In the swirl of horrendous news following the US president-elect’s taking his oath of office, there’s been one shining light. On 13 February, an ad boldly declaring “No to Ethnic Cleansing” appeared in the New York Times. More than 350 American rabbis, creatives and activists put their names to it, protesting against the president’s blithe announcement that Gaza could be changed from a pile of rubble to the Middle East’s “Riviera” – that is, if neighbouring countries would agree to accept the remaining Palestinian inhabitants who have managed, miraculously, to stay alive.

It wasn’t long afterwards that the Australian Jewish Women 4 Peace Action Ready Group swung into action. I can’t remember when or where I signed the ad they’d organised, such was the flood of emails in my inbox. Who were the Australian Jewish Women 4 Peace, I wondered. This wasn’t a group I’d heard of, and I’ve kept abreast of a fair few, but sign it I did. The word is that even more wanted to sign but there wasn’t room left on the ad’s single page.

The........

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