sacredness of life has eroded dramatically. Daily death, killing murder and other forms of violence have been normalized, and spread to all corners of the land. Alongside a rise in dehumanization, trauma and deep depression and despair of the populations while being led by fanatical murderous criminals. Isolated, abandoned, neglected and brainwashed.
But peace will come - it’s already here.
In these dark times it was powerful to witness the impact on American audiences hearing this message of peace. Many of whom are accustomed to a binary perspective that so often inherently demands dehumanization. Often facing and holding perspectives that justifies violence, minimizes atrocities, and denies the humanity of Palestinians and/or Israelis.
But in these conversations people were invited into something different: to support joint work for peace, freedom, democracy and justice. Work rooted in pain, lose struggle and sacrifice but also in the truth that peace and equality will come and that it will bring a better, safer future for all of us. And that we must build it together. Because our lives are profoundly interconnected. Everyone can be a partner in that work.
Peace was already present in that room. In front of our eyes. This radical reality…
On April 30th, the People’s Peace Summit, organized by the @itstime.coalition coalition of over 80 peacebuilding and shared society organizations, will take place in Tel Aviv at a moment when Israel is heading toward elections during an ongoing coup and endless wars.
I added at the end few photos from last year’s It’s time People’s Peace Summit in Jerusalem.
My top 10 picks for 2023 images I captured.
Published in JTA, Haaretz, 972 and the high holidays program of CBST 🙂
Happy New Year everyone.
Pink Front at the weekly march against the Netanyahu judicial coup in Tel Aviv.
Block against the occupation and UnXeptable weekly protests against the judicial coup in Washington Square Park
Israeli led protest against Kohelet’s Moshe Koppel, one of the leading architects of the Judicial Coup, in his visit to New York.
Israeli led rally for release of hostages held by Hamas outside the United Nations as the families visit the United Nations headquarters
Jewish led protest for Ceasefire in Gaza in front of the White House
Israel’s judicial coup architect Jewish supremacist Simcha Rothman walks at New York City Celebrate Israel Parade while being protested by Israelis and American Jews.
Flame of Hope
2023 Joint Israeli-Palestinian Memorial Ceremony. 15,000 attend in a standing room only largest peace event in the region.
The NYC Israeli anti occupation Block (גוש נגד הכיבוש) and American Jews protested outside of Bibi’s hotel a day before his meeting with Biden.
50th Anniversary year of the legendary Pride Shabbat at CBST.
Reclaim Pride Coalition’s 2023 Queer Liberation March
“I reversed the genders of every person in the Torah - Why would I do such a massive act of chutzpah?” Yael writes about the first ever Simchat Toratah in which she will unveil Chumash Bereshit in #Hebrew #Jewish
And my photo :)
I went canvassing with JFREJ members for Brad Lander running for Congress on Sunday. Members knocked on 600 doors in the Lower East Side and East Village. People who know Brad seem very excited to meet him. Especially young voters.
New Yorkers in my district are being flooded with non stop TV ads and mailers from Dan Goldman, our current member of Congress, who positions himself as the “real progressive” while both self-funding his campaign (with at least $1 million to get himself reelected) and taking money from some of the worst players in American politics including AIPAC, the pro-war lobby, crypto interests, etc.
The headline in City & State was: “In NY-10, it’s Lander’s progressive relationships versus Goldman’s money.”
Because of the lefty nature of our district, super PACs supporting Goldman will likely use AIPAC-style tactics attacking Lander from the left, trying to confuse voters about the race. And it will be a close race. I think voters will see through this. Our district doesn’t need another millionaire who takes money from bad actors. Washington is full of those. Brad will not be bought and will not fold under pressure as we fight to save our democracy from criminals and the complicity of multinational corporations and dark money.
My photos:
To donate to the campaign:
/donate/bl4cweb
I marched with thousands of New Yorkers in the May Day NYC parade to celebrate International Workers Day, calling for freedom for all and for the passage of the New York for All Act to end cooperation between NY state and ICE. We also marched to protest billionaires who are taking away our rights and freedoms.
Mayor Mamdani spoke at the May Day rally in Washington Square Park before the march, it’s the first NYC mayor to speak at this rally since LaGuardia.
We marched with unions, the New York Immigration Coalition, the New York City Central Labor Council, the AFL-CIO, and many others, all the way to the ICE building chanting against the terror and deportations of our neighbors.
My photos:
Jews Demand: ICE Out!
“This is my Rabbi” was my favorite chant during the arrests — a minyan of ten rabbis and two reverends protesting ICE’s violence and dehumanization, and calling for the New York for All Act, which would bar local law enforcement from cooperating with ICE.
This action was part of a national Jewish Day of Action across 17 cities, led by T’ruah and Bend the Arc, with 70 co-sponsors including HIAS, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, the Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, Workers Circle, the Jewish Labor Committee, and New York Jewish Agenda.
