Vent Diagrams: Holding Contradicting Truths about Israel-Palestine

JFREJ partnered with our friends at Vent Diagrams to create this series of images.

We are living in a time when holding really hard contradictory truths absolutely cannot stop us from acting. When both/and thinking also requires us to move from the overlaps with intention and into powerful action. JFREJ partnered with our friends at Vent Diagrams to create this series of images. Click here to download the images directly. Go to lookloud.org/store to purchase a print with all the below vents on it.

An illustration of a flat gray stone, implying a gravestone, with a variety of small stones scattered on top. Amidst the stones in gray text is written “Placing Our Stones: Naming Our Grief Through Contradicting Truths. Vent Diagrams by and for Jews, part 1”.
What is happening in Palestine and Israel brings up real intergenerational fear and trauma for many Jewish people, real grief and anger about what we’ve been told will keep us safe. A lot of us are wondering where exactly our feelings are coming from and how they’re being used by our war-mongering governments. We’ve been engaging with our own power and responsibility, asking questions about how we hold our Jewish communities accountable (while also acknowledging that there are many more Christian Zionists than there are American Jews – Christians United For Israel has 10 million members; there are 7.6 million Jews the U.S.) Artist Rachel Schragis drew this series to look like Tzror: the stones many Jews place on graves to create a ritual bond to our loved ones who have passed. Let this set of contradictory truths by and for Jews, bond you to the conflicting & painful realities of this moment, and then let it guide you towards the declaration of never again — for anyone.
An illustration of a flat gray stone, implying a gravestone, with a variety of small stones scattered on top. Amidst the stones in gray text is written “Contradicting truths by and for Jews to hold through crisis and struggle, part 2”.
These vent diagrams are about what Israeli anti-apartheid activist Sahar Vardi called the feeling of “dual loyalty” to both Palestinians’ and Israelis’ *full humanity and dignity* during this time of horrors across Israel-Palestine. These vents aim to capture the acute sense of pain, grief, confusion, and horror many Jewish people feel in this moment. We know in our bones — and we see the violent truth of it every day – that war, retribution, and oppression will not keep anyone safe, and that Palestinians, like all people, deserve to live in freedom and dignity. In the face of a communal, political, and media establishment hungry for stories about ‘Jews vs. the Left’, we, along with many others, are building powerful anti-war liberatory movements that refuse to dehumanize anyone. We are Jewish activists in proud solidarity with the struggle for both Palestinian liberation and Jewish liberation. The horrors of the last month have reminded us how deeply our lives and futures are bound up with each other.
An illustration of a flat gray stone, implying a gravestone, with a variety of small stones scattered on top. Amidst the stones in gray text is written “Moving from the overlap: Contradicting truths about Israel and Palestine. By and for Jews, Part 3”
We are posting these vents as an offering to our movements: We can hold these overlapping truths — of the ongoing horrors that Israeli apartheid inflicts on Palestinians every day, of the ongoing devastation of the endless siege on Gaza, and of the horror of any loss of individual life, including Hamas’ Oct 7 attack. We can hold Jewish pain and fear in a time when Jews in Israel wield tremendous power. Let this set of contradictory truths about Israel & Palestine by and for Jews help you move through the painful realities of this moment – and then let it guide you to demand a ceasefire, de-escalation, release of all hostages, and an end to occupation & siege & apartheid. Let it guide all of us to organize for a future in which all Palestinians and all Jews live in safety and with freedom and dignity.

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