Building a politics of hope

Martin Luther King Jr famously said, “The supreme task is to organise and unite people so that their anger becomes a transforming force.”

Over 50 years later, his words are guiding light for another peace activist, Dr Shahd Bishara, an elected leader of Jewish-Arab grassroots organisation, Standing Together.

“I love that quote from King because this is what we're doing in Standing Together. We are organising people so the strong emotions they have, even the hopelessness and the helplessness, will turn into action and ultimately into the change that we all demand,” she told The Jewish Independent.

Bishara – an Arab Palestinian citizen of Israel – is currently touring Australia alongside fellow leader Nadav Shofet – a Jewish Israeli – to share Standing Together’s vision of peace with students, elected and faith leaders, and community members across Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra. The tour is supported by The New Israel Fund Australia.

“We understand that the political establishment in Israel has for decades, separated and incited Jews against Palestinians, Palestinians against Jews. This is not in the interest of the majority,” Shofet explained.

“Jews and Palestinians have a shared self-interest in peace, equality and justice, and we believe that in order to make change, we need to act together. When people are united and organised, power will come from them – not from the politicians, not from the courts – and we are able to make progress.”

Since forming in 2015, Standing Together has grown to become Israel’s largest grassroots movement, with 12 chapters established across the country, 6,000 paying members, over 140,000 Instagram followers, countless volunteers and a strong university campus presence.

Its aim is to mobilise Palestinian and Jewish citizens of Israel to create political change. Right now, this “urgently” entails securing a ceasefire and hostage deal to end the war, bring security to Israel and stop the “horrific suffering” in Gaza.

“Our government is currently waging this endless war in order to keep them in power and advance their extreme right-wing agenda of more war, of Jewish supremacy, of settlement,” Shofet said.

“We gain hope from the fact that we know that the people in Israel are better than its government. They want this [war] to be over. We’ve seen that time and time again in the polls.”

According to Shofet, the path to achieving this outcome lies in understanding the division, which he argues is not the black and white narrative of Israelis versus Palestinians that the Western world has so readily adopted.

“For decades, politicians in Israel and across the world have divided us into lines of all the Israelis against all the Palestinians. That's how most people understand what is happening, and then they feel forced to choose a side,” he said.

“But the real sides are between the vast majority of people who live on the land, both Jewish and Palestinian, who just want peace and security and equality, versus the warmongers. These are the extremists on both sides, the Israeli government and its far right-wing politicians, and also Hamas and Hezbollah.”

Bishara agrees: “The interest of the people is different than the interest of those who are in power with fundamentalist mentality and ideology.”

Long-term, Standing Together is focused on creating an Israeli Palestinian peace agreement that “achieves full equality internally between all citizens” – one which will break the cycle of war, end military control, allow Palestinians to “materialise their right to independence”, and ensure safety and freedom for all.

It’s an outcome Bishara believes is achievable due to the indisputable connection between Israelis and Palestinians.

“We know for a fact that Palestinian freedom, or the Palestinian liberation, which is very important to recognise, is inextricably linked to the security and safety of the Israelis. Therefore, to ensure security for Israelis, we must demand freedom for the Palestinians,” she said.

How do the peacebuilders stay hopeful amid such destruction? Shofet says the answer lies in Standing Together’s unofficial motto: "where there is struggle, there is hope".

“We’re starting to build the alternative we want to see. We're building joint Jewish and Palestinian communities around the country. We're building politics of hope. We're building a path forward, a different way than what has happened up until now,” he concluded.

“There are forces against us, in the far-right, in the government, that are actively working to oppress us. We need to fight them – it’s not something that will happen automatically, but we’re creating the hope and the alternative we want to see in the world.”

The Standing Together Australia Tour is supported by The New Israel Fund. Learn more and book tickets online.