
Sally Abed is a Palestinian Israeli and voice for Standing Together who took part in the online forum. Omri Hadar/via Facebook
…Standing Together was founded in 2015, after the 2014 Gaza war that was then the deadliest war in Gaza, followed by a wave of violence in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.
“Benjamin Netanyahu back then had a very famous saying,” said Sally Abed, a Palestinian Israeli and prominent activist voice for Standing Together in Israel. “He said … ‘We will forever live on the sword.’”
The message that language sends, said Abed, is that “the security of Israel and Israelis necessarily means the subjugation of Palestinians. It necessarily means military control because there is no partner, and we will forever live on the sword.”
Eight years later, that rhetoric continues to hold more starkly than ever after last year’s election of an extreme right-wing government in Israel.
“This reality that we are in where we are stuck as a society in this endless cycle with no alternative — no one is giving the Israeli public an alternative; no one is telling them it can be different,” Abed said.
That alternative is what Standing Together aims to provide.
“Our focus is on the need for Israeli-Palestinian peace, and equality between Jews and Arabs inside of Israel. These are our core tenets,” said Shofet.
Since the war began, the group has worked to de-escalate inter-communal violence, set up mutual aid for families, create solidarity rallies, and organize spaces for people to safely grieve.
“In this war, we are firmly saying that the only way out of the war is a cease-fire agreement, immediately to return the hostages, and to end the killing of innocent lives in Gaza and the endless amounts of suffering in Gaza,” said Shofet. “But also the way forward is to achieve Israeli-Palestinian peace, and this is in the interest of everybody who lives here…”

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