We're NOT Doomed: April 21, 2026
We will not stop fighting!
Yom Hazikaron began at sundown last night. This is essentially Israeli Veterans Day (simplifying a lot, but you get the point.) Tonight at sundown begins Yom Haazmaut, arguably an even more somber holiday, at this point. It’s Israeli Independence Day.
It’s complicated. And it’s not something to celebrate, certainly not right now. But there is an annual event that happened in Israel that is.
It’s the Memorial Ceremony, the 21st annual, hosted by Combatants for Peace. It is a partnership between former Palestinian militants (all of whom are former Israeli prisoners and considered terrorists by the Israeli government) and former IDF soldiers.
The organization was founded by Chen Alon and Sulaiman Khateeb in 2006, and they started this Memorial Ceremony the same year.
Alon told Daniela Bezzi at Pressenza:
It took some time for our Ceremony to strike the right balance in reflecting both narratives of the conflict: not only overcoming the initial and perhaps inevitable asymmetry, given the greater presence of Israeli participants compared to Palestinians; but paying close attention to what I like to call ‘the aesthetics of ethics’. Which means: carefully choosing to use certain terms rather than others; avoiding the use of photos, video footage, and graphic elements that might have risked emphasizing a certain narrative at the expense of the main objective, which is to recognize one another as human beings, to meet in a space of attentive, authentic, and mutual listening, with a view to re-humanizing the person you would normally see as an enemy.
Khateeb added:
From its very 1st edition, considering the ongoing conflict, our Memorial Ceremony has been a one-of-a-kind event, given the violence and dehumanization we are witnessing. An event that is anything but ritualistic or predictable, with powerful transformative potential for anyone who participates: I would not hesitate to call it a sacred moment. Sacred because it underscores the value of choice, the option of responsibility that we all have as human beings. And for me, as a Palestinian, thinking of our tradition of ‘conflict resolution’ within our tribal society, it resonates as tasamuh, that means forgiveness. Difficult, but not impossible if we only think of ourselves as human beings, prone to error, yet at the same time endowed with the possibility to choose, to decide how to move forward, aware that on that very patch of land we must coexist, hopefully in peace.
I know these are long quotes, but I hope you read them in full. There is this pervasive idea that no one in Israel cares about Palestinians or the history, that no one is against the various wars or for a free Palestine, and that’s just not true.
When you refuse to see Israelis as separate from the government and the actions of the government, these are the people you are silencing. These are the fighters and peace activists who need our support and amplification. Who lose support every time “zionist” is used as a slur, and AIPAC becomes a code word for Jewish money and organizations like J Street gets folded in to the concept.
21 years. This is not new. This is not because of the Israeli government’s response to October 7. This does not happen under the assumption that this is a new conflict. It exists to acknowledge the whole story. All the trauma and destruction, from the Nakba through today.
Be more intentional with your language. These are the people we need to support and cheer on, not alienate. These are the stories we need to lift up, not shut down.
Israel is full of organizations like Combatants for Peace. From Peace Now, to Standing Together, it is possible AND necessary to fight alongside Israeli peace activists if there will ever be a chance for a free Palestine.
The ceremony this year was an hour long. I implore you to watch it. Take an hour and see what Israeli peace activists are doing. Maybe, hopefully it will convince you to change your tune.
Let me end this the same way I ended all my Tiktoks following October 7.
Refua Shlema (Hebrew prayer for healing) to all of us in need of healing, be it mind, body or spirit, and may the memories of those who have been lost, and those who still will be be a blessing, and a revolution for peace, freedom and justice for all.
Arizona
Fri, March 27 - The Republican leaning state Supreme Court refused to hear three voter rights cases, letting the lower court ruling stand. In all three cases the lower court rulings were almost entirely in our favor.
The first case, Arizona Free Enterprise Club v. Fontes, would have made it so that mail in ballot signatures could only be compared to the original voter registration. This means that the ballot would not count for anyone who’s signature had changed since they first registered. This would most affect the disabled and elderly communities.
To make the win even sweeter, it was Bill Bar’s “Restoring Integrity and Trust in Elections” that brought the lawsuit.
The second case, Gould v. Mayes, was the ongoing Republican demand to hand count all ballots, brought by Mohave County Supervisor Ron Gould. Hand counting ballots drastically lengthens the process and human error is very much a thing.
And case three, Petersen v. Fontes, would have made it so you don’t automatically receive a mail in ballot if you’re already on the mail in ballot list, rather you’d have to ask for a ballot every single election, which is a surefire way to make sure less people vote. This lawsuit was brought by Arizona Senate President Warren Petersen and former House Speaker Ben Toma, Republicans, of course.
Three cases that could have seriously hurt voting rights in AZ, and the state Supreme Court refused to hear any of them. That’s huge and definitely makes me feel less Doomed!
Los Angeles, California
Mon, March 30 - Five years ago, to the day, LA County Supervisors voted to close the Men’s Central Jail, it has some of the worst conditions of any LA jail, which results in an outsized amount of inmate deaths. The most recent of which was literally two weeks ago.
Even DA Nathan Hochman, who is relatively conservative, and the Sheriffs Department think the jail needs to close.
But there have been several delays, including the implementation of a new law that restructures the county elected offices and due to an administrative error may have accidentally upended Measure J, which was all about reducing prison population and funding alternative programs.
Suffice it to say, we’re still here and the jail is still open.
So late last month, on the “angelversary” of former inmate, John Horton, who died in the jail in 2009, The People’s Care Collective, Justice LA Now, Dignity and Power Now, Centro CSO and Check the Sheriff organized a protest outside the LA County Board of Supervisors office to demand the closure once and for all.
The People’s Care Collective posted a clip from the event with the caption:
As health workers, we refuse and refute the twisted cooptation of the term ‘care’ by the DA and LA sheriffs to justify the construction of any new jail or carceral facility. There is no true care when people are in cages - just a carceral illusion.
The goal of the protest was to get a real timeline of when the jail will be closed, no more money time or energy put into building new jails and Hortman’s death case being reopened.
As I hope you know by now, protesting DOES have an impact. And given that the LA Board of Supervisors and the DA and the Sheriff Department agree that MCJ should be cloesed, hopefully this will make closing the jail more of a priority.
And if it doesn’t, I promise you, these group will be right back at their office until it does. All protests make me feel less Doomed, but especially local ones that have the most chance of making a real tangible impact, like closing this jail once and for all.
Boise, Idaho
Tue, April 7 - When Republicans ruled that Boise’s pride flag city flag was illegal (cause only a city flag created before 2023 was acceptable…nice work around) Boise city government went back to the drawing board.
What they came up with were light poles wrapped in pride colors and a window display at City Hall.
City Council President Meredith Stead explained:
The law was based on the flag and we are using rainbows, so and its not at all a flag, so I would say we are in full compliance of the law, that’s certainly the most important thing to us so we’re going to be sure that we always are and this was just a different way to celebrate our diversity and values.
The Republicans in the state legislature are livid that Boise found a loophole, and will continue to waste time and try to ban anything pride from any public space, and Boise will continue to fight back every single time.
The whole project cost just shy of $6000 of the city’s already allocated operating budget. So it’s gonna be a challenge for the legislative Republicans to nitpick that small a project. I’m sure they will try anyway.
Regardless this is just another example of a Dem city in a Republican state fighting for equality, equity and visibility. It happens all the time and it makes me feel less Doomed every time it does.
I hope this is the reminder you needed that we are not Doomed, and we ARE fighting back, all over the country.
And remember our voices are our superpower, but only when we use them!