30 | JUNE 25 • 2020 Rabin Square, Tel Aviv, Israel S ome 6,000 people gathered on a Saturday evening in a peaceful demonstration to protest the propos- al to annex more of the West Bank, slotted to be executed on July 1. Jews and Arabs gave heartfelt speeches about the destruc- tive consequences of occupation; Bernie Sanders sent in a message from the U.S saying millions support the attempt to not give up on peace. It was a relatively calm night, with few police arrests (a Haaretz journalist among them) and a few counter-protesters. This demonstration meant something, but I’ m not exactly sure what. After a 24-hour news cycle, everybody moved on. This is a familiar pattern: Some people gather in a show of solidarity and a burst of adrenaline; then we, the media, forget anybody was there. The conversa- tion moves on to whatever crisis is cur- rently in style. The systems we’ re protest- ing, then, can pretend we aren’ t protesting at all and continue doing the same thing they’ ve always done. It seemed like this time would be dif- ferent. The wave of protests around the U.S has gathered momentum around the world. Demands are specific and already bearing fruit. Jewish communities, famil- iar with the dangers of white supremacy, are among those turning out to support black people in their fight for justice. But in Israel, people idly sit by with deadly indifference. It’ s easy to watch the news from America and act as if it’ s all far away. It’ s easy, like we forget our protests happened, to forget what they were about. Salamon Taka was an 18-year-old Ethiopian Israeli killed by an off-duty police officer who claimed to feel threat- ened for his life in 2019. Iyad El-Hallak was an autistic 32-year-old Palestinian man killed by a police officer for holding a “suspicious object” (no weapon was found, and Iyad’ s caretaker said both she and Iyad tried to tell the officers there wasn’ t one) around the same time of George Floyd’ s murder. These two deaths were unnecessary, and they weren’ t the first. Yet when protests do happen—in Jaffa, Haifa, Jerusalem, Tel Aviv — there is a wall. Too many of us don’ t show up. Like with annexation, while many Israelis don’ t necessarily sup- port it, we’ re content living with it. Too many of us respond, “It’ s not OK, but…” That “but” is the crux of the matter. That “but” is a deeply ingrained belief that when a police officer or IDF soldier kills someone without any reason, it’ s a mistake they must be able to make—so when the time comes, they can protect the Jewish nation against actual threats without any misgivings. At the end of the day, that’ s why we’ re here. That’ s why we fight all these wars — to protect the Jewish nation. But at this point in history, is protect- ing the Jewish nation really what Israel is doing? If we say Black Lives Matter’ s support of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement means we cannot support them as they “go against us,” are we protecting ourselves or are we refusing to see the connection between racism all over the world? We are not different. We are not, somehow, exempt. Israel has come uncomfortably close to the very same people whom we have a responsibility to not only stand against, but also act against. This isn’ t about BDS nor BLM; this is about acknowledging racism in Israel. Regardless of what we’ ve experienced in terms of wars and terror attacks, regardless of what we think is the right way to solve the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, regardless of who we think is against us. Because that’ s our responsibili- ty as a Jewish nation. Michael Elias is a young Jewish non-binary poet and writer, currently studying comparative literature and history at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem. Thousands demonstrate in Tel Aviv’ s Rabin Square against Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’ s plan to annex parts of the West Bank on June 6, 2020. Eretz letter from Israel NIR KEIDAR/ANADOLU AGENCY VIA GETTY IMAGES VIA JTA What Is Israel Really Protecting? As annexation looms and police violence rears, we must refl ect on Israel’ s claims to protect Jews all over the world. MICHAEL ELIAS CONTRIBUTING WRITER