As progressive American Jews, the topic of Israel and Palestine has always been complicated for us. We have loved ones in Israel, and we believe in the right of the state of Israel to exist in peace and security. But we’ve also been angered by the far-right Netanyahu government and extremist settlers who have violently displaced Palestinians from their homes and deprived them of basic civil rights and human necessities. The Oct. 7 Hamas attack and the subsequent siege in Gaza brought these tensions into stark relief for us.
Earlier this week, we joined hundreds of other elected officials around the country in signing a letter calling for a lasting cease-fire. But like so much of this discourse, and like many large group statements, the letter didn’t quite capture our complicated feelings on the subject.
We were sickened by Hamas’ violent attacks. There is no justification for mass murder, or the chilling sexual violence that has been documented in detail. Our thoughts, like those of so many American Jews, ran immediately to our friends and family in Israel — Were they safe? Could they cope with the fear and trauma of another attack?
When our thoughts turned to what might happen next, we prayed for an outcome that brought the hostages home safely. An outcome that curbed Hamas’ lethal capabilities while minimizing harm to Palestinian civilians. One that kept Jews everywhere safe by bringing a renewed focus to the threat of violent antisemitism. And one that could assure a durable and just peace for the region for future generations of Jews and Palestinians.
It’s become clear that the Israeli bombing and invasion haven’t succeeded at any of that. Israeli’s military campaign in Gaza has killed tens of thousands of Palestinian civilians, and as we were painfully recently reminded, also endangers Israeli hostages. What goodwill existed toward Jews in Israel and around the world has been profoundly weakened amid the anger over the Netanyahu regime’s bombing of Palestinian civilians in response to Hamas’ attack.
Here in our own communities, Islamophobia and antisemitism are boiling over in ways that put all of us in danger. We’ve seen evidence of this just in the last week in Andersonville, where bigoted flyers and graffiti have targeted both Jews and Muslims with rhetoric that threatens to lead to violence.
So yes, we believe it’s time for a cease-fire.
Some say a cease-fire amounts to letting Hamas win. That might be true if “cease-fire” meant a unilateral, unconditional laying-down of arms by Israel and nothing more.
But a cease-fire involves negotiation. It requires both parties to make binding commitments to ending the violence. It would bring the hostages home, provide needed humanitarian aid and lay the foundation for a permanent political solution to the governance of Palestine.
This can be done, if the political will can be organized. We’ve seen it work as recently as November, when a negotiated cease-fire stopped the bloodshed, got aid flowing over the borders and brought Israeli hostages and Palestinian prisoners home safely. It worked, and it can work again.
As state legislators, we’re not engaged daily in foreign policy or military strategy. That’s why neither of us have publicly engaged on the topic much up to this point. But as Jews, we are taught that each of us, whether an elected official or not, has an obligation to take action toward “tikkun olam” — the Hebrew phrase for repairing of the world where it is broken. As state representatives, we know that complicated policy and political problems can only get solved through negotiation — going back to the table with our opponents again and again until we get it done. That’s how we legalized marijuana, eliminated cash bail, and protected abortion access here in Illinois.
And above all, as progressive leaders, we’ve been part of mass social justice movements our whole lives, from the fight to raise the minimum wage, to Black Lives Matter and criminal justice reform, to environmental justice and more. We know the power of collective organizing by ordinary people, even if the challenge seems intractable. After three months of paralyzing agony in watching this violence unfold, we were moved to act now by that very power of the collective by our colleagues around the country organizing and stepping up to sign on to this open letter, and asking us to stand with them.
To our fellow elected officials: The sign-on letter is still open, and we hope you’ll add your names. Together we can help steer this tragic conflict toward peace, security and stability for all people.
State Rep. Kelly Cassidy represents the 14th District in the Illinois House. State Rep. Will Guzzardi represents the 39th District in the Illinois House.
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