MAKING SENSE OF GAZA WAR

On a day when the world usually joins Jews across the world in marking Yom HaShoah — Holocaust Remembrance Day — we “feel quite alone,” Michael Dzik, executive director of the Jewish Federation of Greater Chattanooga, told this page Tuesday.

He was referring to the public reaction by many in the United States and across the world to Israel’s response to the invasion of its homeland by Hamas-led Palestinian military groups on Oct. 7, 2023, in which more than 1,100 were killed and more than 250 kidnapped. The reprisals by Israel have killed — according to Hamas numbers — more than 34,000 Palestinians in Gaza.

Where Jews locally and across the country frequently stand in solidarity with groups seeking civil rights, “they’re not standing with us,” Dzik said. “They’re on the opposite side. We feel alone and scared. Our friends have gone in a different direction.”

Fortunately, the local Jewish Cultural Center and local Jews have not seen the violence and protests that have marked colleges campuses and other public places as the Hamas-Israel war has raged. And they have felt the support of evangelical Christians.

Nevertheless, Dzik said, the local Jewish community is worried “that history could repeat itself.” They’re not concerned about Nazi gas chambers that contributed to the murder of some 6 million Jews between 1941 and 1945, he said, but they’ve already seen that the number of unsafe environments across the country has swelled.

Jews in traditional Orthodox clothing have been beaten up on the streets of New York, and Jewish students have been targets of hate on college campuses.

Locally, Dzik said, the events of the last seven months have galvanized the Jewish community.

“The events of Oct. 7 were so traumatic, so barbaric, so shocking to us,” he said. “We already were a close community. Now we’re even closer. We feel like we need to look out for each other, support each other, give each other a hug.”

Dzik said while he can’t speak for every local Jewish person, most don’t see a gray area in the Hamas invasion.

“I don’t think it’s a difficult line to walk,” he said. “They broke the cease-fire and came in and massacred people. That is clear. There are not multiple sides.”

However, what’s happened since then is “multi-faceted, complicated,” Dzik said. “The whole history of the area is complicated. We’re saddened by so many innocent civilians being killed.”

While Hamas numbers of the dead are suspect, he said, “if the number were three, it would be awful. We’re not minimizing” the number who have died. Yet, he said, “we hope that people will recognize that innocent Palestinians are being held hostage by Hamas. They’re hiding behind civilians — their own people. They’re stuck in a Hamas world, and it’s a huge, huge challenge.”

Further, Dzik said, Hamas is still holding more than 100 hostages, including Americans.

“What’s Israel supposed to do?” he asked. “And if you ask three Jews, you’ll get five opinions.”

Particularly troubling, though, Dzik said, are the campus protests that have turned violent and punished all students, not just Jews.

“By no means is Israel perfect,” he said. “They have made mistakes.” But young people on campuses — those from the outside as well — appear to be blindly looking at the situation as a social justice cause and not at history. “The words they’re saying call for the annihilation of Jews and Israel. So there’s some ignorance out there,” he said. “We’re all for free speech — for all our rights. But this has crossed a line and turned into violence. We wish the administrators would take a stronger stand against antisemitism.”

Dzik said the local Jewish community has carried on with its traditional events. Indeed, he said, the community is intentionally designing events involving the larger community. A night at the Chattanooga Lookouts already has been planned, a Jewish food festival has been set for this summer and the annual Jewish film festival was announced this week.

On Monday, May 13, at 7 p.m., the Jewish Cultural Center will host its Holocaust Remembrance Day event, with a Holocaust survivor, Hershel Greenblat of Atlanta, as speaker.

“We want to “put ourselves out there” and show that we’re a vibrant community, Dzik said.

Ultimately, he believes the local Jewish community and Jews across the world “want to see peace … The majority of Jews and Palestinians want to have a two-state solution. They want opportunities for Palestinians to be uplifted. But it will take the Palestinian people to get rid of Hamas. The reason they don’t have those opportunities is because of Hamas. This [war] has been a step backward.”

It’s difficult for many of us to put ourselves in the shoes of Israelis and Palestinians and a war some 6,400 miles away. But we owe it to ourselves — just as when we vote — to understand the issues and the facts involved before we speak or take any relevant action.