Oct. 7, 2023, will be remembered as a horrific day when many lives and families in Israel and across the globe were shattered by the barbaric actions of Hamas. More than 1,400 people were tortured and murdered and more than 200 were abducted into Gaza.
A belief that “Never Again” would be upheld to ensure that Jews would be safe from mass slaughter was destroyed. A yearning for understanding and compassion from friends, colleagues and academic and professional societies was unanswered.
It is their silence that still shatters our hearts.
As a daughter of a Holocaust survivor with family in Israel and as a doctor who has practiced in underserved communities, it is this silence that has rocked my core belief that we as a society will stand up for what is wrong and fight for what is right. Individuals and professional organizations that have traveled with me to Israel — especially in the late 1990s when we thought peace was within our grasp after the Oslo Accords — have remained silent, not denouncing the atrocities that have been inflicted on innocent civilians.
I’ve tried to understand why. Is it out of misguided moral equivalency in that Palestinians have also become the “collateral damage” in this war and showing empathy for those who were butchered by Hamas condones this? Is it due to closeted antisemitism or self-centered apathy? Is it related to the distrust or disdain for the Israeli government, and this cognitive dissonance is causing confusion and clouding moral compasses? Or is it just plain ignorance and believing the falsehoods and lies that the Israelis deserved this?
I don’t know the answers. But I do know that this silence is lethal — it always has been so.
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