Out of commitment to our long term vision for freedom, safety, dignity and equality for all in Israel/Palestine, in October 2023 BWC joined the call for a negotiated ceasefire, rooted in our principles and historic values. At the time we wrote: “As the violence in Israel/Palestine continues to escalate, decisions made by our elected representatives and leaders around the world in the coming days and weeks would have the potential to either save countless civilian lives, or to lead to thousands more deaths and generations of violence and instability. How we as Jews and Jewish institutions respond to this moment will define the American Jewish community for decades to come.” 

Almost two years later, this situation could not be more urgent or devastating. We have continued to experience perpetual, daily heartbreak as Israel has embarked on one of the most destructive bombing and siege campaigns of the 21st century.  On March 2nd, Israel cut off all humanitarian aid from entering Gaza, and disrupted aid efforts of the UN, leading to today’s dire famine. On March 18, Israel broke the ceasefire agreement that had been in place since January. At the same time, we have witnessed increasing settler and state violence against Palestinians and restrictions of movement for Palestinians in the West Bank.  Leading human rights organizations and scholars, both international and Israeli, identify Israel’s actions in Gaza as a genocide. The total siege of Gaza has created conditions of deliberate, mass starvation, with hundreds of people dying from bombs, bullets, disease, and hunger on a near daily basis. Over 900 Palestinians in the past six weeks have been killed trying to get food and the basic necessities they need to live and the death toll since October 2023 is over 60,000. 

As a community, we continue to refuse to play into the false binary that either you support Jews by unequivocally supporting the Israeli government’s genocidal actions, or you support Palestinians. We know that as with all people, our destinies and our liberation are tied together. We know that there can be no real “security” for one people, while mere miles away another is being starved, massacred, and forcibly expelled from their homes.

Every day the violence continues, more and more precious lives are lost, and the nightmarish conditions in Gaza grow more and more unimaginable. Every day the violence continues, we find ourselves farther away from our vision of a future of equality, freedom, and safety for all Palestinians and Israelis. Every day the violence continues, we find ourselves farther and farther away from the moral order upon which all of our well being depends. 

With an ongoing commitment to that vision, we reiterate our call for the US government to use its leverage to ensure: 

• An immediate end to the siege of Gaza—surge food into Gaza now  
• An end to US military aid, which has enabled Israel’s violations of human rights and International Law
• A permanent ceasefire agreement
• The freeing of hostages,  political prisoners and administrative detainees 
• Compliance with the provisional measures ordered by the International Court of Justice
• The restoration of US funding to UNRWA 
• An end to escalating violence, forcible displacement, collective punishment, and denial of human rights for all Palestinians living under Israeli control, including those in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. 
• A political solution that ensures equality, safety and self determination for Palestinians and Israelis. 

In addition, we join the call for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts to divest its pension funds from companies profiting off of war and genocide. 

It can feel as though our power to affect change in Israel and Palestine has all but evaporated. At home, our country has been plagued by policies of chaos, fear, and cruelty. The catastrophes we are facing–from monumental cuts to government programs supporting the common good, to terrifying escalations of ICE raids, to the vicious incursions on free expression–are interconnected and manufactured. Many of us feel despairing, lost, and furious.

It is hard to not feel hopeless. But, it is our obligation as people of conscience to continue to ground in the “discipline of hope,” to fight for an end to the genocide in Gaza and to reject, in the most forceful terms, the idea that genocide could ever be justified or necessary to keep Jewish people safe. We know Jews in Boston and beyond are looking for a community that can hold that all human life is equally precious, while being clear that there can be no safety for one people, while another is displaced, starved, and bombed. Boston Workers Circle welcomes all those who agree with these principles to join us as we take action against this genocide and fight for a better future for all of us.