Dear Editor,
I’d like to echo what fellow Culver City resident Nick Conner has written. My husband and I have lived in Culver City since the summer of 1998. We have many lovely neighbors, but it is upsetting that other Culver City residents have chosen to malign the people at Jackson Market in a hateful and untruthful way.
Jackson Market is a treasure of the community. Tony/Fawaz, Nick, the cooks, and other employees have made it a most welcoming community space for everyone.
Like many American Jews, I have close family in Israel. I worry about my sister and her husband, children, and grandchildren constantly, and we have been in closer contact since 7 October. Three of my sister’s children served – as they are required to – in the IDF. My youngest nephew’s reserve unit has twice been deployed to Gaza, and once to northern Israel. One of my nieces was evacuated from her home in the north of the country, and still has not been able to return.
I am also concerned and distressed about the killing of tens of thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians and the utter destruction in Gaza. Israelis and Palestinians must be able to live in safety, dignity, and peace. There is no either/or. There is only both. The land belongs neither exclusively to Israelis nor exclusively to Palestinians.
The only way to arrive at this ideal is through a ceasefire and the return of all hostages and detainees. Now. And for all peoples of the region to find new leaders for whom a lasting peace is paramount.
I, too, support Anera. I also support United Hatzalah, as well as World Central Kitchen. I support them because they are doing the vital work of feeding and caring for people in need.
I support the call by my fellow Culver City residents for our City Council to pass a ceasefire resolution, as several other local city councils have done (Pasadena, Santa Monica, and, of all places, Huntington Beach). Obviously, it’s a symbolic gesture. But, as Culver City believes our own neighbors and their children should live in safety and dignity, we must believe the same about Israeli and Palestinian communities and their children. Passing a ceasefire resolution is an easy way to demonstrate our humanity.
Sincerely,
Andrea Cohen
