Where Is the Line?

The line is where we lose our humanity

Photo by Nadine E on Unsplash

I keep asking myself: where is the line?
The line is where we lose our humanity. The line is when we turn a blind eye to suffering in front of us. The line is when we grow so jaded, so numb, that we stop seeing the basic humanity of others.

And I refuse to cross it.

Many things can be true at once.

1. We can be empathetic to the Israelis kidnapped and killed at the hands of Hamas.

2. We can see with our own eyes that Hamas is terrible, Netanyahu is terrible, and neither is doing the hard work of peace.

3. We can see that Netanyahu and Trump are collaborating in a way that makes human life expendable, as if wiping Palestinians off the map is acceptable collateral for power — while Trump fantasizes about turning Gaza into a “resort.”

4. We can recognize that not all Palestinians are Hamas, just as not all Americans are MAGA Republicans.

5. We can acknowledge that Israel is the homeland of the Jewish people, and that Palestine is also a homeland for Palestinians. Both deserve recognition, dignity, and self-determination.

And we must remember: while we’re pointing outward, we also have to look inward. We must stand up to ICE here at home, where cruelty is dressed up as policy.

The Human Cost

Let’s sit with the facts.

• On October 7, 2023, Hamas’s attack killed around 1,200 Israelis, many of them civilians, many of them Jewish.

• Since then, according to UN-verified sources, 66,148 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, and another 1,234 Palestinians have been killed in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

• At least 455 Palestinians in Gaza have died of starvation, including 151 children.

• 16,500 children have been killed in Gaza alone.

Every one of these numbers was preventable. But cruel men in positions of power do not care.

And when food aid is blocked, when mothers in Gaza cannot feed their children while the world looks away, it is no wonder that people are crying out in pain. Supporting flotillas, demanding aid, demanding decency. Because watching children starve is not just politics. It’s inhumanity.

Rights Denied

It’s easy for Americans to assume Palestinians live with the same rights as Israelis or as we do here in the U.S. But they don’t.

• Palestinian citizens of Israel (about 20% of the population) can vote and run for office. But they face systemic discrimination in land, housing, and public services. Laws like the 2018 Nation-State Law explicitly privilege Jewish citizens. They live shorter lives, often poorer, often under suspicion, and yes — they can be held at gunpoint by the state in their own neighborhoods.

• East Jerusalem Palestinians mostly hold “permanent residency,” not citizenship. They can lose that residency if they move outside city limits. Their lives are lived in constant limbo.

• West Bank Palestinians live under military occupation. They cannot vote in Israeli elections, though settlers living beside them can. Their movement is restricted by checkpoints, barriers, and the whims of armed soldiers who can — and do — enter their homes at will.

• Gaza Palestinians live under blockade. They cannot vote in Israel, cannot freely move, and live with crushing restrictions on food, medicine, and basic survival.

Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International call this apartheid. Israel rejects the term, but the lived reality is clear: Palestinians do not have the same rights as Jewish Israelis.

Why It Matters Here

Because what happens there echoes here.

The tactics of domination and fear don’t stay contained. The same logic that justifies putting a gun to a Palestinian child’s head in Gaza is the logic that justifies ICE raids, border camps, and state violence here in America.

We are on dangerous ground. If we excuse cruelty abroad, we invite cruelty at home.

Drawing the Line

I love leading this community, but I cannot stay quiet. We must rise up and say: this is genocide. These are crimes against humanity. And Americans are funding it.

We cannot just wring our hands and hope it stops. We cannot simply mourn the dead and make them martyrs while doing nothing to prevent more death.

I am sick of watching Palestinians starve and die.
I am sick of ICE’s cruelty.
I am sick of hostages still held, of leaders who prefer war to peace, of far-right demagogues who trade in fear.

We have crossed the line and it will cost us all our humanity if we don’t push back.

Love your neighbor. Stand for life, not death. Stand for humanity, not cruelty.

That is the highest walk of honor any of us can take.

In the name of love, decency and humanity,

Nancy