I have been an activist and community organizer for much of my life, and though my areas of focus shift, all of my movement work emerges from the same guiding belief that our humanity and liberation are inextricably interdependent.
In the last couple of years, I have focused my organizing on ending the war overseas in Gaza and the war on immigrants in my home country. These are not separate movements. For years, U.S. federal agencies, including ICE, have trained with Israeli forces. We house a weapons manufacturer in Northampton, L3 Harris, that is generating huge profit by selling to and hence supporting both the IDF and ICE. One of the many ways that the Trump administration is threatening our constitutional and civil rights is by using ICE to target pro-Palestinian student activists for arrest, detention and deportation. We hear the same rhetoric coming from the U.S. and the Israeli governments about “our” safety being dependent on controlling borders.
I know that my safety as a Jewish person is not dependent on suppressing (displacing, genociding) the Palestinian people, just as I know that my safety as an “American” is not dependent on suppressing (terrorizing, abducting) our immigrant neighbors of color. I know the opposite is in fact true: These escalating cycles of violence locally and abroad are escalating antisemitism, xenophobia, racism and all forms of injustice; and hence are diminishing all of our safety.
For the reasons above and more, I oppose the genocide in Gaza; I support Northampton’s resolution to divest from companies complicit in human rights violations in Israel and Palestine; and I am amongst the 30 intervenors in the lawsuit against our city for passing this resolution. History shows us that divestment is an effective, non-violent tool for the kind of change I dream and struggle for: where every one of us is safe and free.
Jenny Bender
Northampton