I am glad to see that I am not the only person who sees the fallacy of this AIW. Some have expressed a sense of shock at the position being taken by good people, thinking people. When this is all over, I hope we will continue the discussion. I hope we will ask ourselves critically how we came to hold our beliefs. I believe social media is taking an outsized role in forming our opinions these days, preying on good people and convincing them to support bad in the name of good. This is another form of oppression, and we are its victims and its collaborators. It is oppression from dark actors in foreign states using oil money and years of expertise in manipulating the social media algorithm. The first step to healing is to admit that we have been conned. Thanks to all who have weighed in to oppose this AIW. Please take this back to your individual congregations and start the slow and loving process of deprogramming.
The UN has been anti-Israel for 50 years. There are a whole buncha countries which are professional Jew-haters. So saying that the UN says one thing or another about Israel is not compelling.
Iâm hoping to better understand what you mean by âit fails to call for an action that requires mutual responsibility, cooperation, and enough faith in the future to move forward.â Can you help me understand what that action would be for UUs? Because an AIW is a call to action for UUs. To whom do you feel we need a call to action into responsibility and cooperation? (When I read your comment I keep thinking you mean we need to say something about maybe Israelis and Palestinians being mutually cooperative, but our AIW isnât directed at them, so thatâs why Iâm confused.)
Thanks for reading, and for responding, if you find that you have the time and energy to do so. 
Thank you Jerilyn for this explanation. I cannot comprehend how UUs here are actually upset with this AIW on behalf of the Palestinians - its wording, or why UUs felt compelled to bring this matter to the GA. I can only look at the people here in the US who flock to serve the aims and believe the leader of the Republican party. Same mentality, undemocratic, self-serving, and clearly for years, exploitative of the âotherâ.
Dolores Perez Heilbron
First UU of San Francisco/Human Rights Working Group
To answer âwhy they feel compelled to bring it to the GAâ: the GA is the governing body of the UUA. For the UUA to make a statement as the UUA it has to be approved by the GA. Otherwise, any statement would be a statement of the constituent part of the UUA, such as the Board of Trustees, the President of the UUA, the UUSC, etc.
The AIW also guides the Board, Rev Dr Betancourt, the staff, etc in their actions and in their use of our resources. An AIW, in part, is the GAâs way of letting everyone know âwe think this is important and hereâs what we would like you to doâ.
I support this AIW. The Secretary-General of the UN said on June 11 that 50,000 Palestinian children are in a state of âacute malnutritionâ. They should all be hospitalized but Gaza hospitals are all inoperative, or heavily damaged and with little food and other resources. We should support the AIW and publicize it widely.
Dolores,
I am not sure I understand your comments here. It feels like you are calling UU people who disagree with this AIW undemocratic, self-serving, and exploitative. If that is so, ouchâŚ
I do not want to make an ouch! It is just that I cannot understand, with all the evidence showing outright cruelty to helpless refugees as is the case right now, and with US support, how can anyone let it go on? It must be stopped with a Ceasefire, which is only the first step. Donât you agree? Thanks and sorry that I hurt your feelings.
Dolores
And it is true for this particular gathering of the GA delegates, those gathered in the cyberroom this week, used as guidance by UUA staff during the year, and then becomes part of the history that we can cite in our future advocacy and discussions.
I viewed the 2007 Ware Lecture by Prof. Rashid Khalidi (Ware Lecture by Rashid Khalidi, General Assembly 2007 | GA Presentations | General Assembly | UUA.org).
He does not say anything that even comes close to âa blatant anti-Jewish remark in his Ware Lecture blaming American Jews for the Iraq war.â Please edit your post or type a retraction to this false assertion.
Its been a while since I listened but I think it is around minute 19 when he says we went to war in Iraq because people in Miami and Long Island were scared of Iraqis coming on shore to kill them. What is unique about Miami adn Long Island. They are the largest concentrations of Jewish Population in the United States. It is a anti-Jewish comment.
I am seeing disinformation being used as a weapon of war! By convincing Americans to withdraw support for Israel, Hamas and their allies are able to weaken their enemy and claim victim status. Without U.S. support Israel loses. It is not a dominant power in the middle east if you count Hamasâs ally countries and groups (Houthis, Hezbollah), not without the U.S. So it makes sense that Hamas (with outside help) was and is the source of fabricated data, not Netanyahu. Netanyahu does not stand to gain from such a stunt. Claiming the Oct 7 attack was an Israeli hoax is itself a desperate hoax. Perhaps since Oct 7 cannot be undone, they would instead re-write history. Please take time to find the truth. Please oppose this AIW.
So, you contend that Netanyahu had planned, before Oct 7, to use the accounts (which are true and verified) of rape? This is pretty much a lie at the level of Holocaust denial.
I cannot understand why there is a liberal bias of Jew-hatred. This was part of the issue of WWII, and Jew-hatred led to bad results. Iâve been to Mauthausen, and to Dachau. I have seen the ovens.
