Rebecca Golbert is the Executive Director of the Helen Diller Institute. The following letter was penned in the week follow Hamas's brutal terrorist attack on Israel, and published in the J on October 16, 2023.
All I ask is that you recognize my pain and loss. Is that so much to ask?
While I was waking up to the news of Hamas’ invasion of southern Israel and massacre of innocent civilians — families, children, women and elderly in their homes, teenagers and young adults at a musical festival — and the abduction of so many more, you were crafting statements meant to erase the truth as it was happening, and you believed the lies spun by Hamas supporters.
I am grieving — for my family, for my friends and colleagues, for their neighbors, for their children, for Israel, for all the innocent beautiful lives lost to evil, for the ignorance of people here who can equate the escalation of war with barbaric atrocities of innocent civilians and have no moral compass.
I am also grieving for Palestinian civilians — families, women, children, elderly suffering during this humanitarian crisis in Gaza, their lives in danger from the bombings, with nowhere to hide. I grieve for those innocent lives already lost in this escalating war.
But make no mistake. This conflict is different. It started with a massacre of my people. With acts of barbarism by a terrorist organization. This was not activism. This was not resistance. It is a lie, a fabrication, to call it anything but crimes against humanity.
I can recognize your pain and suffering, in this escalating war. Can you not recognize mine?