The Advocate

Before October 7, 2023, I was a proud progressive Jew here in San Leandro. Before October 7, I was a friend of our local Social Justice Academy and our resident Democratic Socialists of America chapter. Before October 7, I never would have believed that Jews were endangered by leftist antisemitism . After October 7, I learned how very wrong I was. In the wake of the Hamas massacre, fallen friends and alleged allies turned their backs. People I've stood with for police reform, housing, healthcare, and social justice here in San Leandro now embrace antisemitism, tokenization, and conspiracy theories, promoting the very same bigotry they claim to oppose. Just as we have seen in Oakland, Richmond, Berkeley, and San Francisco , the cause of Palestinian liberation has been hijacked for divisive attacks on Jewish people rather than advocating for peace and the sanctity of human life. I write publicly now because as Rabbi Abraham Kook taught, "I don't speak because I have the pow...

Since the massacre in Israel on October 7 by Hamas , I have faced death threats, harassment, slurs, blood libels, and other acts of antisemitism here at home. My family in Ramat Gan, just outside of Tel Aviv, have endured rocket attacks and evacuations. Some of my friends and acquaintances in Southern Israel are either missing or presumed dead. Meanwhile, Palestinian civilians, including thousands of children, are being killed in airstrikes that have done nothing to stop Hamas and endanger the hostages currently still being held somewhere in Gaza. At the same time, global unrest has erupted, from attacks on synagogues and Jewish cultural centers, to the murders of Palestinian-Americans and proposals to deport Muslims and Arabs. It would be impossible for me to list all of the tragedies and bigotries that are coursing through America, and globally, against Jews, Muslims, Arabs, Israelis, and Palestinians. However, I hope you understand that what you have heard happening to myself and ot...

If you don't follow me on Jewish Twitter (Jewitter), you might be surprised that I haven't spoken much about the horrors carried out by Hamas recently, or the terrors by the Israeli government. But I was and have been. Just not here. Because this wasn't the place or the time for me to emotionally process burned and behead Jewish babies alongside the corpses of Israeli women who were raped. The Gazan children orphaned, facing starvation and dehydration while bombs and rockets dropped on their homes. Still, after the initial shock and grief over the loss of life on every side, and after frantic concern for my family in Ramat Gan as well as my wife and children and synagogue (because violence in Israel-Palestine always spills over onto our respective diaspora communities), I'm ready as I'll ever be. Let me be clear: I'm a Zionist and a Palestinian Nationalist. I support a pluralistic and democratic Israel that endures as the fulfillment of the Jewish people's r...