The Pain of Wisconsinites Who Have Family in Gaza and Israel

Frederica Freyberg:

Just over a month since the Hamas terrorist attack on Israel, Governor Tony Evers called on Congress to increase funds for securing places of worship as threats surge against Jewish and Muslim communities. As “Here & Now” reporter Aditi Debnath tells us, the war is personal and painful for the Wisconsin families you’re about to hear from.

Miryam Rosenzweig:

Every day they’re running into the bomb shelter.

Hashim Zaibak:

They send us a text message, “We’re still alive,” and that’s pretty much — that’s all we can ask for at this point.

Aditi Debnath:

These Wisconsin families have close connections to the war. Like Miryam Rosenzweig, whose pregnant sister and baby niece live in Israel.

Miryam Rosenzweig:

I asked her, How is the 2-year-old doing? She hears the siren and she turns and she looks and she knows that we’re going into the bomb shelter.

Hashim Zaibak:

You just have to follow the news every day.

Aditi Debnath:

Hashim Zaibak follows the news every day because as a native of Gaza, home to Hamas, he hopes to make sure his sister and other family there are still alive. Zaibak owns Hayat Pharmacy in Milwaukee and fearing anti-Palestinian backlash, hired a security guard to patrol his business.

Miryam Rosenzweig:

Golda Meir was the prime minister of Israel.

Aditi Debnath:

For Rosenzweig, president of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, the vitriol cuts both ways.

Miryam Rosenzweig:

The hate that has been spewed in the last two weeks towards Jewish community, both as a community, individuals, in our schools, on our campuses has been horrific to watch. And the silence of the condemnation of it is deafening.

Aditi Debnath:

Hamas rained down horror on Israelis but still, Rosenzweig says support for Palestinian civilians is clear among members of her organization.

Miryam Rosenzweig:

Overwhelmingly, they believe in the right of Palestinian self-determination. What people are misunderstanding is that the fight isn’t with the Palestinian people. This war is about neutralizing Hamas.

Aditi Debnath:

But it’s about more than that, says UW-Madison Professor Samer Alatout.

Samer Alatout:

It’s not Hamas-Israeli war; it’s an Israeli war against the Palestinians that is, a part genocidal.

Aditi Debnath:

Alatout is a geopolitical expert of the region and a native of Palestine.

Samer Alatout:

And it’s about ethnic cleansing and it’s about the stealing land.

Aditi Debnath:

He says mass media perpetuates the idea that the conflict is about religion instead of about the land, and that idea has dangerous echoes in history.

Hashim Zaibak:

The media sometimes portrays Palestinians as the bad guys. That’s exactly what happens to the Jews before World War II.

Aditi Debnath:

Zaibak is not the first one to liken the situation to World War II. As she visits the Milwaukee Jewish History Museum, Edie Pump says her personal experience also tells her the conflict is not about religious differences. As a Holocaust survivor, she remembers her family hiding in Uzbekistan.

Edie Pump:

It was a Muslim community and they were protective of the Jews. I had a Muslim midwife delivered me. When I was sick, a Muslim midwife took care of it, and they protected my parents.

Aditi Debnath:

Still, the Hamas Charter, written in 1988, calls for the end of Israel and its Jewish population. Pump compares the terror of Hamas to Nazi Germany.

Edie Pump:

Just like what happened in the Holocaust.

Aditi Debnath:

Hamas is designated by the U.S. as a terrorist organization and governs over the Gaza Strip. Innocent Palestinians are now caught in the crossfire.

Samer Alatout:

Is Hamas Palestine? No. But is the PNA, the Palestine authority, Palestine? No.

Aditi Debnath:

It’s a complex history inflamed by current bloodshed, and according to Miryam Rosenzweig, social media can distort the truth.

Miryam Rosenzweig:

People should stop getting their information from social media. If you could fit it in a text or in a post, chances are it’s not a very thoughtful argument.

Aditi Debnath:

But Zaibak says he thinks social media can help keep people up to date and it’s often younger people disseminating it.

Hashim Zaibak:

I feel it’s a different generation. I feel that the Gen Zers here in the United States are very empathetic with the Palestinian cause.

Edie Pump:

Education is the key. Learn about what’s going on. Learn about the differences between people and accept people’s differences.

Aditi Debnath:

Through it all, Hashim Zaibak awaits a daily text message from his family telling him they’re alive and Miryam Rosenzweig’s two-year-old niece hears the sirens and runs to the bomb shelter. Reporting from Milwaukee, I’m Aditi Debnath for “Here & Now.”