A gentle reminder that contributions to Voices are the opinions of the individual contributors, including those on the particular topic of the war that is raging between Israel and Hamas.
As we do so, we condemn the rise of antisemitism in our society, we acknowledge the pain that the Jewish community experiences of the attacks of Oct. 7, 2023, the loss of life, and the kidnapping of hostages still in captivity. And, of course, we look in horror at the humanitarian crisis in Gaza, with the death of 40,000 humans amid the rubble of schools, hospitals, and homes.
To state the obvious in the broadest of brushstrokes, any discussion of these issues comes in the context of a heartbreaking legacy of pain and trauma that informs the creation of the modern state of Israel in the shadow of the Holocaust and a long history of persecution, yet at the expense of the displacement of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian people.
The Commons does not condone hate in our pages, and we recognize that people commenting on this issue have widely disparate interpretations of these events, their antecedents, and their implications. We are not going to resolve three quarters of a century of geopolitics in a page or two of a newspaper.
We urge readers to see the humanity of neighbors who are engaging with these issues with their minds and with their hearts.
This Voices was submitted to The Commons.
This piece, published in print in the Voices section or as a column in the news sections, represents the opinion of the writer. In the newspaper and on this website, we strive to ensure that opinions are based on fair expression of established fact. In the spirit of transparency and accountability, The Commons is reviewing and developing more precise policies about editing of opinions and our role and our responsibility and standards in fact-checking our own work and the contributions to the newspaper. In the meantime, we heartily encourage civil and productive responses at voices@commonsnews.org.