Israel/Palestine & Your Work - Creating caring space in secular organizations
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A Note Before You Begin reading:
Although my offerings are usually for a much broader audience, this particular piece is specifically meant for people who:
Work in secular (not faith-based) organizations and/or organizations whose work is not directly related to or taking place in Israel/Palestine, and
Manage or supervise other people, or do (internal or external) communications work for their organization.
If you’re not in both of these categories, of course, you are more than welcome to continue reading! And I’m honored to work with you on navigating how this conflict is impacting your workplace if you’d like that support. But you may not find the guidance that follows here appropriate for your context.
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This won’t be published until early next week, but I’m writing it on Friday afternoon (Oct. 20) as my Shabbat challah dough rises on the kitchen counter, and I make plans to attend a local protest this weekend calling for a ceasefire in Israel/Palestine. I’m telling you this so we can level set around a few things before diving in to my guidance for you:
First, I have expertise in DEI and the ways in which Israel/Palestine impacts DEI work – but I am not an expert on the Israel/Palestine conflict or global politics. So the guidance I have for you is about DEI, not about what I believe should be happening in the Middle East. That said:
Second, you should know that I am not neutral when it comes to Israel/Palestine, and am not trying to be. I strive to come to my DEI work as my whole self. That means recognizing the ways in which my identity (in this case, particularly as a progressive American Jew) impacts how I engage with my work. You’ll read about personal examples of that throughout this piece. It does NOT mean that I’m writing this piece only for people who share my political beliefs. The fact that I’m attending protests calling for a ceasefire in Israel/Palestine is the most you’re going to read (or hear if you’re listening to this) about my personal politics in this piece.* Though often challenging, I separate my personal political work (orientated toward justice and liberation) from my professional work (focused on workplace equity). If you’d like to better understand the difference between these two things (justice/liberation vs. workplace equity), check out this graphic, or reach out to schedule a DEI 101 workshop!
Okay. Level-setting out of the way, here we go:
I’ve been trying to write this piece for nearly two weeks. Every time I sit down to do it, I freeze, fearing that I’ll do it “wrong.” Ultimately, I’ve decided to practice my values here as much as I can: I cannot hold myself to an impossibly perfect standard. (I may make a mistake that will unintentionally hurt some of my readers – ack!) But the conflict happening in Israel/Palestine impacts DEI work, so I can’t let my perfectionism stop me from trying my best to help in the ways I’m equipped to do so.
All that is to say: If you’re struggling with what to do or say about Israel/Palestine right now, you’re not alone. If you’re feeling uncomfortable, scared, angry, sad, lonely, or any other way as you deal with the news of the past two weeks: you’re not alone. I’m feeling it, too.
In the midst of one of my more recent attempts to write this, one of my clients shared about a challenge they were having deciding whether or not to make a public statement about the Israel/Palestine conflict. I found myself pointing them to my newsletter from May of this year about how to communicate about current events. It turns out Past Natania wrote a pretty decent guide to help us navigate this moment! So I’m going to lean heavily on that today and direct you to revisit it (or visit it for the first time). Much of what I wrote there applies now.
As with most things involving the Middle East, context and nuance are crucial. So, here is some context and nuance I ask you to keep in mind as you read my guide.
Before you begin:
Living through this moment in history requires us to sit with discomfort (ugh!) both as we learn about differences between our own feelings/beliefs and others’ feelings/beliefs and also as we learn about multiple conflicting feelings and beliefs that may exist inside ourselves. In addition to being critical to our ability to get through this moment in history, getting comfortable with being uncomfortable is also an essential DEI skill – and this moment in history is asking us to build our capacity for it. Should you find yourself running away as this comes up for you, I invite you to instead approach it with curiosity and open-heartedness. See what you can learn from it and what kindness and empathy you can have for it.
Want a trick to help you do this? Try replacing the word “but” with “and” as often as you can when you’re talking about sticky things. The vocabulary change can impact how you see the world over time.
As you read the intro:
My piece from May uses #BlackOutTuesday as an example of performative and harmful activism and allyship. I see many parallels around Israel/Palestine, as organizations whose work isn’t directly about this region or the people who are directly involved attempt to make statements about the conflict. (Many of my loved ones and I have also been on the receiving end of harmful (but well-intentioned) performative allyship on a personal level in the past few weeks. I’ll touch on how to avoid that later in this piece.) So today our focus will be on organizationally avoiding harmful performative allyship around Israel/Palestine.
As you read the section about asking yourself what you’re hoping happens as a result of your post/statement:
If your answer is, “I want things to get better,” think about the spheres in which you have power and what kind of impact you can reasonably make in them as it relates to Israel/Palestine. Taking an organizational stance on the issue, as an organization whose mission is not directly related to it, may not be necessary or impactful. (If you think it might be, I’m happy to chat with you about that and think it through.) Furthermore, people are primed right now to receive statements related to Israel/Palestine as threats, so the risk of your stance being received in a harmful way, despite your best intentions, is high. However, you can probably make a huge impact in a different sphere where you have more control: the wellbeing of your staff who are directly impacted. So that’s what we’ll focus on here.**
As you read the section about asking yourself “What actions can I take to make an impact around this issue that are aligned with what people from the directly targeted group are asking for?”