Jew-hatred is a dark place that should not be repeated. This AIW is explicitely on the side of Hamas, and no one should support it.
Iâve been watching coverage of the campus uprisings all over the country and never seen any evidence of their being violent. The violence that has occurred has been from Zionists who show up to harass & attack the demonstrators and from the militarized police forces whoâve been called in to destroy the encampments and arrest resisters. Among other things this is a suppression of free speech in the citadels of higher education, where it should above all be protected. A very dangerous precedent, and one thatâs been encouraged by those who label these demonstrations as antisemitic even though many of those who participate in and lead them are Jews.
To conflate criticism of Israel with antisemitism is a cynical tactic that actually puts Jews in greater danger from actual antisemitism. If you doubt that, I invite you to watch the documentary film Israelism that was made by two Jewish students who were raised in traditional Jewish families where they learned to be Zionists but, through meeting Palestinian-American students and getting educated on the settler colonialist history of Israel, have felt compelled to put themselves on the line by doing everything they can to stop the genocide in Gaza and bring about a just peace for both Palestine & Israel: https://www.israelismfilm.com/.
Strange that you jump to the undue conclusion that anyone who questions what Israel is doing in Gaza is a Jew hater. The journalist I cite who exposed Netanhayuâs disinformational lies about Oct. 7th (& other things) is himself Jewish, as is his co-anchor Aaron Mate, as is Aaronâs father Gabor Mate, a holocaust survivor who as a young man was an ardent Zionist, until he visited Israel and saw what they were doing to the Palestinians. As a Jew of conscience, he and many other Jews all over the world are honoring their deepest Jewish values by doing everything in their power to stop the genocidal slaughter of Palestinians Israel is carrying out before the horrified eyes of the whole world.
I invite you to go on YouTube and look up interviews with Simone Zimmerman, one of the two Jewish students who made the film Israelism after she came to recognize that the Zionism in which she was raised had misled her about the terrible reality of Israelâs brutal colonialist oppression of Palestinians from the very beginning in 1948. To call this out for what it is is an act of conscience that gives witness to what the Jewish faith so centrally teaches about social justice. I admire her and all Jews who have the integrity and courage to speak the truth and stand up for what is right even when they pay a high personal cost for doing so.
Not sure where you got the idea that I am calling the Hamas attack an Israeli hoax. Please go back and read what I said. I was pointing out that Netanyahu put out a story about it that contained untrue allegations that have now been revealed as such.
Did you not see this line in my messageââAgain, thereâs no condoning what Hamas actually did do that day. But let us not buy into Netanyahuâs shocking prevaricationsââ?
I donât know of anyone who condones the war crimes Hamas committed on Oct. 7th. Nor do we condone the unthinkable war crimes Israel has been committing in targeting innocent civilians ever since, with 37,000 Palestinians trapped in Gaza slaughtered, including 16,000 children and the million+ remaining in Gaza being deliberately starved. Far from making Israelis safer, this scorched earth campaign is making them unsafer while also endangering the hostages. Nor is this slaughter anywhere close to eradicating Hamas, Netanyahuâs continually reaffirmed goal even when his own military is now saying âHamas is an idea, Hamas is a party. Anyone who thinks we can eliminate Hamas in wrongâ (6/19/24 public statement by IDF Rear Admiral David Hagari - https://www.cnn.com/2024/06/20/middleeast/hagari-netanyahu-destroy-hamas-israel-intl/index.html).
This has been my experience as well in North Jersey.
FYI - Statements and AIWs do provide guidance and grounding for UUA staff but I also want to note that the UUA President has freedom of the pulpit as do our congregational (and other) ministers. And not only statements and AIWs passed at GAs, but congregational and UU movement lived experience also provides basis for UUA staff to act. (I speak as a former UUA staffer - 30 years.)
Arenât you confusing explanation with justification?
Youâre right that nothing justifies rape, or violence against civilians, but a history of having experienced oppression can help explain why such behavior happens.
Of course I donât consider criticizing Israel Anti Semitism and would have voted for a resolution that called for withdrawing settlements and self determination for the West Bank and Gaza. But I think treating Israel as the only rule breaker in the world is. At my Alma Mater NYU The Anti Israel side wants to close NYU Tel Aviv. They have no objection to NYU Shanghai. I keep hearing âSettler Colonialismâ thrown around. China has moved Han Chinese in great numbers to Tibet in order to overwhelm the local population. It has sent over a million Muslims to âreeducation campsâ. Why is there no criticism of China, The head of the BDS movement has openly said he favors replacing Israel with a Palestinian State. I hear no concern for the huge number of Jews expelled from Arab countries.
As for the pro Palestinian Side being non violent, They broke into Butler Hall at Columbia University and held three maintenance workers. against their will over night. A group got on the subway and ordered all Jews to leave. Here in the NYC area we hear constantly about Anti Israel. violence.