It’s not easy when someone you love makes a mistake.
We recently learned that a member of our leadership had, several years ago, and prior to joining our Board of Directors, posted angry messages on social media including “Gaza is full of monsters. Time to burn the whole place.” This tweet was written during a time of intense violent escalation in Gaza and Israel and in the world of words spoken online. It was a profoundly unacceptable comment as offensive as many of the worst things we’ve seen written about Jews or other minorities.
She is still part of our team. There are two reasons for this. The first is that she has sincerely apologized. The second is that we have used this as an opportunity for honest and difficult learning. We know that most people in Gaza are not helping Hamas fire rockets into Israel’s population centers. The discovery that someone on our board could call for harm against innocent civilians, even if flippantly, has pushed us to confront a hard truth: That by being strongly committed to the right to Jewish self-determination, we risk callousness towards Palestinian indignity and suffering.
Recognizing the humanity of every single human being is one of our core principles. We expect it of our board, staff and activists –– no matter the context, no matter how heated, whether in conversations about domestic social justice goals or existential issues faced by Israelis and Palestinians alike. We know that mistakes are inevitable. We will make them, as will our ideological opponents. When future mistakes are acknowledged, regretted, and not repeated, we will seek to engage rather than exile.
We know there is more to discuss, and invite you to engage with us here.