In New York, the rally was emceed by Rabbi Rachel Timoner of Congregation Beth Elohim, who thanked the mayor and grounded the moment in our most sacred Jewish values and traditions.
Cantor Lisa B. Segal led powerful singing and chanting.
So proud of my community, and of the leaders and organizers who made this happen on erev May 1.
Speakers included Rabbi Hilly Haber of Central Synagogue; Rick Jacobs, president of the Union for Reform Judaism; Ellen Lippmann of Kolot Chayeinu; Roly Matalon of B’nai Jeshurun; Rabbi Jill Jacobs, CEO of T’ruah; and Jamie Beran, CEO of Bend the Arc.
Rabbi Ellen spoke directly about ICE’s targeting of students for simply supporting Palestinian freedom.
Rabbi Matalon: “Our tradition doesn’t only say that we must love the stranger. It also says do not oppress; do not humiliate; do not harden your heart. Because the danger is not only that people suffer — and they do suffer. The deeper danger is that we can become used to it — that we accept a world in which cruelty, fear, degradation become normalized. And that is a line our tradition insists we’re not allowed to cross.”
My photos:
My photo was published in the Bezalel Journal of Visual and Material Culture last month in an article by Professor Dr. Ruth Ginsburg, who writes about the use of photography in protest and human rights. It feels especially meaningful to be featured alongside Oren Ziv, one of the greatest Israeli photojournalists and a real personal inspiration.
In the article, Professor Dr. Ruth Ginsburg looks at Israeli activists and the ritual of holding photos of children killed in Gaza as an attempt to humanize people in Gaza to the Israeli Jewish society following Oct 7th and during the effort to bring the hostages home alive.
I translated this part:
“The photographs presented in the displays are not difficult to look at. They do not depict scenes of death and destruction, but rather children as they appeared before the outbreak of the war. The images draw attention because they document life; they reveal the loss without showing it.”
“Viewers of the photographs do not only see those depicted, but can also reconstruct in their minds the very act of taking the photograph, since photographing children is a familiar social practice that takes place in almost every family.”
✊10 rabbis were arrested (along with two pastors) protesting ICE outside 26 Federal Plaza in New York City yesterday after blocking traffic in front of ICE offices.
This powerful protest capped a mass mobilization of over 200 Jews in New York, as part of the national Jews Demand: ICE OUT! Day of Action led by @truahrabbis and @bendthearc . Across 17 cities, and with more than 70 co-sponsoring Jewish organizations, American Jews took to the streets to demand an end to ICE’s cruelty and the corporate collaboration that enables it.
In New York, the action also called for the passage of New York For All, which would prohibit state and local government agencies from colluding with ICE.
As Jews, we know that the deadly ICE deportation machine is a threat to all of our safety.
Swipe to see the moments this powerful minyan blocked traffic and was taken into custody, as well as other highlights from the New York action.
Photos by @giligetz and Bend the Arc + T’ruah
#jewish #judaism #immigration #jew #ImmigrantJustice
I went to cheer on Jeremy Ben Ami in this years-in-the-making debate with Bret Stephens at Temple Emanu-El. The divide within the non-Orthodox pro-Israel American Jewish community is so enormous it’s disorienting. I’m still recovering from listening to similar, hard and often very personal debate between Rabbis Sharon Brous and David Ingber.
Having J Street hosted in such a significant space in New York Jewish life felt really wonderful. Often there is Drama when Jeremy speaks in synagogues even though he is speaking to the values and opinions of so many.
The differences in this divide are massive—on what will keep us safe amid the rise of violent antisemitism, our relationship and tensions with the Palestinian solidarity movement (which includes many Jews), what is actually happening in Israel/Palestine, and what we should do about it. There’s also a difficult debate about our most sacred Jewish values. It often feels like we’re not only processing reality differently, but experiencing entirely different realities—shaped by the trauma of the Hamas massacre on October 7th, a sense of betrayal by parts of the American left, and the broader rise of authoritarianism, fear, uncertainty, and deep division within our community.
It’s especially hard for me to sit through the dehumanizing of Palestinians by Stephens and the minimizing of crimes in the name of our “safety.” Dehumanizing doesn’t contribute to safety.
Jeremy made sure to remind the sold-out audience that these conversations are not normative—that our voices are often silenced when we criticize the atrocities and crimes committed against Palestinians by Israel, even when that criticism comes from love, deep connection, and concern for both Israeli and American Jews. And that Palestinians are often not included in Jewish conversations about Israel/Palestine.
The moderation by Abigail Pogrebin was truly wonderful and thoughtful.
My photos:
So proud of my friends and the message and vision of peace they’re articulating for our peace movement to the world out of the deep darkness they experienced.
“The Future Is Peace” is now #5 on the NYT Best Seller list, the NYT Editor’s Choice for the top 5 books, and among the top 10 on Amazon’s Best Sellers list. It was also published in the UK today. I’m proud that my photography is part of this book.
To order the book:
