A Palestinian Solidarity Sukkot needs to invite Israelis

Read the response: Why we are holding a Palestine Solidarity Sukkot fundraiser by Tahlia Bowen, Rommy Weisler and Rebecca Parker.

This year, far from the first sukkot scattered in the biblical wilderness between Egypt and Israel, there will be a Palestine Solidarity Sukkot in Melbourne’s Central Business District. 

Third on the list of invitees? Jews. First are Palestinians and then First Nations peoples, whom the anonymous organiser describes as “our guests, free to attend”.  Missing completely from the invite? Israelis. 

How can we host the other when we cannot meet the otherness within our own people? Where’s the line in the sand where desert wilderness ends and a sukkah begins?

As a new olah (immigrant) in Israel from Australia, I sit on my fence between two worlds and I look at my people. Everything is upside down. I have Israeli friends who have an easier time speaking to their non-Jewish friends overseas – even if they might be antisemitic – than their religious neighbours. Meanwhile, some Jews in Melbourne feel comfortable publicly judging and voicing criticism on Israeli society and military operations when they don’t understand a word of Hebrew. To whom are we all speaking?

In the case of the Palestinian Solidarity Sukkah, excluding Israelis means leaving out people this war affects and, importantly, who have the potential to be at the negotiation table to create real change.