Rebecca Gordon: The Hamster Wheel of War
On Ending Dreams of Revenge in Israel, Palestine, and Elsewhere
Naomi Shihab Nye: Jerusalem
He’s painting a bird with wings
wide enough to cover two roofs at once.
Michael Simms: Ishmael
I’m not prepared to measure grief
like grains of darkness
Nicholas Kristof: What we get wrong about Israel and Gaza
I’m exasperated by people whose hearts bleed for only one side, or who say about the toll on the other: “It’s tragic, but ….” No “buts.” Unless you believe in human rights for Jews and for Palestinians, you don’t actually believe in human rights.
Margo Berdeshevsky: For Autumn, 2023
yet awake to the fallen
leaves—their many many
tiny burning
hands—
Olivia Rosane: 68% of US Public Wants Gaza Cease-Fire: Poll
The Reuters/Ipsos poll also found that support for Israel had dropped by nearly 10 percentage points since the last edition on October 12 and 13.
Mosab Abu Toha, et al: Ceasefire Cento
Each morning
I wake
in the shape
of an ancient
song
Chard deNiord: The Silence
an elegy for a child or parent or sibling
or friend who’s died at the hand
of the enemy whose God is the same
monotheistic deity with a different name
Abby Zimet: In What Is Called A War (Trigger Warning — graphic violence)
Over 420 children a day are killed or injured, roughly one every 10 minutes; over 2,000 children are missing under the rubble, and likely dead; 70% of the dead are children and women…
Ori Hanan Weisberg: Israel’s War Cabinet
Hamas is annihilationist…. But they aren’t a regional power, don’t outnumber us, and don’t have nearly the military capabilities of the IDF. What they did on October 7 was horrific. But they aren’t building gas chamber or lining us up in front of pits.
Zeina Azzam, Andy Young, David Adès: Three poems about Gaza
Only the children, terrified, wide-eyed,
have no complicity as we lead them, again,
sacrificial lambs to the slaughter.
Lisa Suhair Majaj: Two Poems
This is a body enfleshed,
like yours. This is a body
broken, like mine.
Kathy Engel: What’s Another Word for Genocide
in April you told my students
a poem starts anywhere one
small drop of water traveling
Julia Conley: Biden Staffers Report Silencing of Dissent in White House on Gaza Horror
Numerous staff members have had interactions in the last week and a half that left them feeling as though any criticism of Israel’s U.S.-backed onslaught in Gaza, which has killed roughly 3,450 Palestinians, will not be tolerated.
