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War is not the Answer [1]

['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.']

Date: 2023-10-25  

When I was in My 30’s, my mother found out that she was adopted. Cook County and the State of Illinois will not unseal her records, despite the fact that she is 93 and her parents are almost certainly long dead. The one scrap of information we have about her parentage is that they were Jewish. According to Jewish law, that makes me Jewish. At the time, one of my Jewish friends threatened to bar mitzvah me.

About a year and a half ago, I was visiting the Jewish Museum of Milwaukee and came across an exhibit about the Holocaust. In a flash, I suddenly realized that I undoubtedly have distant relatives who I will never know who died in the camps. I was moved to tears. This had somehow never occurred to me before that moment. It was an emotionally powerful thought.

My last name is German. I undoubtedly have distant relatives I will never know who participated in the killing of Jews.

Should half of me hate my other half because it participated in persecution? Humanity is one family. We are all more closely related than most of us care to believe.

I was born a pacifist. I was bullied as a child and virtually never defended myself because I found the idea of striking others more abhorrent than being hit.

Recognizing the humanity of others is the only path forward.

If I criticize Israel, that does not mean that I think Hamas is in the right. If I condemn Hamas, that does not mean I believe Israel is blameless.

I was not yet born, but still can’t imagine what the UN was thinking when they confiscated land from one people to give it another.

Must Palestinians forever pay for the crimes of the Germans? Are the Jews better off with a homeland that does not know peace. Should Israel have been carved out of Germany?

I have lots of questions but know that war will only perpetuate the cycle of hate and violence.

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