First, we need to define who the “directly targeted group” is here. I’d argue that there are multiple: Palestinian people, Israeli people, Muslim and Arab people globally (and people perceived to be Muslim or Arab globally), Jewish people globally, and those with loved ones in Israel/Palestine.
Determining what actions to take that align with what the people from these groups are asking for is exceptionally challenging for two big reasons:***
These groups do not all have the same amount or kind of structural power and are not equally or equitably resourced. That makes the ways in which they are targeted and the forms of systemic oppression they face (occupation, terrorism, Islamophobia, and Antisemitism) very different. (To fully dissect this would require a month-long workshop, so I’m not going to attempt it here. But the bottom line is: all of these systems of oppression are interconnected.)
These groups are not monolithic and are not all asking for the same things. Namely:
Not all people within any single one of these groups agree on what they want,
Not all organizations representing any single one of these groups and the sub-groups within them agree on what they want,
And, of course, there are many differences (though also many similarities, depending on which sub-groups you look at) between what each of these groups are asking for.
Given all of that, there is no one thing that all of the people in the directly targeted groups are asking for. So what can you do? As organizational leaders and leaders of people whose work is not about this conflict, it’s likely that the strongest and most positive impact you can make right now is twofold:
Make sure your workplace isn’t one where people have to listen to dehumanizing or otherwise harmful comments about oppressed groups, including and especially ones they’re part of. If you have questions about how to determine whether something is dehumanizing, I’m happy to help. This isn’t straightforward right now, and there is a lot of conflicting messaging about this in the media.
Make sure that people who work for you who are directly impacted have meaningful time and space to process their feelings. I am NOT suggesting you host a processing space, open forum, or other “safe space” for your workplace. (These spaces often cause more unintentional harm than good.) Instead, make sure they can take space away from work as they want and need to. The rest of this piece will focus on how to do that.
In the case of this moment, I want to draw your attention to the second suggestion I give organizational leaders in my guide:
Give people meaningful time off (that means adjusting deadlines and moving meetings) to process a traumatic event.
Personally, because of my identities and relationship to this conflict, it’s been exceptionally difficult for me to focus on work these last two weeks unless I’m in a client meeting. Since I have the luxuries both of being my own boss and of having clients who are understanding, I have largely been able to adjust my schedule to take care of myself in the ways I’ve needed – whether that be to sleep, join a protest, call my elected representatives, sing, exercise, or watch mindless TV.
For folks without this much autonomy over their schedule, navigating work in moments like this can be exceptionally challenging – not just because of logistics, but also because of power dynamics. Even when higher-ups say it’s okay to take the time you need, it can be logistically difficult to do so when important meetings and deadlines aren’t adjusted accordingly. And speaking up to ask for these adjustments requires the expenditure of precious social capital and the risk of being perceived as “difficult.” So here’s what you can do if you manage others:
Take stock of what work is mission-critical and what work can take a back seat. Share that assessment with those who work for you and make a plan together to prioritize and de-prioritize your team’s work, or re-distribute it temporarily.
Does your sick leave policy allow people to take mental health days/weeks when needed? Remind folks of that! If you don’t have an unlimited sick leave policy, consider offering additional days for folks who need them right now, and making it feasible for them to take advantage of the policy by following the previous directive.
Remember that you can’t make assumptions about people’s feelings or political beliefs around this conflict based on their identity. So when you’re reaching out to express concern, a simple, “I’m thinking of you. How are you holding up?” might be the best way to go. For me, this has been the most supportive question folks have asked me in contrast to those who’ve made assumptions about me because they know I’m Jewish.
Ok, deep breath. How’s it going welcoming in that discomfort? I bet I said something that made you uncomfortable, and I probably made a mistake. (A prospect that still terrifies me, but I’m going to publish this anyway!) I hope I also said some things you found useful, and that will allow you to have a more values-aligned impact as you move forward in your work. Thank you for extending me the grace to be human. I hope you’re giving yourself space to be a full, imperfect, full-of-contradictions human, too. I find it’s a lot easier to extend that understanding to others when we practice with ourselves first, so I’m grateful for you giving me the space to do that today.
Warmly,
Natania
*If you’re personally interested in joining efforts calling for a ceasefire, please reach out. I’m happy to help you connect with local actions so you can do this in community.
**If your organization provides a product or service that could be helpful to those directly targeted, another positive impact you might be able to have is to offer your product or service free of charge. This would definitely warrant a statement so that people can learn about your offering! As you offer it, make sure you are making it accessible, as best you can, to all people targeted, so that you’re not inadvertently excluding one of the groups or a subset of the groups, and thereby inadvertently taking a political stance you don’t intend. I’m happy to help you think through that.
***This is also often difficult in other contexts, and variations of these notes apply to other events as well. Very few groups are monoliths!