We are Muslim and Jewish and denounce killing of Palestinians. Here's why you should too

Right now, Israel is slaughtering Palestinians sheltering in Rafah and exacerbating starvation by preventing any aid from entering Gaza.

There is no time left. This genocide must be stopped. It is this urgent crisis that animates student protests throughout the country and around the world.

Student protests have a rich history as a powerful force for societal transformation, from the civil rights era's impactful sit-ins in Nashville to opposition against the Vietnam War and South Africa's apartheid regime.

Today, we commend the students displaying moral courage by advocating for the human rights of Palestinians, despite the potential risks to their safety and future careers. It is bewildering that protesting against the annihilation of a people remains a contentious issue.

Shouldn’t we be united in a call to end the brutal murder of innocent children? What’s controversial about wanting to stop a genocide unfolding before our eyes?

We must not stand for hatred against any group

Because the moral imperative is so clear, those who support Israel’s ongoing slaughter are doing all they can to divert attention from the legitimate concerns and grievances of protesters, often weaponizing charges of antisemitism against this growing mass movement.

The intergenerational trauma of the Holocaust within the Jewish community leads some to fear Palestinian liberation, but we cannot let the horrors of the Holocaust justify another genocide. It is uncomfortable to acknowledge that the Israeli government is responsible for the same brutality that so many experienced in their own histories. Yet we cannot look away. We cannot excuse what is so plain to see.

Neither the discomfort with the prospect of Palestinian liberation nor the student protests put Jewish people in danger. Standing for Palestinian lives and survival is not antisemitism. Claiming otherwise not only undermines genuine efforts to address human rights violations but also stifles meaningful dialogue and constructive engagement.

We must also highlight that the narrative around the war against Palestinians has been Islamophobic from the start. We see the horrors of doctors and patients being executed during attacks at hospitals or desperate Gazans massacred while waiting for food and wonder how the media can only use the words “horrific, barbaric, and evil” to describe Hamas and not to describe Israeli atrocities against Palestinians. Over the past seven months, we have also seen a sharp rise in Islamophobia in Tennessee mirroring nationwide trends. We get regular reports of Muslims, Arabs, and Palestinians facing discrimination, bullying, racial profiling, and hate crimes.

We cannot favor one community's human rights over another

Here in Nashville, Jews and Muslims must talk and listen to each other. We, the signatories to this letter, fostered connections through our shared local fights for justice. We value our relationships, and we are grounded in the knowledge that Hamas doesn’t represent Islam and Zionism does not represent Judaism.

We know through this work that what happens in Gaza reverberates locally in Tennessee and throughout the country. Struggles against oppressive systems at home and abroad are interconnected, and the same system that would gladly spend billions of tax dollars on destruction and repression in Palestine is the same system surveilling and brutalizing students at Vanderbilt and beyond.

How can we as a community be true to our values of human dignity and respect if we don’t do all we can, right now, to stop the massacre of Palestinian civilians?

Enough is enough. We stand in solidarity to demand an end to the brutal occupation and to hold Israel accountable for the war crimes they are committing against Palestinians. If one claims to stand up for human rights for all, then one cannot pick and choose which humans are more deserving of our empathy. Our fates on this planet are truly bound up together - from Nashville to Gaza City - and we cannot be free, we cannot be safe, while Palestine is occupied and under bombardment.

Will you join us? Silence is not an option.

Signatories: Sabina Mohyuddin, American Muslim Advisory Council; Lulu Abdun, Never Again Tennessee member; Em Berkey, Nashville Jews for Justice; and Benita Kaimowitz, Never Again Tennessee member

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Israel-Hamas war: Time to speak up about killings of Palestinians