Our hearts are broken over the hundreds of people killed and the thousands wounded in Israel and Palestine the last 24 hours alone.

As JFREJ we know that many of our members, friends, and allies have loved ones in danger. We are frightened for them and for Israeli hostages and civilians, for Palestinians in Gaza, and all people in the region.

We are fearful about what’s to come tomorrow and far into the future.

We are angry that leaders continually choose extremism, violence, and occupation and dismayed that official Israeli and US statements are calling for massive escalation.

We recognize that attacks on civilians by Hamas are neither justifiable nor unprovoked. This has been the deadliest year for Palestinians in decades of occupation and of the stifling blockade of Gaza.

We invite JFREJ members in New York to join IfNotNow tonight at 8:30pm at the Brooklyn Central Library for an Alternative Simchat Torah Across Brooklyn Processing Space. We will mark Simchat Torah by saying the Mourner’s Kaddish and processing the loss of Israeli and Palestinian lives as a community.

Some sources for information from the ground include:
972mag.org, Haaretz, Al Jazeera, Mondoweiss, New Yorker

Holding you close,
Audrey Sasson (she/her)
Executive Director