Opinion | If you’ve ever wondered what you would do if there was a genocide, do it now

People often wonder what measures they would have taken to prevent the atrocities of the past. It’s a fairly common litmus test for morality or ethics. Depending on how we respond, it can reveal important information about what we are willing to accept and what we are not.

As I watched Palestinians, some still hooked up to IV fluids, scream in pain as they were burned alive in a recent Israeli attack on a tent hospital, I wondered: What is the “red line” for the people in this genocide?

Israel has been carrying out a deadly attack on Gaza for just over a year, killing some 43,000 Palestinians and leaving the area largely uninhabitable. This level of mass murder is the result of relentless air strikes, ground invasions, starvation tactics, and a blank check for violence and war crimes signed by the United States.

Everyday Americans actually have a red line — and a majority of likely voters want a ceasefire and an end to U.S. arms transfers to Israel.

Israel has now expanded violence into Lebanon, including a recent airstrike that killed at least 21 people. Although U.S. officials have expressed “concern” about civilian casualties, U.S. taxpayers continue to fund Israeli aggression, which may soon include an attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and other senior Israeli officials have expressed a desire for a regional war. As my colleague, Middle East expert Khury Petersen-Smith, wrote The hill“Millions of lives across the region are at stake.”

Despite Jewish-led mass protests against Israeli genocide in the United States, a movement of “disengaged” primary voters protesting the Biden administration’s support for Israel’s war, and an International Court of Justice ruling ordering Israel not to do so in Gaza Committing acts that can be identified as genocide, our lawmakers continue to publicly support Israel’s terror campaign and green light billions of dollars of our tax dollars for their war.

However, ordinary Americans have a red line – and a majority of likely voters want a ceasefire and an end to US arms transfers to Israel.

But so far our lawmakers have responded more to donors than voters. AIPAC has poured nearly $42 million into this election cycle, while the top 20 defense donors have already spent nearly $23 million from 2023 to 2024. These organizations are buying off candidates and undermining our democracy.

However, I have hope.

Despite all the combined power – and open propaganda – in support of Israel, groups like the Palestinian Youth Movement, Jewish Voice for Peace, If Not Now, Rabbis for Cease-Fire, the Institute for Middle East Understanding and many others have succeeded, according to Mohammed Nabulsi of of the Palestinian Youth Movement, we have forced the American public to confront our complicity in genocide “through mass mobilizations, direct actions, bridge and road closures, airport and port closures.”

You can measure the impact of these strategies by looking at the changing attitudes of the American public toward U.S. support for Israel. A majority of Americans reject this war and our government’s support for it.

If you are reading this and are part of that majority, let us turn our desperation into action.

Let’s fight for an end to the supply of arms to Israel. Let us fight for an end to the occupation of Palestine and all occupied territories around the world. Let us settle for nothing less than Palestinian self-determination and justice for Israeli war crimes.