Human rights groups methodically tally each man, woman and child killed in Gaza (797 as of this writing, most of them civilians, 5,100 wounded), while the media arm of the Israeli Defense Forces offers counter-tallies: the number of missiles Hamas has fired (2,270)—some reaching as far north as Jerusalem—the number of Hamas’ smuggling tunnels uncovered (31), the number of Israeli soldiers killed in action (29). These numbers will likely change every hour.
In the weeks leading up to the Israeli invasion of Gaza and now as increasingly grisly accounts and bloody images emerge of Palestinian homes and hospitals blown apart, American Jews are conflicted—alternately protesting against or rallying behind the Israeli state, following each development obsessively, or turning their faces away from what is being carried out in their name. “I don’t know how to react,” a middle-aged New Yorker with Israeli family admits. “I really have no idea. I want to stay out of it.”
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