Every Palestinian life and every Jewish life is precious.

The issues surrounding Israel and the Palestinians are complex. People of goodwill hold conflicting opinions about the situation. The Jewish people and the Palestinian people both have long, painful histories. Both have legitimate fears, grievances, resentments, and hurts.

Warfare is not in the interests of either people. There is no military solution that will lead to a just and lasting peace. Leaders on both sides of the conflict have made decisions that are not in the best interests of their people. Polls show that a majority of Israelis want the fighting to stop and do not support the actions of their current government. There are literally scores of Palestinian-Israeli peace organizations with thousands of people working together for reconciliation, understanding, human rights, and peace.

Yet, today the horror in Gaza continues. Israel is starving the people of Gaza — letting only extremely inadequate amounts of aid into Gaza while most shipments of desperately needed food and water are blockaded by the Israeli forces. Malnutrition is rising and the UN warns that the average “daily energy intake [is] now well below what a human body needs to survive.” The Israeli government ended a ceasefire in mid-March, and the Israeli military is again killing Palestinians, including women and children. Since Oct 7, 2023, the death toll is now more than 54,000 Palestinians killed (roughly a third of those children). The initial attack on Israel by Hamas killed roughly 1,200 Israelis and an additional 500 have been killed during the Israeli invasion of Gaza.

There are so many other struggles in the United States right now. Resistance to the rise of authoritarianism rightly demands our time, energy, and attention. However, I don’t think we can turn away from what is happening to the Palestinian people, especially when our own government continues to fund and supply weapons for the attacks, and is providing political support for the elimination of Palestinians in Gaza altogether.

I am not writing to urge you to pick one side or the other in this conflict. I am writing to urge the exact opposite. I think it is vital that we choose both peoples; that we decide that every Palestinian life and every Jewish life is precious. But right now, if we are for both peoples, we must insist that the killing, starvation, and destruction of homes in Gaza by the Israeli military stop immediately. The flow of offensive arms from the U.S. to Israel ($17.9 billion during the Biden presidency and $12 billion more since Trump was inaugurated) must stop now, as must the Trump/MAGA political support for eliminating the Palestinians.

It’s going to take major public pressure, from the public in both the U.S. and Israel, to shift things. I think it makes sense for us to be vigorously advocating for both immediate and longer-term steps:

An immediate end to the violence, killing, and destruction.

Massive amounts of humanitarian aid to Palestinians in Gaza.

Return of all hostages.

An end to military aid from the U.S. to Israel until Israel ends all attacks on Palestinians in Gaza and in the West Bank.

Securing the border (probably with UN troops) so that both Israel and Gaza are free of the threat of violent incursions from the other.

Sufficient aid to rebuild the 92% of all housing in Gaza that has been damaged or destroyed during the war. This must be mostly grant-based, not loans. It makes no sense to saddle Palestinians with debt when their basic economy has also been destroyed.

It probably makes sense to forbid foreign ownership of land or facilities in Gaza in order to prevent the way disaster capitalism often enables wealthy investors to take over a damaged area and extract profits from it indefinitely at the expense of the local population.

Progress toward a safe and secure homeland for both Israeli Jews and Palestinians.

It is not antisemitic to criticize the policies of the state of Israel. It is not antisemitic to advocate for peace and human rights for Palestinians. It is antisemitic to single Israel out for sole blame for the current situation when the violent Hamas attack and hostage-taking of Oct. 7, 2023, Iran’s ongoing funding of Israel’s enemies, and billions of dollars of military aid to Israel from the U.S. (supported by both political parties) have played such pivotal roles in the conflict. It is antisemitism when Jews in the United States are blamed and targeted, or when antisemitism is weaponized and used to divide movements or undermine institutions, as in Trump’s attack on universities, for example.

I’m aware that some advocates on both the right and the left of the political spectrum disagree with me, but I continue to believe that just and lasting peace is possible in the Middle East only if both Palestinians and Israeli Jews have a safe and secure homeland.

Russ Vernon-Jones lives in Amherst and is a member of the Steering Committee of Climate Action Now (CAN). The views expressed here are his own. He blogs regularly on climate justice at http://www.russvernonjones.org and can be reached there.